Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Israel today. Not much to report, except that she said the Israeli demolition of East Jerusalem homes was “unhelpful” to the peace process. Seems pretty straight forward, but the comments have caused a bit of a stir.
Here’s the report from Haaretz:
“Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the ‘road map’,” Clinton said, referring to the long-stalled peace plan.
“It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem,” she added at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Clinton said she planned to take up the issue with the incoming Israeli government, which is expected to take office in the coming weeks.
Israel has in recent days issued orders for the demolition of 80 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem it says were built illegally.
But Palestinians say they cannot receive proper building permits from Israeli authorities, and the planned demolitions are means to assert Israel’s control over the disputed city.
Among the aggrieved: The Orthodox Union, which issued an open-letter to Clinton letting her know that they thought she was unhelpful.
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