JERUSALEM, May 26 (UPI) -- Israeli officials dedicated a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem to push the position the city will not be relinquished in peace talks, officials said.
The new 100-family neighborhood in Ma'aleh Zeitim in the predominantly Arab Ras al-Amud area is near the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. The ceremony took place Wednesday night shortly before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu returned to Israel from the United States, Ynetnews.com said.
"We must support Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today in his position as was presented during his U.S. visit and forever we should say -- that's enough. Jerusalem should stay untouched," the Web site quoted Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan as saying at the ceremony.
"Israel without Jerusalem or without Zion are like a body without a soul," Erdan said.
During the ceremony a group of Palestinians and activists affiliated with the left protested, calling out "Jews and Arabs against Ma'aleh Zeitim" and "There is no shame in the holy city," Haaretz said.
Orly Noy a spokeswoman for Ir Amim, which focuses its actions on Jerusalem in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, called the ceremony a dangerous provocation, Ynetnews.com said.
