Israeli Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim rejected on Saturday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's statements against Israel's plans to build 300 homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa.
Boim said that Israel cannot be blamed for jeopardizing relations with the PLO every time buildings are constructed in Jerusalem. The minister defended the Har Homa project as within Jerusalem's municipal borders, saying there is nothing preventing construction there, or anywhere else in Israel.
PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat has appealed to the United States to force Israel to stop the building project, as well as the development of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.