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U.S. "deeply concerned" over Israel’s housing construction in Jerusalem: official

10 August 2011 00:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The U.S. is "deeply concerned" over Israel’s continued housing construction in East Jerusalem, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said on Tuesday, viewing it as "unilateral actions" that work against the Middle East peace process, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Nuland made the comment in response to Israeli government’s issuance of 900 additional housing permits for East Jerusalem.

She told reporters that the U.S. had raised the issue with the Israeli government, saying the "unilateral actions work against efforts to resume direct negotiations and contradict the logic of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties."

"We believe that through good faith direct negotiations, the parties should agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem, and safeguards its unique religious status for people around the world," she said.

Nuland said the U.S. will continue to press ahead with the parties to "resolve the core issues in the context of a peace agreement."

The revival of Middle East peace process, one of the Obama administration top diplomatic priorities, has failed to achieve any tangible results.

Last September, the U.S. had managed to bring the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiation table in Washington. But only after two brief rounds, the talks collapsed, as Israel refused to extend the moratorium on West Bank settlement construction.

On May 19, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a major speech on Middle East policy that the peace talks should be based on the 1967 boarders and mutually agreed land swaps. But it was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who insisted that the 1967 boarders are "indefensible."