Israel's ambassador summoned & told Israel halt East Jerusalem settlment

AP. here

"The U.S. has demanded that Israel suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, senior Israeli officials said Sunday -- the latest sign of a deepening conflict between the two allies over Israeli settlements.

The officials confirmed that Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told that the project being developed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz should not go ahead.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss with the media diplomatic flaps with the U.S.....

The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.....

Moskowitz, an influential supporter of Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem, purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build housing units in its place...."