Palestinians will not begin indirect talks with Israel unless the Israeli government annuls a decision to build 1,600 houses in East Jerusalem, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday.
"We want to hear from [United States envoy George] Mitchell that Israel has cancelled the decision to build housing units before we start the negotiations," Erekat said.
His remarks follow comments by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who told visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday that it was not enough for the Israeli decision to be condemned, it also had to be cancelled.
The Israeli announcement of the construction of the houses in East Jerusalem, announced Tuesday evening, came 24 hours after Mitchell announced that Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to begin indirect
peace talks, after a 15-month hiatus in negotiations, and in the midst of a visit to the region by Biden.
The announcement severely embarrassed Biden, who issued his Israeli hosts with a sharp rebuke. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was not informed in advance of the decision, announced by the interior ministry.
The prime minister summoned Interior Minister Eli Yishai Wednesday morning and reprimanded him for the decision's "wretched, displaced, insensitive" timing.
The 1,600 homes will be built in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, near the Palestinian village of Shuafat.
The neighborhood lies within the municipal boundaries drawn up by Israel after it annexed East Jerusalem following its capture in the 1967 Middle East War