Palestinian Aid Talks Derailed Over Jerusalem
Talks on crucial foreign aid to support Palestinian autonomy broke down Friday in a dispute between Israel and the Palestinians over whether some of the funds could be used in East Jerusalem.
The conflict drew an angry rebuke from the talks’ sponsor, the World Bank, which said the aid issue is too important to be “derailed by the two main parties.”
The bank said it would try to resume the negotiations but set no date for reconvening the delegations from donor nations.
Israel, which insists that Jerusalem must remain its undivided capital, vehemently objects to efforts by the new Palestinian administration to undertake projects in East Jerusalem.
Israeli Environment Minister Yossi Sarid, interviewed on Israel’s Arabic-language television, said that under the self-rule agreement with Israel, the Palestinians were not supposed to raise the issue of Jerusalem until 1996.
Palestinians would like to see East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War, as capital of their would-be state.
Uri Savir, director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and head of the Israeli delegation to the talks, told Israel Radio that the postponement would mean a delay in the expansion of autonomy to other areas.
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