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Anshel Pfeffer

ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer

Analysis

Officials blamed for leaking Jerusalem building plans

March 25, 2010 14:14
1 min read

Senior Israeli officials are accusing both the left and right wing of sabotaging the Netanyahu government's relations with the US by leaking details of building plans in east Jerusalem.

As Mr Netanyahu was going to his meeting with President Obama on Tuesday, Israeli websites broke the story that the Jerusalem municipal planning council had given the final authorisation for a new building project on the site of the Shepherd's Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem.

Last year, the Obama administration condemned this building plan in what was the first diplomatic spat between the two new administrations.

The Americans have demanded clarifications of the plans, and Israeli government officials are claiming that the decision had been taken a week earlier and that the timing of the report was designed to sabotage the meeting at the White House.