West Bank Views

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JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has beefed up police forces in the West Bank amid widespread fears of a violent Palestinian reaction to his cabinet's decision to construct a Jewish housing project in a disputed area of East Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is a ball of fire and if this ball explodes, it will burn all other things," warned Ahmed Abdel Rahmen, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Cabinet. Although Netanyahu defended the decision to build in Har Homa, a relatively unpopulated area between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, as the only alternative to a severe housing crunch and promised to build Arab housing as well, the move is almost entirely a political calculation. Bulldozers are slated to move into the area at about the same time as the March 7 deadline for completion of the first stage of Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank. That would put the pressure on Palestinian leaders. Let rioters repeat last September's violence over construction of archaeological tunnels near Muslim holy sites, and Israeli troops could refuse to budge. Palestinians maintain that construction of Jewish housing in East Jerusalem would effectively preempt mid-March peace negotiations. "With this decision, Israel put the peace process in danger," charges Yasser Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abourdeneh.