Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, stated on Wednesday that Israel is not holding any secret talks with the Palestinians over dividing Jerusalem. The statements of Olmert came after the religious Shas Party leader, Eli Yishai, referred to reports that stated that secret reports on diving Jerusalem are underway, Israeli online daily, Haaretz reported.The Shas party escalated its threats to quit the government coalition and said that any talks over Jerusalem are considered a Red Line that will cause the party to leave the government.
Meanwhile, Olmert said that he and his Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, are supervising peace talks with the Palestinians and that so far “no agreements were reached on the fate of Jerusalem”, Haaretz quoted the Israeli army radio.
Jerusalem Municipality Board opposition leader, Nir Bereket, stated earlier on Wednesday that Israeli vice prime minister, Haim Ramon, and Palestinian businessman affiliated with Fateh movement, Mohammad Rashid, agreed during secret talks that Jerusalem should be divided.
Bereket also claimed that Livni knows about these talks and refuses to expose them “therefore she is an accomplice to the state’s act of fraud”, Israeli Army Radio reported.
On her part, Livni refused to provide a direct comment on the statements of Bereket.
But Livni sent a letter to the Jerusalem opposition leader and told him that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are being carried but “until everything is agreed upon, nothing will be agreed upon, and the content of these talks are not for publicity”, Haaretz added.
Meanwhile, the dissolved Palestinian government in Gaza stated that Israel is ongoing with its illegal activities to totally annex Jerusalem and that it recently started constructing 111 homes for settlers, and is planning to construct thousands of settler homes in addition o the Annexation Wall in order to change the demography of the city and void any talks over it.
The government also said that Olmert and the Palestinian Negotiations Team agreed to delay talks over Jerusalem while Israel is acceleration settlement construction and expansion in all Arab areas in the city and around it.
Ismail Haniyya, the Prime Minister of the dissolved government, said that the Israeli occupation is ongoing with its attacks in the Gaza Strip and that the Palestinians will never subdue to the Israeli threats and will remain steadfast until achieving full liberation and independence.
East Jerusalem is internationally recognized as part of the Palestinian territories which were occupied by Israel after the 1967 war, and is subjected to all related Security Council resolutions which call for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories captured by Israel.
