Plan Would Tighten Hold on Jerusalem

Government planners submitted a development program for Jerusalem that seeks to expand the city westward, boost investment and keep the Jewish population at 70% of the total by building 142,000 new homes. The Palestinian Authority urged the U.N. Security Council to block Israel’s plan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said he is considering letting the Israeli public vote on a U.S. proposal for a further withdrawal of Israeli troops in the West Bank, and he attacked Palestinians’ efforts to upgrade their observer status in the U.N. Granting Palestinians “near-state” status at the U.N. would be a “fatal blow” to peacemaking that Israel might counter by annexing parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he said.