Israel Says East Jerusalem Building Demolition Legal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the demolition of part of the Shepherd Hotel in east Jerusalem, criticized by the U.S. and the European Union, was “in accordance with Israeli law.”

Part of the building, built by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin Al-Husseini in the 1930s, was razed yesterday, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the move a “disturbing development” that “undermines peace efforts to achieve a two-state solution.”