2nd Bulldozer Goes on Rampage in Jerusalem

Palestine condemns move

(NEWSER) - In a move sure to ratchet up Israeli-Palestinian tension even further, Israel gave the OK today to construct 1,100 new housing units in east Jerusalem. Israel’s Interior Ministry says construction can begin after 60 days, a period that is mandatory for comments from the public but largely a formality, the AP reports. While the Palestinians say east Jerusalem is their future capital, and have called for a halt to all settlement construction there, Israel says the area is a part of its own capital, an undivided Jerusalem. More»

US activist Rachel Corrie tried to protect Palestinian homes

(NEWSER) - The parents of a US activist who was crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer may soon meet the operators of the machine that killed their daughter. Rachel Corrie, 23, of Washington state was crushed as she attempted to block a bulldozer razing Palestinian homes in Gaza. Her parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Israeli government that's now moving into its second, critical, stage, and will involve Israeli state witness testimony. "It is clear" the army investigation into Corrie's death seven years ago "was very far from being sufficient, thorough or impartial," said her parents' attorney. More»

Israel outraged, Livni says move 'not helpful and wrong'

(NEWSER) - European Union foreign ministers will call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with East Jerusalem serving as the capital of Palestine, when they meet in Brussels next week. A Swedish draft of the resolution obtained by Haaretz implies that the EU would recognize a Palestinian declaration of statehood. It urges both sides to cease “provocative action,” and calls on Israel to “cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.” More»

(NEWSER) - Amid intense US-Israeli negotiations over settlements, Israel today brushed off Washington’s request to stop an American millionaire's housing project in East Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Post reports. Palestinians have complained that it would change demographics in the Arab-dominated area. But Obama "had crossed a red line" in asking Israel to cease building in Jerusalem, said sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. More»

(AP) - A Palestinian driver rammed a construction vehicle into a bus and police car on an Israeli highway today, wounding two officers before he was shot dead. It was the third bulldozer attack in Jerusalem in the past eight months. Witnesses described a yellow front-loader speeding along Begin Highway, dragging the police car, flipping it into the air and trying to plow it into the bus, which had no passengers. More»