Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a visit to Gilo, a Jerusalem neighbourhood, on the eve of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s visit to Jerusalem, as he insisting Israel “will continue to build in Jerusalem”.
The sensitively-timed tour of Gilo by the premier, who was accompanied by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, follows hot on the heels of Ashton’s Friday statement saying she “deeply regret the decision by the Israeli Ministry of Interior to approve the expansion of Gilo settlement by 797 new housing units”.
While the EU calls Gilo a “settlement” beyond the pre-1967 Green Line, Israel considers the neighbourhood as part of unified Jerusalem.
Following a series of comments insisting the EU should concern itself with domestic policy rather than Israeli settlement building, Netanyahu said: "United Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital. We have full rights to build in it. We have built in Jerusalem, we are building in Jerusalem and we will continue to build in Jerusalem. This is our policy and I will continue to support building in Jerusalem."
The EU, like much of the international community, refuses to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, giving that title to second city Tel Aviv instead, where member states choose to base their embassies.
Praising Netanyahu for his staunch support of Jerusalem’s place at the heart of Israel, Mayor Barkat described him and his coalition administration “true friends of Jerusalem”, adding that it was “our obligation” to retain the capital as “one united city” that “will never be divided”.
In Israel, Ashton is to meet Wednesday with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.