- 1 jan 2010
Report: Settlement construction booming
Jerusalem - Ma'an/Agencies - Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's professed 10-month settlement freeze, construction in dozens of supposedly frozen areas is booming, an Israeli newspaper reported Thursday.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said reporters toured West Bank settlements on Wednesday and witnessed work being carried out in the Bakran and Ariel industrial zones, as well as the construction of housing at Ariel, Elkana North, Peduel and Kfar Tapuah.
The construction, being carried out mostly east of the separation wall on the eve of US special envoy George Mitchell's expected visit, continued unabated despite the presence of Israeli patrols, the report said. A sign at Kfar Tapuah announced plans for constructing 65 new housing units, according to the newspaper.
"In all the sites mentioned there is evidence of heavy equipment preparing the ground for construction or for the creation of suitable infrastructure," the report added.
Earlier this month, Ma'an's photographers documented ongoing construction on one of the 3,000 settlement units exempt from the moratorium. In mid-December, photographers observed further construction in the Oranit settlement west of the Israeli separation wall.
When contacted about the report , Israeli Civil Administration officials said they "were aware" of the ongoing construction and that the issue was being pursued.
On Monday, the White House announced it was opposed to Israel's plan to build nearly 700 new settlement units in and around occupied East Jerusalem. "The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved by the parties through negotiations and supported by the international community," press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
The Swedish presidency of the European Union also issued a statement saying it was “dismayed” at the announcement. “Settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law,” the statement said. “The Presidency of the European Union thus urges the Government of Israel to reconsider these plans.”
“The Presidency recalls that the European Union has never recognized 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.”
Israel occupied East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank in 1967. It later annexed the city and regards it as an absorbed part of Israel. Palestinians and the international community never recognized Israeli sovereignty in the east of the city. In 1967, Israel also expanded Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, such that much of what Israel terms ‘East Jerusalem’ actually lies deep in the West Bank. Har Homa, for example, is situated closer to Bethlehem than Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251240 6 jan 2012, 17:11 , Respect -
Maria 3 jan 2010
Lieberman says Abbas ‘problematic
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman cast doubt on Sunday on President Mahmoud Abbas’ capacity to fully represent Palestinians, given Hamas’ hold on the Gaza Strip.
"Our Palestinian partner Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is problematic. Does he represent all of the Palestinian people? It is clear that he does not represent Gaza and that his legitimacy in the West Bank is in doubt," Lieberman told public radio and quoted by AFP.
"To sign an accord with Abu Mazen would be to sign a deal with the leader of Fatah," the president's political party, he added.
"That said, I hope there will be a meeting with Abu Mazen. It is important that there be political negotiations, and we are ready for that - as long as there are no preconditions.
"We don't have to buy an entry ticket for talks," Lieberman said in reference to the Palestinian stance that a complete settlement standstill be enforced before negotiations are restarted.
The Israeli foreign minister’s recent comments follow a long line of statements in the last month, particularly asserting that the Palestinian stance on settlements is simply “a pretext for the Arab world to complain.”
Furthermore, Lieberman said that the 10-month settlement freeze was simply a tactical move and not a real effort to stop settlement growth.
"National honor is an important value in the Middle East, and the time for obsequious attitudes is over. We have no need to adopt false pretences in a bid to please," he continued.
Meanwhile, Abbas began a tour of the Middle East on Sunday to discuss a possible renewal of talks with Israel and the nature of Palestinian reconciliation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251616
Report: US plan to push borders agreement first
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Negotiations are to commence immediately in order to reach a final status agreement in two years according to the US plan to restart peace talks, Israeli media reported on Monday.
The first issue to be discussed is the final borders of the Palestinian state, which should be agreed upon within nine months before Israel's temporary settlement standstill in the West Bank comes to an end, according to the Israeli daily Maariv. Subsequently, talks on Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees will be discussed, the daily reported.
US President Barack Obama will relay messages to both sides, reassuring them that negotiations would be followed through, Maariv stated, reporting additionally that Washington will exert pressure on the Arab League to support peace talks and, in turn, support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, the daily added, continues to play an effective role by urging Abbas to agree to restart negotiations.
Meanwhile, Abbas is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday to discuss the status of the reconciliation document aimed at ending Fatah-Hamas rivalry and the renewal of peace talks with Israel.
Abbas in Egypt
President Mahmoud Abbas met on Sunday evening with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Sulaiman, the powerful official in charge of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks, among other issues.
The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) official news agency WAFA reported that the meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh focused on Egypt’s “efforts” to push forward the peace process.”
On Monday Abbas is scheduled to meet with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, according to WAFA.
The meetings come amid renewed activity on at least two fronts for Abbas: a possible resumption of negotiations with Israel and a possible reconciliation with Hamas.
Earlier on Sunday Hamas Political Bureau chief Khalid Mash’al announced, after weeks of political stalemate, that the Palestinian rival parties were in the “final stages” of reconciliation.
Mash’al made the announcement after meeting with the Saudi foreign minister during a visit to Riyadh.
Restoring Hamas-Fatah unity, and thereby bringing the West Bank and Gaza back under one administration, is seen by many as key to progress on the political track of negotiations with Israel.
In remarks made in the media in the past week, Israeli and PA officials have suggested that long-frozen peace talks could be renewed this month following an initiative put forward by Egypt.
On Thursday, Israeli officials announced Egypt as the host of a new round of peace talks following a proposed meeting between Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following the announcement, however, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told Ma’an the Palestinian Authority had not received "anything about such a thing. So far what we heard was from the media."
The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday reported that the signs of life in the peace process were the result of assurances Netanyahu gave Mubarak in a meeting last week.
Netanyahu reportedly told Mubarak that he would accept a peace process that has as its goal the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, including land swaps and a consideration of the “reality on the ground” a phrase thought to refer to Israel’s West Bank settlements.
The newspaper added that Netanyahu did not make public these commitments because he needed to consult senior cabinet members regarding them.
During his two-day visit to Egypt Abbas is accompanied by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina, and diplomatic advisor Majdi Al-Khalidi, according to WAFA.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251736 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 4 jan 2010
Abbas: Talks start immediately after freeze
Bethlehem – Ma'an – President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday reiterated the PLO's position that Israel must stop expanding West Bank settlements before Palestinians would be willing to renew peace talks.
"We are not imposing conditions; this is clear. But we have previously stated and will repeat that as soon as settlement construction stops we will resume negotiations immediately," he told journalists after a meeting with Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh.
Abbas added that Israel would have to recognize an “international reference” beforehand, as well, if it expected the talks to be fruitful. The Palestinian people do not object to meetings and negotiations, he said.
He made no comment on a proposed trilateral peace summit with Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also visited Egypt last weeks for talks with Mubarak in what was interpreted as a sign of progress toward renewed negotiations.
Netanyahu's counterpart, however, told International Quartet envoy Tony Blair on Monday that it would not be possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians within two years. He said that setting unrealistic deadlines would lead to extremism by Palestinians.
"It will not be possible to reach an arrangement on final borders within nine months, nor a complete final status arrangement within two years," he was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper. "This is an unrealistic date."
The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership called off negotiations with Israel amid the country's devastating assault on Gaza last winter, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks.
A delegation of Egyptian officials is expected to travel to Washington to update the US government on possible progress toward resuming negotiations.
Referring to the officials’ trip to Washington, Abbas said, "We talked about the issues they'll discuss over there, focusing on the Palestinian issue. ... Things will be clearer when they return, so let's not confuse the issue by speculating."
News reports last week said US President Barack Obama’s administration was preparing letters to both Israel and the PLO guaranteeing amenable conditions for resumed talks.
After his meeting with Mubarak, Abbas said he had not received any American guarantees on the resumption of talks with Israel.
With regard to reconciliation between his Fatah movement and Hamas, he said, "We signed the Egyptian paper, which Hamas reviewed and approved before we did. After that, they refused to sign it. What Hamas should do is come to Cairo and sign."
Abbas was en route to Qatar late on Monday afternoon, before scheduled visits to Kuwait and Turkey.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of Jordan arrived in Sharm Ash-Sheikh to discuss the Mideast peace process, according to his Royal Bureau. In a statement, the bureau said the king's delegation would discuss developments in the region and the two-state solution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251919
PA cabinet: No talks without freeze
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The cabinet of the Ramallah-based Palestinian government reiterated a call on Monday for Israel to halt the expansion of West Bank settlements as a step toward renewed peace talks.
During the weekly cabinet meeting ministers concluded that “progress in the peace process requires a comprehensive cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem.”
“The full freeze of settlement activities includes proclaimed natural growth,” the cabinet said.
“It also requires Israeli abstention from provocative measures such as arrests, assassinations and invasion of Palestinian areas and stopping illegal measures and practices in Jerusalem,” the cabinet said in a statement after the meeting.
A settlement freeze is needed, the ministers concluded, “to create a clear framework of reference for a peace process, that includes specific timelines and all permanent status issues and to ensure the implementation of international resolutions, ending the Israeli occupation.”
The cabinet also said Israel was introducing obstacles to the peace process through settlement expansion and excavations near Jerusalem holy sites and under the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
Earlier President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated the PLO's position that Israel must stop expanding settlements before Palestinians would be willing to renew peace talks.
"We are not imposing conditions; this is clear. But we have previously stated and will repeat that as soon as settlement construction stops we will resume negotiations immediately," he told journalists after a meeting with Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251977 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 5 jan 2010
Israel okays new Jerusalem settlement buildings
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli authorities approved on Monday the construction of four new settlement apartment buildings Palestinian land in occupied east Jerusalem.
According to Israeli media, the country’s Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee approved the new structures, intended to house 24 settler families adjacent to a Jewish religious school, in the heart of the annexed Palestinian capital.
The project was initiated by Jewish American gambling tycoon Irving Moskowitz, who caused a diplomatic storm last year when he obtained a permit to bulldoze East Jerusalem’s historic Shepherd hotel in order to build a settlement.
Last week, the US, Europe, and other world powers condemned a plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to add 700 apartments to settlements in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
"The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved by the parties through negotiations and supported by the international community," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in reaction to the announcement.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the Israeli Housing Ministry invited contractors to bid on the construction of 198 housing units in the settlement Pisgat Ze'ev, 377 in Neve Ya'akov and 117 in Har Homa.
The Swedish presidency of the European Union also issued a statement saying it was "dismayed" at the announcement. "Settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law," the statement said. "The Presidency of the European Union thus urges the Government of Israel to reconsider these plans."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252065 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 6 jan 2010
Israel approves Jerusalem settlement expansion
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli government approved on Wednesday the construction of a new settlement in the Palestinian town of Shufat, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel Radio reported that the plan includes three new five-story buildings on a 5,000-meter plot of land, funded by Jewish American gambling tycoon Irving Moskovitz.
On Tuesday Israel’s Jerusalem Planning and Building committee approved the construction of four new settler buildings on the Mount of Olives, in the heart of East Jerusalem.
Moskovitz was also behind the Mount of Olives project, which is intended to house 24 settler families adjacent to a Jewish religious school.
Moskovitz caused a diplomatic storm last year when he obtained a permit to bulldoze East Jerusalem’s historic Shepherd Hotel in order to build a settlement.
Last week, the US, Europe, and other world powers condemned a plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to add 700 apartments to settlements in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
"The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved by the parties through negotiations and supported by the international community," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in reaction to the announcement.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 along with the rest of the West Bank. Israel annexed a swath of the central West Bank stretching from Bethlehem to Ramallah, declaring the land part of annexed Israeli territory, a status never recognized internationally.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252442 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 8 jan 2010
Barak eases freeze, okays 100 more units
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave settlement leaders the power to issue building permits, further relaxing an already loose and unenforced moratorium applying to some construction in West Bank settlements.
Israel's daily newspaper Haaretz reported Friday that Barak issued a "revised" version of the settlement freeze that "dictates that the planning powers be returned to local authorities."
The paper explained that the practical outcome will be that once the freeze is over, the paperwork to permit the construction of what could be thousands of settlement homes will already be in order, so building can start immediately.
The revised order also permits the expansion of existing structures, such as adding rooms, turning garages and balconies into closed rooms. This expanded the earlier relaxation, applied only three weeks after the initial ban was put in place, allowing for more minor renovations and construction.
The announcement came the same day Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper published a plan that okayed the construction of an additional 100 housing units in East Jerusalem settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252805
Clinton: Negotiate borders first
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Obama administration's peace plan urges negotiations on borders ahead of settlements and refugees, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Friday in Washington.
At a news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Clinton said "resolving borders resolves settlements; resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements."
She said both sides should return to negotiations immediately. "Our goal is to persuade the two parties to get into this very in-depth negotiations on all of these issues as soon as possible."
The secretary of state also said the US and Jordan were "concerned about recent activities in Jerusalem."
Clinton said special US envoy George Mitchell would depart on Sunday for Europe, where he plans to meet with members of the International Quartet, made up of the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia, in Brussels.
Mitchell will then head back to the US before visiting the Middle East by the end of the month, US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley announced, according to Agence France-Presse, which quoted Crowley as saying the Obama administration wants to "share ideas" about the talks. "Clearly the first step in this process is to get the two sides back to formal negotiations and also find a variety of ways to address the very concrete issues" concerning either side, he reportedly said.
When he arrives, Mitchell will launch "proximity talks" between Palestinians and Israelis, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Friday. Under the plan, necessitated by the PLO's refusal to enter into direct negotiations until Israel stops expanding its borders, Mitchell and his staff will meet separately with both parties rather than demand they meet each other right away, the report said.
The envoy would present each side's position to the other, and try to fill the gaps, according to the report. This is the same system, Haaretz noted, that was attempted unsuccessfully by former US presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton for Israeli-Syrian talks.
The idea apparently arose as President Mahmoud Abbas holds his stance on refusing to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until he agrees to at least pause new building in Israeli-only towns and cities in the occupied territories, which Netanyahu has rejected. Abbas wanted at least five-month show of restraint, according to Haaretz.
The newspaper also reported a further relaxation of restrictions on the partial moratorium imposed six weeks ago on the building of some West Bank settlements. The moratorium was not acceptable to Palestinians because it did not apply to East Jerusalem.
Abbas and Netanyahu did exchange greetings at the UN last fall, but the PLO made clear the meet did not amount to a return to negotiations, which broke down in light of Israel's devastating winter assault on the Gaza Strip that left dead some 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, in just over three weeks. Thirteen Israelis also died, including three civilians.
According to Haaretz, Abbas told his associates that he opposed an alternative US proposal that he would receive a letter guaranteeing that any future agreement would be based on the internationally recognized 1967 borders because Israel would receive similar guarantees.
Abbas feels betrayed by the Obama administration, he said in a November 2009 speech outlining his reasons for not seeking a second term, because the Americans backed down on their initial demands for a settlement freeze in the face of the right-wing Israeli government's objections. The president's remarks came the same week Clinton praised as unprecedented Israel's "restraint" in building new settlements, understood to be colonies under a broadly accepted interpretation of international law.
Netanyahu offered nothing new in talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier this week, either, Haaretz reported.
Meanwhile, jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti reportedly said on Thursday that the leaders of both Israel and Palestine must act boldly. "The foundation for peace is the end of Israel's occupation and the creation of a separate and independent Palestinian state," he said, quoted by Palestinian-Israeli MK Taleb Al-Sana (Ra'am-Ta'al) in a separate Haaretz report, which he met Bargouthi in jail the same day.
For its part, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office is upset with recent "anti-Israel incitement" from the Palestinian Authority, the newspaper reported. It cited complaints that Abbas recently dedicated a public square to Dalal Mughrabi, the late PLO fighter who in 1978 helped hijack an Israeli bus in a failed attempt to force a prisoner exchange. The operation resulted in the deaths of 38 Israelis during an exchange of fire with Israeli forces and an explosion, although it was never established if the blast was caused by Israeli police or the hijackers.
The Israelis are also angry about the PA's response to a late December shooting attack that killed a settler leader near Nablus. Abbas never condemned the operation, according to the newspaper, although he did order his security forces to round up 150 suspects, who were still undergoing interrogation when Israeli forces extra-judicially assassinated three Fatah members in their homes in retaliation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252912 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 9 jan 2010
Israeli media: More settlement building underway in Jerusalem
Bethlehem – Ma’an /Agencies – New plans to build even more settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, despite international calls for a standstill, were revealed on Friday by the Israel daily newspaper the Jerusalem News.
The daily reported that a local construction and planning committee will review blueprints for a new settlement comprising 100 housing units, to be built on the site of the former Israeli police headquarters in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras Al-A’moud, east Jerusalem.
The new settlement, Ma’alut David, is to be built on 11 dunums of land on and around the former police site, which was responsible for the West Bank, Jerusalem News stated.
Ma’alut David’s construction was stalled for several months while a new building for the police department was under construction near the illegal settlement of Ma’aleh Adummin, opposite the Palestinian town of Abu Dis in occupied Jerusalem. The latest unlawful housing unit is situated 300 meters from another Israeli settlement, Ma’aleh HaZeitim, on the Mount of Olives.
Right wing Israeli activist Arieh King, who first called for the construction of Ma’aleh HaZeitim, said that Ma’alut David was not an expansion to the already existing settlement, but rather an independent build, the daily reported.
The newspaper noted, “If US President Barak Obama thought that his request that Israel freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank in general and Jerusalem in particular would be met with a positive response from Israel, facts on the ground prove otherwise, with the acceleration of settlement building in Jerusalem over the past few days.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252892
Erekat rejects US call to renew talks
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – The Palestinian Authority rejected US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call for the resumption of peace talks without prerequisites, Agence France Presse and Israeli media reported on Saturday.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stressed that peace talks can only be renewed on the condition that Israel realizes a settlement standstill across the West Bank and occupied east Jerusalem. "A resumption of peace talks requires the complete halt of settlements," Erekat told the AFP.
Negotiations, he added, could only be reinitiated from the point at which they were stopped in December 2008, when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead.
It was announced on Friday that the US and Jordan would urge Palestinians and Israel to discuss Jerusalem and borders – issues that have been relegated to final status talks in previous negotiations. Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Abbas declared eight preconditions which must be met by Israel in order to bring the Palestinian side back to the negotiation table, including a total settlement freeze and Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders.
"Resolving borders resolves settlements, resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements. I think we need to lift our sights and instead of looking down at the trees, we need to look at the forest," said Clinton after meeting Jordanian Minister of Foreign Aaffairs Nasser Judeh at the State Department and quoted by the Israeli daily Haaretz.
"We are working with the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and the Arab states to take the steps needed to re-launch negotiations as soon as possible and without preconditions, which is in the interests of everyone in the region," Clinton added.
Previous negotiations have always stalled on the issue of settlements and Palestinian refugees, issues that both sides refuse to compromise on. However, as both Judeh and Clinton condemned settlement construction in east Jerusalem, Israeli media reported over the weekend that plans to build another 100 housing units in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras Al-A’moud were to be approved.
Middle East Special Envoy George Mitchell is due to tour Europe, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories this month, and it is anticipated that with him he will bring written guarantees to both Palestinian and Israeli officials.
The Israeli daily suggested that “For the Israelis, they [the US] would acknowledge that post-1967 demographic changes on the ground must be taken into account, meaning that Israel would be able to keep some settlements.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253088
Israeli TV: Abbas, Fayyad mean to provoke Israel
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel called on the US to heed their complaints against President Mahmoud Abbas and caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad,who were berated for allegedly glorifying martyrdom on Israel's Channel Two on Saturday.
The complaint was broadcast following the naming of a street after Dalal Al-Mughrabi, who led a group of Palestinian combatants and hi-jacked an Israeli bus in Tel Aviv in 1978, which led to clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters, and in which 30 Israelis were killed. Al-Mughrabi and the fighters were killed by Israeli forces. Al-Mughrabi's corpse, which remains in an Israeli morgue, was sentenced to five life sentences.
Additionally, the Israeli channel broadcast pictures of the prime minister's recent burning of produce and goods manufactured on illegal Israeli settlements and calling on a Palestinian boycott of such items.
Such actions, Channel Two reported, were aimed at provoking Israel and the US must respond to these "dangerous acts."
The channel further charged Abbas and Fayyad of encouraging resistance to the occupation and financially supporting the families of Palestinian combatants.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253102 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 17 jan 2010
Barghouti: Israel using negotiations as cover for expansionism
Ramallah – Ma'an – Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouti said on Sunday that returning to negotiations with Israel is not possible until a complete settlement standstill, including in occupied East Jerusalem, is enforced, as well as population growth, during a reception for the European Council.
A timeline for negotiations, Barghouti added, must be identified in order to resume talks. "The Israeli government is trying to deceive the world with talks of its settlement freeze [in the West Bank] while construction is plainly increasing in Jerusalem and the West Bank."
Barghouti called on the EU to end Israeli practices in Jerusalem aimed at Judaizing the city, which he considered as an attempt to liquefy the Palestinian cause.
Settlements and peace, he said, cannot coincide. "Israel is working to return to the negotiating table, which it is using as a cover for expansionism," Barghouti added. The international community must respect the Palestinian decision to reject negotiations as settlement construction continues and must pressure Israel, and not the Palestinian side, he further asserted.
Barghouti emphasised that the international community must boycott and impose sanctions against Israel for its violations in the occupied Palestinian territories so that opportunities for peace are not lost and the establishment of a Palestinian state is not thwarted, he concluded.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254787 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 21 jan 2010
Ban urges Israel to end settlements
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israel’s settlement construction on occupied Palestinian territory is hindering Middle East peace efforts, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday.
Other policies like its annexation of East Jerusalem, which remains part of the occupied territories, and its blockade of Gaza are for the resumption of long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, he said.
“In the absence of talks, confidence between the parties has diminished,” he told a meeting in New York of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
“Tensions have risen in East Jerusalem. People in Gaza and southern Israel continue to suffer from violence. If we do not move forward on the political process soon, we risk sliding backwards,” he was quoted as saying by the UN News Centre.
Ban voiced concern that despite Israel’s decision to restrain settlement construction in the West Bank, activity and financial support for expansion were continuing there and in East Jerusalem.
“Settlement construction violates international law and contravenes the Road Map, under which Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement activity, including the so-called ‘natural growth,’” he said, referring to the internationally endorsed plan for two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
“This is in no one’s interest, least of all Israel’s. Settlement activity undermines trust between the two parties, seems to pre-judge the outcome of the future permanent status negotiations, and imperils the basis for the two-State solution,” he said.
In East Jerusalem Ban cited “a series of worrisome events [that] has not only stoked tensions in the city but also has the potential to endanger stability in the region,” such as Israel’s continued Israeli house demolitions, evictions and revocation of identity cards of Palestinians, and its plans to expand settlement infrastructure.
“It bears repeating that the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, which remains part of the occupied Palestinian territory,” he said. “A way must be found, through negotiations, for Jerusalem to emerge as the capital of two states living side-by-side in peace and security, with arrangements for the holy sites acceptable to all.”
Turning to Gaza, Ban noted that one year after the end of Israel’s three-week military offensive against Hamas, neither the issues that led to the conflict nor its aftermath have been fully addressed. Moreover, accountability for violations of international human rights law has not been adequately addressed, as called for by an independent UN mission that found that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants may have committed serious war crimes, he said.
“I call on Israel and the relevant Palestinian authorities to conduct, without delay, credible domestic investigations into the many reported allegations of serious human rights violations,” he said.
Voicing “special concern” at the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, he noted that the amount of humanitarian and other supplies allowed in was insufficient to meet the needs of the population or to enable urgently needed reconstruction.
“I repeat my call on Israel to end its unacceptable and counterproductive blockade and to fully respect international law,” he said. “I am also greatly concerned about those in southern Israel who have to live in fear of continuing Palestinian rocket and mortar fire from Gaza. I call for a complete end to violence and the targeting of Israeli civilians.”
Israel cited the rocket attacks as the reason for its assault on Gaza, which left some 1,400 Palestinians dead in about three weeks. Thirteen Israeli citizens also died.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=255931 6 jan 2012, 17:12 , Respect -
Maria 22 jan 2010
Mitchell leaves Ramallah without comment
Ramallah – Ma'an – US special envoy George Mitchell departed the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, following a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas aimed at renewing peace talks with Israel.
During the meeting, Abbas demanded that the US administration work toward easing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's preconditions for a Palestinian state, according to Saeb Erekat, the chief PLO negotiator.
Speaking in Ramallah after the meeting, Erekat said Netanyahu's conditions were obstructing efforts by US President Barack Obama to bring both sides to the negotiating table. Erekat said if the Americans really want talks to resume swiftly they should urge Israel to reign in the country's ongoing settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which Erekat said were imposing facts on the ground.
"Turning negotiations into dictates would obstruct the efforts of both Obama and Mitchell," Erekat said, adding that the PLO was willing to resume negotiations and implement prior agreements of the Road Map.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=256054