UNITED NATIONS (AFP), 06.12.07. UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said Israel's decision to expand a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem was "not helpful" and he would discuss the matter with his partners in the diplomatic Quartet for Middle East peace. The UN position on the illegality of settlements is well known," he told reporters. "This new tender for 300 new homes in east Jerusalem so soon after this Annapolis Middle East peace conference, I think, is not helpful," he added, referring to a recent US-hosted peace summit. "I will be discussing this matter with my Quartet partners." On Tuesday Israel said it had invited bids to build more than 300 new housing units in Har Homa, a settlement in annexed east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians have demanded as the capital of their future state. Israel does not consider construction in east Jerusalem -- which it captured in the 1967 Six-Day war -- as settlement growth because it annexed the Arab part of the Holy City shortly after the conflict.
Ban's Quartet partners are US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
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