News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) "There is no delay in construction in Jerusalem," Housing Minister Zev Boim told Voice of Israel government radio Tuesday morning. He said that delays claimed by Jerusalem officials concern coordination and bureaucratic procedures involving the municipality and the government. The minister stated that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's approval is needed for tenders in Judea and Samaria but not in Jerusalem.

Yair Maayan, manager of the municipality of Jerusalem, told the Knesset Economics Committee Monday that the government has postponed advertising 900 apartments in Har Homa and Pisgat Zev, areas that were restored to Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967. American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has voiced her opposition to building in these areas, reversing an American policy that distinguished between Judea and Samaria and the capital.