MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
We'll check in with one of our correspondents in Manchester in a few minutes. But first, the other major story we're following today.
NORRIS: From Jerusalem, here's NPR's Eric Westervelt.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Another sign offers new Euro-view apartments. In fact, the view is of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. And what Israeli officials call expansion of a neighborhood of the united Jerusalem, the Palestinians call an illegal settlement. Har Homa is built on land Israel captured and annexed after the 1967 Mideast war, annexation the Palestinians and much of the international community view as illegal.
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WESTERVELT: Construction in Har Homa today is booming. Just one week after the Annapolis conference restarted long-stalled peace talks, the Israeli Housing Ministry announced tenders to build more than 300 additional housing units here. The move enraged Palestinians.
NORRIS: They're poking me in the eye. They are (unintelligible) me in front of Palestinian people. If they think they can have settlements and peace, forget it.
WESTERVELT: In 1997, the start of construction of Jewish homes in Har Homa contributed to a violent collapse in peace talks. Erekat warns that ongoing construction in East Jerusalem and expansion of West Bank settlements could one again undermine negotiations.
NORRIS: Just the total pity politics was the reason of Israel. (Unintelligible) Har Homa, (unintelligible), remember they said no. We decided already, we have dictated on this Palestinians, so we are preempting the reasons for negotiations before they begin, and will determine the faith of Jerusalem by adding all these settlement blocks to us.
WESTERVELT: Hebrew University political scientist Reuven Hazan says it's a tragedy the president waited until his final year in office to get directly involved in the peace process.
D: A president has to decide that he really wants to deal with the conflict. But presidents who come here late in office, who have lost both houses of Congress - all these and American think too little too late.
WESTERVELT: Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Jerusalem.