Vote on settler homes postponed ‘after PM request’

An Israeli committee delayed a vote set for Wednesday on permits for settler homes after a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid further conflict with the United States, an official said. Hanan Rubin, a Jerusalem city councillor and a member of the planning committee that was to discuss the permits, told AFP its […]

An Israeli committee delayed a vote set for Wednesday on permits for settler homes after a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid further conflict with the United States, an official said.

Hanan Rubin, a Jerusalem city councillor and a member of the planning committee that was to discuss the permits, told AFP its members had been informed of the request by the committee chairman.

The discussion was pulled from Wednesday’s agenda in a move following last week’s UN Security Council resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlement building and with US Secretary of State John Kerry set for a major speech on the conflict later in the day.

“We were told by the chairman… that it was pulled at the request of the prime minister so we can avoid a conflict with the US government just before Kerry’s speech tonight,” Rubin told AFP.

Netanyahu’s spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rubin said the committee had been planning to vote on permits for 492 units in the Ramat Shlomo and Ramot settlement neighbourhoods of mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem