Israel Plans Apartments for Soviet Jews in E. Jerusalem

The government announced Friday that construction of 4,000 apartments for Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union and other newcomers will begin next week.

About 2,000 of the apartments will be in East Jerusalem, and Housing Minister David Levy, speaking to local officials in northern Israel, said the construction in that Arab quarter is a clear answer to U.S. policy questioning Israeli sovereignty over the area, Israel Radio reported.

“It is not only our clear . . . national obligation, but also a message to all who comment on the right of the Jewish people to its unified capital,” said Levy, who is also a deputy prime minister.

The status of East Jerusalem, land that was held by Jordan and seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, has become the center of a dispute between Israel and the United States.

On March 3, President Bush said the United States opposes new settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. State Deparment officials said at the time that the United States considers East Jerusalem an Israeli-occupied territory.

The Jerusalem Post said U.S. officials reportedly were angered by an internal report showing that large numbers of Soviet immigrants were moving to East Jerusalem neighborhoods.

The White House later said it supports the rights of Jews and others to live in East Jerusalem in “the context of a negotiated settlement.”

Although the statements were a reaffirmation of established U.S. policy, they unleashed a storm of criticism from Israeli leaders who consider Jerusalem the nation’s religious and political capital.

East Jerusalem is also at the core of the deadlock between the Labor and Likud parties over the peace process. Labor favors East Jerusalem Arabs participating in the peace process, while Likud sees their involvement as a threat to Israeli control of the eastern half of the city.

The new apartments are for immigrants in general, but most are expected to be filled by Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union.

Israeli officials estimate that as many as 100,000 Soviet Jews will emigrate to Israel in 1990, and up to 500,000 over the next five years. In 1989, 12,900 Soviet Jews came to Israel, 54% of the nation’s total immigration of 24,700.