Israel is coming under international criticism for bulldozing the Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem to make way for 20 new homes for Jewish families. The hotel was built in the 1930s for Muslim Grand Mufti Haj Amin Husseini. In 2009, Israel’s city hall approved plans to replace the hotel with apartments despite the United States raising concerns with Israel’s ambassador in the United States. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that Jews have a right to live anywhere in Jerusalem. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemned the project, saying it would undermine peace efforts to achieve the two-state solution. U.N. spokesperson Martin Nesirky also criticized Israel’s move.

Martin Nesirky: “The Secretary-General deplores yesterday’s destruction of the Shepherd’s Hotel in occupied East Jerusalem to make way for new settlement units in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood, which only serves to heighten tensions. It is deeply regrettable that growing international concern at unilateral expansion of illegal Israeli settlements is not being heeded. Such actions seriously prejudice the possibility of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Secretary-General once again calls on the government of Israel to take whatever steps are necessary to freeze settlement activity anywhere in occupied territory.”