Israel gives into US pressure
Halts Plan to Add Homes Near Maale Adumim

Israel has bowed to the United States and frozen a much-criticized plan to add 3,500 new housing units near a large West Bank settlement called Maale Adumim, according to Ehud Olmert, a close ally of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his vice prime minister.

But Mr. Olmert’s comments, made in an interview published today in The Jerusalem Post, were more an indication of political repositioning in Israel’s heated right-wing political competition than any enunciation of new policy. Israel has made it clear many times that any building near Maale Adumim, in the development area known as E-1, would not begin for at least two to three years.

Palestinians and the Israeli left – including the Labor Party, currently in the government – object to the plans because E-1 would complete a circle of Jewish settlement around East Jerusalem, cutting it off from the West Bank. Washington has insisted without much more than rhetorical force that Mr. Sharon keep his promises to stop expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, even if Israel keeps putting up housing within existing settlement boundaries in the name of “natural growth.”

Mr. Sharon faces an open fight for the leadership of his Likud Party from the former finance minister and prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu is trying to get the 3,000-member central committee of Likud, where he has allies, to oust Mr. Sharon as party chairman even as he sits as prime minister, hoping to prompt early elections and run as Likud’s candidate instead of Mr. Sharon.

Mr. Sharon and Mr. Olmert are trying to fight off the challenge, while preparing to run as an independent party should they lose. As independents, they could split Likud and make common cause in a more centrist coalition with Labor, Shinui and other smaller parties, leaving Mr. Netanyahu controlling a divided Likud but in opposition. Or not. Political analysts in Israel are busy disagreeing with one another, it’s very early days still, and with the Gaza pullout behind them, all Israeli politicians can concentrate on just now is local political intricacies.

Henry Kissinger once said that Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics. Mr. Olmert’s comments are of this kind. Only a few days ago, Mr. Netanyahu went to Maale Adumim and E-1 and announced that he would start building 5,000 apartments there immediately, no matter what Washington said, and that Mr. Sharon was risking the unity of Jerusalem and the fate of Israel by his inaction.

Mr. Olmert, who often floats ideas for Mr. Sharon, responded by telling The Jerusalem Post that Israel had promised its best ally, the United States, to freeze construction there. “As such, we would be acting in an irresponsible manner if we would do otherwise,” Mr. Olmert said.

His implication is that Mr. Netanyahu would risk vital ties to Washington in an irresponsible manner.

But Mr. Olmert also emphasized that the government is committed to the building in E-1 at some point in the future. “When the conditions are right, we’ll raise the issue with the Americans again,” he said. “It’s clear we won’t do anything behind the backs of the Americans.”

In the meantime, Mr. Sharon himself promises to continue building in the West Bank and is moving full-speed-ahead with constructing the rest of the separation barrier between Israelis and Palestinians, including a new stretch around Maale Adumim. The barrier, where it cuts into the West Bank, is considered illegal by the International Court of Justice.

Today, as on most every Friday now, a demonstration of Palestinian, Israeli and foreign protesters against the building of the barrier near the West Bank village of Bilin produced arrests and injuries. The Israeli Army has declared the area a closed military zone to try to stop the protests, which continue. Today soldiers fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to keep protestors from interfering, according to Greta Berlin, a demonstrator from the International Solidarity Movement. Soldiers also manhandled some protestors, she said.

One soldier was injured lightly after he was assaulted by an Israeli demonstrator, the army said. The demonstrators say that the army initiated the violence to disperse them. Two demonstrators were arrested and two people were injured, but up to a dozen suffered from the tear gas, according to Israel radio.

“We face them with backpacks, sandals and signs,” Ms. Berlin said. “They face us in full riot gear.”

A day after Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers met in Istanbul, the daily Yediot Aharonot reported that Israel has quietly opened a low-level diplomatic office in Dubai after a year of talks. The two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations.