A video was recently posted at The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs‘ TheJerusalemCenter’s Channel at YouTube with Dore Gold discussing “Israel’s Right to Build in Jerusalem“:

From the Notes:

    “Dore Gold spoke at a workshop at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, on December 29, 2009, on the topic of Israeli construction in Jerusalem. Through his analysis of the history of Jerusalem, Gold argues that Israel has full legal and historical rights to build in all parts of Jerusalem.”  View the video below

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Also of interest may also be the presentation by Gold “Consensus on Defensible Borders and a United Jerusalem“

From the Notes:

     “At a conference at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, former Ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold argued that at the heart of the Israeli-Arab conflict lies the necessity for defensible borders for Israel and a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. He also discussed how in Israel, as well as the United States and in the Jewish community, there is a consensus about these two issues.” View the video below

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With thanks to Israel Matzav’s post “Video: Israel’s right to build in Jerusalem“  who wrote in part

     “Israel, in a war of self-defense, captured the eastern parts of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. Previously, the Jordanians had annexed east Jerusalem, but only Pakistan had recognized Jordanian sovereignty in Jerusalem. It became a springboard for attacking Israel, and Israel recovered it in a war of self-defense. Can you say that Israel is occupying someone else’s territory? Whom did it belong to? Jordan?  Israel has a claim to Jerusalem which is stronger than any other claimant. An international legal expert, Steven Schwebel, who was later Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State and President of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, asserted back in 1970 that of all the claimants to Jerusalem, Israel had the strongest claim. If Israel’s claim is the strongest claim, then it becomes difficult to understand how Israel could be criticized for building in Jerusalem for both its Jewish and Arab residents.”…  Read the whole post and see the video

UPDATE:  Additionally, perhaps of interest:

“… The Presidency recalls that the European Union has never recognised the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states..”  Read the whole statement
      …”Speaking during a tour of the neighborhood of Gilo, Barkat said that the demand to halt construction in Jerusalem only for Jews would not be legal anywhere in the world. 
       The White House made clear in a statement Tuesday that it opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem, which is predominantly Arab and tapped by the Palestinians to be the capital of a future state. “Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally preempt, or appear to preempt, negotiations. Rather, both parties should return to negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.”… Read the whole article