Patriarch 'did not help Israelis'

There have been calls for Greek Orthodox Patriarch Eirineos I to resign

The head of Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox church has denied claims he knew church land in East Jerusalem was being sold to Jewish property speculators.

Allegations in Israeli newspapers have enraged Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox community, which is mainly Palestinian.

They believe Israel is aiming to expand illegal Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem to isolate Palestinian areas.

On Thursday Palestinian officials asked the US to block growth of the largest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim.

Patriarch Irineos I hit back at claims he was complicit in the sale of land in East Jerusalem to Jewish developers overseas, saying: "If I have done this, let them cut off my hands."

The church's financial manager is suspected of having leased the land several months ago, before vanishing with the takings.

Capital hope

On Thursday senior Orthodox and Muslim figures both called for the patriarch to resign.

The Greek Orthodox church needs to "regain its hurt prestige and continue its mission in the Holy Land", said Archbishop Aristarchos, general secretary of the Jerusalem patriarchate.

You have to pressure Sharon to halt all settlement activities, if you want the peace process to have any credibility. Saeb Erakat Chief Palestinian negotiator

"Jerusalem is a city belonging to the religious trusts that cannot be sold to anybody, especially the Israelis, because Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state," Palestinian cleric Sheikh Taissir Tamimi told the Associated Press.

Palestinians believe Israel is expanding Jewish settlements to the east of Jerusalem in an effort to cut off Palestinian areas of the city from the bulk of the Palestinian West Bank.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to form the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

The international community considers all Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank - including East Jerusalem - illegal, but Israel disputes this.

Meeting US envoys in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Thursday, chief negotiator Saeb Erakat expressed Palestinian opposition to Israeli plans to build 3,500 housing units around Maale Adumim, three miles (5km) east of Jerusalem.

That development would fill in the last stretch of empty land between Palestinian East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Mr Erakat asked the US officials to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "to halt all settlement activities, if you want the peace process to have credibility".