(Haaretz).Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Tuesday that Israel had an "indisputable" right to build anywhere in Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, following international calls on Israel to halt construction in the disputed area.
The calls come in response to Israel's plan to build some 20 apartments for Jews in the Shepherd Hotel, in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The U.S. has demanded that the project be halted, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet meeting on Sunday that "Israel will not agree to edicts of this kind in East Jerusalem."
The Russian Foreign Ministry joined the calls on Israel to scrap the plan, and in response, Ayalon said that "Israel has and will continue to act in accordance with its national interests, especially when it comes to Jerusalem."
