Netanyahu Backs Jerusalem Project JERUSALEM (AP) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backs the right of a Florida millionaire to build homes for Jews in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem and will decide next week whether to give the go-ahead for the controversial project, his adviser said Friday. The U.S. businessman, Irving Moskovitz, wants to come to Israel in mid-January and will reportedly meet with Netanyahu and other right-wing candidates for prime minister to decide whom to support financially in the campaign for May 17 elections. Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Palestinians said a summit could be held in the spring between President Clinton and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to deal with the currently frozen peace process. Moskovitz, who contributed to Netanyahu's campaign in 1996, owns four acres in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of 11,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem and wants to build 132 apartments on the plot. The Palestinians say the project undercuts their efforts to establish a future capital in the eastern sector, captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Previous attempts to build triggered Palestinian protests and riots. Earlier this week, the Israeli Antiquities Authority gave its approval for construction in Ras al-Amud after a salvage dig showed there were no important archaeological artifacts on the site. Next week, Netanyahu will review his earlier decision to block the construction, said his adviser, David Bar-Illan. In the past, Netanyahu held up construction on grounds it might endanger public safety, presumably because it would trigger Palestinian riots. Asked whether Netanyahu's views had changed, Bar-Illan said: ``Circumstances change.'' He said Netanyahu ``has no objection in principle'' to the construction, but retains the right to halt the project if necessary. Earlier this week, in a campaign stop in the Old City, Netanyahu urged more Jews to settle in the Arab neighborhoods of the city. Meanwhile, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said preparations are underway for a possible Clinton-Arafat summit in March or April. The chief U.S. Mideast peace envoy, Dennis Ross, will arrive in the region Jan. 9, Erekat said. The top items on the summit agenda would be the frozen Wye River peace agreement, which Clinton helped negotiate, and the approaching May 4 deadline for a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. The two last met when Clinton visited the Gaza Strip for the first time last month. Arafat has made contradictory statements about whether he would unilaterally declare an independent Palestinian state or hold out for an accord with Israel on the future borders of the Palestinian entity. Netanyahu has threatened to walk away from the peace talks and annex parts of the West Bank if Arafat goes ahead with a unilateral declaration of statehood. It is believed that a Palestinian declaration of statehood on May 4 would give a boost to Netanyahu over his dovish challengers. Also Friday, a senior Palestinian Authority official delivering a Ramadan sermon to 300,000 worshipers in Jerusalem said the United States and Britain are ``enemies of God and Islam'' for bombing Iraq. The remarks by Yousef Salemeh, the deputy minister for Islamic affairs, in a sermon at Al Aqsa Mosque undermine Arafat's efforts to muffle Palestinian criticism of the United States.
