News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Several Knesset Members, including several from the Kadima party, have charged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with twisting the truth concerning the status of new construction in Jerusalem neighborhoods that were restored to Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967. The Prime Minister flatly denied that he has decided to freeze all new construction, in line with the American State Department's opposition to expansion of the Har Homa neighborhood.

However, MKs at the closed session of a Knesset sub-committee Monday said that the government's new policy is that no new building can begin without the Prime Minister's personal approval. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni stated that while Israel will retain sovereignty over the entire capital, the government will decide "where, when and how" construction will be allowed.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski charged that any building freeze would change the status of the capital to "an illegal outpost."