- 27 sept 2010
Construction begins in Ariel
After prime minister declares West Bank construction freeze over, bulldozers begin to lay groundwork for neighborhood set to house dozens of Gaza evacuees still living in caravans. 'Talks are show waiting to explode,' says resident.
Residents of the large settlement bloc of Ariel awoke Monday to the noises of construction, a sound they had not heard for 10 months.
At around 8 am bulldozers began leveling the ground on the southeastern side of the town in preparation for a new neighborhood consisting of 50 housing units.
The neighborhood will be home to dozens of families evacuated from the Gaza settlement of Netzarim in 2005, who currently reside in caravans on a nearby hillside.
"We are here by right and not on sufferance," Itzik Vazana, a former resident of Netzarim who was severely injured in a terror attack in Gaza 14 years ago, told Ynet.
"The Green Line (1967 border) is virtual and political. As evidence, you can see that the other side is not even capable of saying the words: A Jewish nation state'," he added. "These talks are just a show waiting to collapse."
Vazana and his fellow evacuees have been living in dilapidated caravans since leaving their Gaza homes, but he says Ariel's residents accepted them with open arms. Regarding the construction freeze that has been preventing them from building permanent residences, Vazana says it only incurred more pressure on Israel.
"I hope the prime minister continues to be true to his word and facilitates a return to normal life," he added.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3960536,00.html
Bulldozers roll out across West Bank as settlement freeze ends
Netanyahu speaks with Clinton, Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah in attempt to salvage peace process.
Building work at the West Bank settlement of Ariel restarted Monday morning after a 10-month construction ban expired at midnight on Sunday.
Construction of dozens of housing units also resumed in the settlements of Ravava, Yakir and Kochav a Hashachar, where bulldozers began clearing ground for new developments, which received permits before the freeze began.
Settlers currently have plans for around 2,000 new homes across the West Bank. Of these, around 600 have up-to-date paperwork and are expected to be completed in the coming months.
Construction is expected to begin on Tuesday at a number of sites including Shavei Shomron, Adam, Oranit, Sha'arei Tikva, Kedumim and Karmei Tzur. A cornerstone is to be laid for a new neighborhood in the southern West Bank settlement of Beit Hagai, with construction set to start soon.
After the Sukkot holiday, the Yesha Council of settlements and local West Bank councils are expected to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into approving new construction.
The number of housing units put up in the West Bank during the Netanyahu government is the lowest under any prime minister since the first Rabin government.
Last ditch talks
Last-ditch negotiations continued well into the early hours of Monday morning as Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders attempted to save Middle East peace talks from an early collapse.
Netanyahu spoke twice by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as West Bank settlers prepared restarted construction after a 10-month Israeli moratorium expired on Sunday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly vowed to walk out of talks, which began a month ago in Washington, if building resumes. But Netanyahu remains hopeful of keeping the peace process alive.
"Israel is ready to retain continual contacts [with the Palestinians] over the coming days to find a way to advance peace negotiations," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister, who has faced heavy pressure Likud party colleagues and right-wing coalition partners to end the freeze, which covered the entire West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, also spoke with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, assuring them that he was striving to maintain the talks.
"I call on President Abbas to continue the frank and fruitful dialogue that has only just begun, with the goal of reaching an historic peace agreement between our nations," Netanyahu said in a statement late Sunday.
"I hope that President Abbas will remain in the talks and continue with me on the path of peace, on which we set out two weeks ago, with many across the world now convinced that my intention to secure peace is serious and honest and that I honor my obligations."
http://bit.ly/dgqacE
Israel, Palestinian Authority working to reach compromise on issue of settlement construction, following expiration of 10-month building freeze on Sunday night.
Barring last-minute delays, construction will begin on Monday morning on a few dozen housing units whose owners have waited patiently for an end to the 10-month moratorium on construction in the West Bank.
Construction is ready to begin on just over 2,000 units, but because not all the future homeowners have obtained a mortgage, hired a contractor and gone through the complicated paperwork, work on 500 to 600 homes is expected to begin in the coming months.
Construction is expected to begin on Tuesday at a number of sites including Shavei Shomron, Adam, Oranit, Sha'arei Tikva, Yakir, Revava, Kokhav Hashahar, Kedumim and Karmei Tzur. A cornerstone is to be laid for a new neighborhood in the southern West Bank settlement of Beit Hagai, with construction set to start soon.
After the Sukkot holiday, the Yesha Council of settlements and local West Bank councils are expected to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into approving new construction.
The number of housing units put up in the West Bank during the Netanyahu government is the lowest under any prime minister since the first Rabin government.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Jewish leaders in Paris yesterday he believed a solution would be found to the crisis over the end of the freeze. A French source at the meeting said Abbas told his interlocutors that both sides knew that compromise was necessary.
Meanwhile, talks continued in New York between senior U.S. officials, chief Israeli negotiator Isaac Molho and his Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erekat.
According to the source at the Paris meeting, the Palestinians would be prepared to give up their demand for a full freeze if Netanyahu declared he is willing to discuss the issue of the 1967 borders and a land swap. Abbas told the French-Jewish leaders that the moment Netanyahu stipulates where he sees the border with Palestine, much of the issue of construction in the settlements will be solved.
Netanyahu spent Sunday at his home in Caesarea and spoke by phone a number of times with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who returned in the afternoon from the United States. Netanyahu also spoke with Molho, who updated him on his talks with the Americans and Palestinians.
A senior Israeli official familiar with the talks said that if the current negotiations ended successfully, the compromise would be announced publicly. This a Palestinian demand, so they can present an achievement that would allow them to stay at the negotiating table.
It is still unclear whether the inner cabinet will have to approve a compromise. "The solution being discussed is somewhere between the construction policy of the Olmert government and the freeze," the Israeli official said, indicating limits on construction.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu told ministers on Sunday not to give interviews on the renewing of construction. His staff asked settler leaders and MKs who are against the freeze to keep a low profile.
Netanyahu also released a statement calling on settlers and politicians to show "restraint and responsibility," as they did during the freeze.
Sources in Netanyahu's office said they were concerned that photographs of bulldozers and cement mixers working to put up thousands of new homes in the settlements would only increase international pressure on Israel to renew the moratorium.
Netanyahu's efforts were only partially successful. The ministers from Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and Labor cooperated, except for Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who gave an interview to the BBC before returning to Israel from New York. He said he believed there was a 50-50 chance of renewing the freeze, and that the chance of reaching a peace agreement was much higher.
In the settlements, festivities to mark the end of the moratorium were not called off, but no cabinet ministers and only a few MKs were on hand: Danny Danon, Ayoob Kara and Tzipi Hotovely from Likud, Nissim Zeev (Shas) and Michael Ben Ari (National Union).
"This is what I wanted to see - blue and white in every corner," said Kara, speaking to around 2,500 people at the annual World Likud convention at Revava. "I came to be with you all. Residents here respected the freeze; the most important thing is to continue the peace process. The result of the freeze was zero. It gave us nothing and it gave the Palestinian Authority nothing. As a wounded Israel Defense Forces veteran I think Israel's security depends on your settling here."
Quoting a Talmudic saying, he said, "If [a man] comes to slay you, slay him first."
Zeev said: "This day unites the entire people of Israel, not only World Likud. The residents of Judea and Samaria are native to Israel through a historical link. That's the issue that should lead us today regarding our rights in the face of the Quartet and the United Nations. We were born here and this is the land of our fathers forever. In the name of God we will succeed."
Hotovely told the crowd she was "proud to be a member of a party that was elected to preserve our right to exist in this country."
Hotovely said the end of the freeze would test the government's ability to keep a promise and the future of the West Bank settlements.
When the speeches were over, Danon counted backwards, symbolizing the approach of the end of the freeze, and balloons were released.
Key Arab League summit
Meanwhile, Abbas said that at the Arab League's October 4 summit, its committee monitoring the Arab peace initiative would meet at the request of the PA. It would decide whether direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians should continue after the end of the building freeze.
After Abbas returns from Paris, he will call a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee and the PLO Executive Committee to decide on the future of direct talks. Fatah, the PLO and the Arab League are expected to decide to end the talks if the moratorium is not renewed.
However, Abbas told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat he would not announce a suspension of the talks on Monday, but would decide with the other Arab countries. Abbas is essentially giving another week to continue negotiating on the freeze.
Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Dahlan said Fatah opposed continuing direct talks if construction resumed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the second largest group in the PLO, released a statement saying it would not take part in the organization's Executive Committee meeting if direct talks and construction in the territories continued.
http://bit.ly/cDesuR
Housing minister: All eyes on east Jerusalem
Housing Minister Ariel Atias
End of building freeze symbolic for now, east Jerusalem construction must resume, minister says.
The end of the settlement building moratorium is symbolic for now, with the real test of the government's intentions being east Jerusalem construction, Housing Minister Ariel Atias told Ynet Monday.
"We won't see thousands of new housing units in Judea and Samaria tomorrow," the minister said, as construction resumed across the West Bank amid settler celebrations. "The real test would be to see the defense minister approving the many construction permits currently on his desk."
"For the time being, everything is symbolic," Atias said. "Everyone is waiting to see whether we shall have new construction in Israel Jerusalem. We must not get used to a situation where construction is delayed because of problematic timing%u2026the Palestinian Authority must not bring Israel down to its knees."
'Shas won't back another freeze'
Atias said he wants to see immediate construction in east Jerusalem neighborhoods Ramot and Har Homa.
"More than 250,000 residents live there, and these sites that are within the consensus," he said. "We must not let this habit (construction delays) turn into a second nature. We aspire to start building gradually, while at the same time continuing the diplomatic process, which is also an Israeli interest.
Atias also said that as opposed to his party's agreement to freeze construction for 10 months, Shas members will not endorse another such move.
"Shas didn't like the freeze, but allowed it to go ahead," he said. "We don't aim to create crises, but it's difficult for us diplomatically publically, and politically. We pray for peace, yet wish to reach a situation whereby normal life goes on simultaneous to the process. Another freeze is something we cannot not agree to."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3960699,00.html
Minister Shalom: Freeze never made any sense
Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said during a tour of the Negev that "the decision not to extend the freeze was correct and God willing construction will resume all over."
The minister further added, "The freeze did not make any sense. This demand has never been presented to any other prime minister and it never disrupted negotiations. If the Palestinians quit the talks, it will be clear it was only an excuse."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3960692,00.html
(0:45) Israeli Settlement Slowdown to End at Midnight
Settlement freeze expires; PM 'hopes Abbas will continue honest talks'
Last-minute effort to find political solution that would allow direct negotiations to continue are to no avail; Netanyahu urges Palestinians to continue pursuing 'historic peace agreement'.
The 10-month construction moratorium imposed on West Bank settlements passed by the cabinet in November 2009 officially expired Sunday night.
Efforts were made up until the last minute to find a political solution that will allow for the continuation of direct peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, all such overtures have thus far been to no avail.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement calling upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to continue "the good and honest talks we have just now started in order to reach a historic peace agreement between our two peoples within a year.
"Israel has gone a long way to assist the Palestinians by way of concessions that have improved their quality of life both in Gaza and the West Bank," Netanyahu said.
Over the past few days Netanyahu has spoken with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah to update them on his efforts to move ahead with the negotiations.
By not extending the construction freeze, Netanyahu has effectively rejected US President Barack Obama's demand that he do so and has instead chosen instead to make good on his promise to the settlers.
Anticipating the expiration of the freeze
Top White House official David Axelrod said Sunday that the US remains "hopeful" that Israelis and Palestinians will pursue fledgling peace talks despite the expiration of the settlement freeze.
"We are going to urge and urge, and push throughout this day to get some kind of resolution" of the settlement issue, Obama's top policy advisor said.
Israeli officials said efforts to find a compromise would continue over the coming days, at least until the Arab League convenes at the beginning of October, at Abbas' request.
The officials said Netanyahu refused to extend the moratorium mainly out of internal political considerations, as most cabinet members were against such a move.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak's proposal to extend the freeze by a few months was also rejected.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3960339,00.html
Israeli settlement freeze ends
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fended off intense international pressure, allowing a settlement freeze to expire at midnight, but urged Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas not to abandon peace talks in protest.
"I call on president Abbas to continue with the good and honest talks we have just embarked upon, in an attempt to reach a historic peace agreement between our two peoples," Netanyahu said in a statement early Monday, minutes after allowing the 10-month partial moratorium on settlement construction to lapse.
Abbas, for his part, urged Netanyahu to re-impose the building ban.
President Abbas "wants to continue the negotiations but Netanyahu must take a decision to freeze the settlements in order to create an appropriate atmosphere to proceed with the peace talks," Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP in Paris.
The Palestinian leader has repeatedly warned he would walk out of peace talks that were relaunched at the beginning of the month if Israel resumes building in the occupied West Bank.
But he appeared to step back from the brink Sunday, saying he would meet top Arab diplomats on October 4 before deciding his next move.
The statement from Netanyahu did not directly mention the settlement freeze, but acknowledged a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at saving the fledgling peace process.
"During the day and in recent days Prime Minister Netanyahu held intensive contacts with US Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton and other American officials," the statement said, adding that he had also spoken with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
In Washington State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Clinton spoke with Netanyahu and Tony Blair, the representative of the quartet of foreign entities actively engaged in the talks. The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations make up the quartet.
At the same time Mideast peace envoy Senator George Mitchell and Assistant Secretary Jeff Feltman conferred in New York on Sunday with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
"We keep pushing for the talks to continue," Crowley said in a statement.
Much depends on how Abbas will react.
A wide-scale resumption of settlement construction would almost certainly force Abbas to quit talks, but Israel is hoping that he would tolerate low-key construction.
Netanyahu urged settlers to display "restraint and responsibility" once the moratorium expires.
Nevertheless, around 2,000 people, including hundreds from Netanyahu's own right wing Likud party and a large contingent of flag-waving evangelical Christians, flooded into Revava settlement in the northern West Bank for a rally marking the end of the freeze.
Standing in front of a stage draped with a huge banner emblazoned with the slogan "We salute the pioneers of Judaea and Samaria," the crowds counted down from 10 to zero as the sun set over the rugged hills.
"The freeze is over," shouted Likud hardliner Danny Danon to roars of approval.
Earlier, settlers laid the cornerstone for a new nursery school in the nearby settlement of Kiryat Netafim in an event organised by Danon, a political hardliner but not a settler himself.
But settlers conceded there despite the symbolic displays, there was unlikely to be a flood of construction.
"We are getting back to business as usual and building but we will respect the prime minister's request," said David Ha'ivri, head of the Samaria regional council.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, settler sources told AFP they had been given the nod from the premier's office to start building -- but on condition they "don't make a big deal of it."
And other events on the ground could also derail the talks, highlighted by an attack in the West Bank late on Sunday, when suspected Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli vehicle, lightly wounding two Israelis, including a pregnant woman, the military said.
The attack happened south of the city of Hebron near an area where four Israelis were killed in a similar shooting earlier in the month.
Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian land is one of the most bitter aspects of the conflict. Currently, around 500,000 Israelis live in more than 120 settlements across the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories the Palestinians want for their promised state.
A previous round of direct talks collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a war on the Gaza Strip aimed at halting rocket attacks.
http://yhoo.it/bUdeaC
PA says 'quiet' construction freeze to go on
Israel will only be allowed to build in settlement blocs, talks to continue, senior PA source says.
Renewed Israeli construction in the West Bank following the settlement freeze's expiration will be limited and won't prompt the Palestinian Authority to quit direct talks with Israel, a senior PA official says.
The senior official, who is closely familiar with the negotiations, told Ynet Monday that construction will not be renewed in a manner that would "embarrass" the PA.
According to the compromise being worked out, construction will be limited to the large settlement blocs and to building work that started before the freeze, the source said. He stressed that both the Palestinians and Americans will not allow Israel to take advantage of the more lenient Palestinian position in order to build outside the settlement blocs.
"The point of departure is that only the large blocs will remain under Israeli sovereignty, with negotiations conducted on the scope of alternate areas to be given to us in exchange for handing over the blocs to Israel," the senior Palestinian official said.
The official also said that both sides understand the need to avoid the introduction of obstacles to the negotiations ahead of the upcoming US Congress elections in November.
Other Palestinian sources estimated that the compromise in respect to West Bank construction will take the form of a "quiet freeze," with Israel's Defense Ministry holding up construction permits. The sources noted that as part of the understandings worked out in respect to construction, the Palestinians demand that serious negotiations be launched on the issue of borders, which includes the fate of the settlements.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3960658,00.html 7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 27 sept 2010
With freeze over, West Bank settlements ready to dive into construction
(0:45) Israeli Settlement Slowdown to End at Midnight
Akiva Eldar / Settlement freeze furor is a mask for Netanyahu's true intentions
Netanyahu is looking for a magical solution to both let the tractors get back to work in the West Bank and to keep Abbas at the negotiating table.
It's no spin. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really is looking high and low for a magical solution to both let the tractors get back to work on settlement lands and leave President Mahmoud Abbas at the negotiating table.
Construction in settlements is a very uncomfortable issue for Israel. Most countries say settlement in occupied territory is illegal; friendly governments believe that building in the occupied territories is an obstacle to peace. The boycott of Ariel's new cultural center reminded us that here, too, the settlements are more a bone of contention than the foundation for our existence. Who will believe Bibi will be ready within a year to evacuate thousands of homes if he cannot / will not declare a temporary moratorium on the construction of a few hundred new homes? Over that it's worth breaking up the peace talks?
No, Netanyahu does not want to create a crisis over the freeze. Why should he have a crisis over the demand of Jewish migrants to settle in Hebron if he can focus it on the demand of Palestinian refugees to return to Haifa? Let Bibi get through the nuisance of the freeze, and he will pull Abbas into the sure trap over the "right of return." What will Tzipi Livni say, and even those who call themselves "the Zionist left" when Abbas announces he refuses to give up the right of return in advance?
A broad hint of this scheme could be seen in statements Netanyahu made during a visit to Sderot a week ago. "I'm not talking about a name," Netanyahu said, to explain his insistence the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. "I'm talking about essence," he said.
"When they refuse to say something so simple, the question is why?" Netanyahu said to explain what he meant by essence. "Do you want to flood the state of Israel with refugees so it will no longer be a country with a Jewish majority? Do you want to rip away parts of the Galilee and the Negev?" When Netanyahu demands agreement ahead of time that the talks are intended to bring about, according to him, agreement on the establishment of the "nation-state of the Jewish people" alongside a Palestinian state, he is therefore demanding the Palestinians give up in advance on the right of return of refugees. And the main thing, don't forget, is "no preconditions."
The controversy around construction in the settlements draws attention away from the bombshell hiding behind Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians first recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people. As the prime minister himself has said, this is not mere semantics. It is an essential matter from the most sensitive part of the narrative of the conflict. As Dan Meridor, one of the ministers closest to Netanyahu, put it in an interview with Haaretz Magazine (October 23, 2009): "I am not too optimistic that the Palestinian government has given up on the right of return. That would mean conceding the rationale for the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was founded in 1964, three years before the Six-Day War. And Abu Mazen [Abbas] was one of its founders." Meridor, by the way, says that a state that is not the state of all its citizens is not a democratic state.
Some people, for example the previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert, believe that with goodwill, sensitivity to the suffering of the refugees and international assistance, the right of return obstacle can be overcome. Speaking at a conference of the Geneva Initiative leadership, Olmert reminded the audience that the PLO had accepted the 2002 Arab peace initiative, which states the solution to the refugee problem must be not only just (based on United Nations Resolution 194), but also agreed-on by all the parties. It will be attained only in the framework of a comprehensive deal that will include all the core issues, first and foremost an arrangement for the holy places in Jerusalem.
The problem of the refugees is not a ball in a game whose purpose is to push the Palestinian adversary (partner?) into a corner and to push away the pressure of the American friend (adversary?) That is a game Israel has no chance of winning.
What will happen if the Palestinians declare they do recognize Israel as the state of the Israelis - take it or leave it? What will Netanyahu do? Will he end the moratorium on construction in the settlements, stop the negotiations on a two-state solution and begin the countdown to the end of the Jewish state?
http://bit.ly/dt8Tgy
U.S. 'disappointed' by Israeli decision to end settlement freeze
Special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell to return to the region to continue urgent efforts to break a deadlock in negotiations over Israeli settlements.
The United States said on Monday it was disappointed by Israel's decision to allow its partial moratorium on construction in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank to expire.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters U.S. Middle East envoy former U.S. Senator George Mitchell was in touch with Israeli and Palestinian officials and a lower-level U.S. team would visit the region this week for follow-up talks.
Responding to Israel's decision to end the 10-month settlement freeze on Sunday, Crowley expressed regret on the part of the United States. "We are disappointed, but we remain focused on our long-term objective, and we'll be talking to the parties about the implications of the Israeli decision," Crowley told reporters.
"We recognize that given the decision yesterday we've still got a dilemma that we have to resolve and there are no direct negotiations scheduled at this point but we will be in touch with the parties to see how we move ahead," Crowley said.
Crowley said that he hoped the Arab League will continue to support direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks following Israel's decision to allow its partial settlement building freeze to expire.
"We will have further conversations with key countries in the coming days and we hope that the Arab League meeting will continue to affirm its support for the process," Crowley told reporters.
Crowley said the U.S. is focused on its long-term goal of promoting negotiations on a two-state solution in which an independent Palestinian state exists beside a secure Israel. Crowley encouraged constructive actions toward reaching that goal.
Meanwhile on Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded Israel on Monday that the building of settlements on occupied territory was illegal, and said he was disappointed by the government's failure to extend its partial ban on further West Bank construction.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said on Monday she "strongly regretted" Israel's failure to renew its partial freeze on construction in occupied Palestinian territory.
"The position of the EU is very clear: settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible [It is] in everybody's interest to find a satisfactory way for the negotiations to continue and gather momentum," Ashton's spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic said.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also commented on Israel's decision to discontinue the settlement freeze while speaking at the United Nations on Monday.
"I am very disappointed to hear that the moratorium has not been renewed. I remain very concerned that talks could falter on this issue and I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Government to show leadership to resolve this so the parties can focus on the real challenges ahead," said Hague.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Israel on Monday to stop building in West Bank settlements, while speaking at a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.
Sarkozy also said he would ask Abbas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to participate in peace talks in Paris before the end of October.
Asked if the call for more talks in Paris complicated peace efforts initiated by Washington, Sarkozy said nothing could be done without U.S. support but that was not enough in itself to secure a lasting solution to the Middle East conflict.
"Nothing will be resolved without strong American backing," he said. "But does the strong commitment that's needed have to be exclusive? That's been the question for 10 years, since Camp David. If such an exclusive commitment was enough, we'd know it."
Sarkozy backed Abbas's position that the construction of settlements should be frozen for another 3-4 months.
Israel defied U.S. and international demands to extend a 10-month slowdown on settlement construction in the West Bank, raising the prospect of the Palestinians abandoning the negotiations in protest.
The slowdown expired on Sunday and the Palestinians had been threatening to walk out of talks if it was not extended.
http://bit.ly/aVS7Y3
Abbas asks Netanyahu to extend settlement freeze for 3 or 4 months
PARIS, (PIC)-- De facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has asked Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the freeze on settlement activity for three or four months to give peace talks a chance to progress.
Abbas told a joint press conference with French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday that Netanyahu gave a ten-month freeze decision when the negotiations were not progressing and he should rather give three or four months more as the talks are underway.
The Palestinian leadership would not adopt speedy reaction to the resumption in building in settlements, he said, adding that the decision would be taken after consulting PLO leadership and the Arab follow up committee that would meet in Cairo on 4th October.
Abbas said that a stand could be announced after those meetings that would explain the Palestinian and Arab position after Israel's refusal to extend the settlement freeze.
http://bit.ly/cgvG1F
Netanyahu declines Obama's request to expand settlement freeze
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli media reported that premier Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed a request made by US president Barack Obama to expand settlement freeze and called on de facto president Mahmoud Abbas not to withdraw from the peace talks.
Netanyahu, in a statement issued Sunday after the alleged period of settlement freeze expired, called on Abbas to continue his involvement in what he described as sincere and good talks with Israel in order to reach a historic peace agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) for its part announced on Monday that its final response to Israel's resumption of settlement construction would be stated following the meeting of the Arab peace initiative committee on the fourth of next October.
The US administration stated that its position on the need to expand settlement freeze did not change, but it called on Israelis and Abbas to continue their peace talks regardless of settlement activities.
David Axelrod, a senior advisor to Obama, told ABC satellite channel that Washington still believes it is possible to reach a compromise on the issue of settlement activities, although the Israeli settlers would resume construction in the West Bank immediately after the freeze period ends.
On the ground, settlement construction started Monday morning throughout the West Bank a few hours after the period specified for the alleged settlement freeze expired.
Settlers of Efrat outpost embarked immediately under military protection on bulldozing Palestinian lands owned by Abu Ayyash family in Al-Khalil city.
An Israeli TV channel said, for its part, that construction would resume in eight settlements including Kiryat Arba in Al-Khalil.
Palestinian local sources also said that settlement construction began in Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus city, and in the industrial zone, west of Salfit city.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that dozens of settlers started to build 50 housing units in Ariel settlement, north of Salfit city.
Israeli bulldozers started its work in Adam settlement, north of the West Bank, as a prelude to building 30 homes, according to the Hebrew radio. Restrictions imposed on issuing building permits in many settlements were reportedly lifted.
Haaretz newspaper, for its part, said that there are talks between American, Israeli, and Palestinian officials to reach a compromise preventing the PA from withdrawing from the peace talks as a result of the resumed settlement activities.
In the same context, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum stated Monday that Israel's resumption of its settlement activities proved its malicious intentions and its use of the peace talks as a cover for Judaizing the Palestinian lands and the holy sites.
Spokesman Barhoum called on Abbas to announce his withdrawal from the talks with Israel, which are determinatal to the Palestinian cause and against the national consensus as he described.
He warned that Israel wants Abbas to stay involved in the negotiation with it in order force him further into the corner of its demands.
http://bit.ly/adsrm1
Sarkozy criticizes Israel for not extending freeze
Speaking at a press conference with Palestinian President Abbas, Sarkozy said settlements hampering peace efforts; Netanyahu promised to limit West Bank construction; meeting comes before Abbas, PM meet.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he regrets that Israel did not extend the settlement construction freeze at a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Monday.
Both Abbas and Sarkozy said that the settlement freeze is imperative to core-issues negotiations and that settlement activity must cease.
The Palestinian leader hinted that a three or four month freeze may satisfy him and his partners temporarily and said that no "quick decision" would be made on whether he would leave talks. Abbas said he would consult with the 22-member Arab League next Monday on how to proceed.
The French president said he would telephone Netanyahu later Monday evening.
While Abbas has indicated that they would not pull out of the US-sponsored direct talks with Israel, other Palestinian representatives threatened to halt the negotiations if the construction in the settlements were resumed.
Speaking after meeting with Jewish writers and intellectuals in Paris on Sunday, Abbas said there is only one choice for Israel: Either peace or settlements, the Palestinian leader said.
If it's peace, then it's through talks. If (Israel) doesn't choose it, it will be a waste of time, a waste of opportunities, Abbas said.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=189402
No immediate Palestinian response on settlements
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will make no immediate decision on how to respond to a resumption in Israeli settlement building on the occupied West Bank, officials in his delegation said Monday.
Abbas had warned the Palestinian party would walk out of US-sponsored peace talks if Jewish settlers restarted construction work, but his spokesman told AFP in Paris that he would consult with fellow Arab leaders first.
"Before October 4 there will not be an official Palestinian answer," Nabil Abu Rudeina said, as Abbas held talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"During that day president Abbas will consult with the Arab governments and will come back to the Palestinian leadership to take the right decision and the right answer, with all what we have from the Americans and the Israelis."
A 10-month moratorium on Jewish settlement building expired at midnight on Sunday and, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for settlers to show "restraint", Israel has not ordered a new freeze.
"We are in continuous contact with the US administration and US efforts are continuing, but we are waiting for a final Israeli position so that we can form a clear and final response," Abu Rudeina said.
"Any Palestinian decision concerning any political decision will not be before October 4, the day of the meeting of the Arab follow-up committee," he said, referring to a panel comprising key Arab powers.
"During that day the Palestinian leadership and the Arab follow-up committee will meet in Cairo in order to discuss the latest developments.
"Concerning what was said yesterday in Israel, our position is clear and obvious. We are ready for serious negotiations, but the settlement activity should stop immediately. This is the only way to continue fruitful talks."
Nabil Shaath, a senior member of the Palestinian negotiating team, said Abbas might make an initial statement earlier than October 4, but not before studying the situation on the ground and talking to Palestinian ministers.
Abbas is due to arrive home on Wednesday and will immediately meet the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Shaath said.
"We will then have a press conference where he will announce our official position after an assessment of what is really going on on the ground and to what extent Israel is really violating the moratorium commitments," he said.
"We haven't changed our principal position. Our position is we are negotiating exchange of land for peace. We cannot negotiate peace while land is being stolen day by day," he insisted.
"Any end of occupation means reducing the occupation, not deepening the occupation, and settlements deepen the occupation, therefore there is a contradiction of terms between negotiations and settlements."
http://yhoo.it/dxTgWu
7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 28 sept 2010
Attias: Palestinians need to accept building in West Bank
Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias told reporters that direct talks now depend on the Palestinians, on his way to Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef's succa on Tuesday.
"If they accept our terms, we'll go ahead," Attias said. "If they accept building [in the West Bank], we'll continue."
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=189496
Israel's freeze rebuff draws intl. fire
The picture shows a bulldozer beginning to lay groundwork for new housing units in the settlement of Adam in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a day after the partial freeze reached its end.
Israel sparks international criticism for refusing to extend a partial freeze in its building of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands.
Tel Aviv enforced the so-called ban in November 2009 but did not renew the moratorium on Sunday, when it reached its expiration date.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which has resumed direct talks with Israel, has threatened to leave the negotiations should Tel Aviv fail to prolong the freeze.
The spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky, issued a statement on Monday, saying Ban was "disappointed that no such decision has been taken and (is) concerned at provocative actions taking place on the ground."
European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton also said she "strongly regrets" the Israeli move, according to the German press agency DPA.
Ashton underlined the illegality of the settlements under the international law, while Ban called the entire settlement activities extralegal.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also urged the continuation of the temporary halt, AFP said.
Davutoglu said that the restoration of the settlement activities to their former levels "is not an indication of goodwill to have a peace."
Figures from Israeli regime's Central Bureau of Statistics, meanwhile, show that the number of homes built during the nearly 10-month moratorium declined by only about 10 percent
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144286.html
Abbas: Opposition has every right to mistrust Israel
PARIS, France (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he did not fault Palestinian opposition factions for treating with suspicion Israeli plans for the West Bank.
"There is a difference between opposition and 'enemies of peace'," he told reporters in Paris following a meeting with French Jewish leader Richard Prasquier. Palestinians have every right to be wary of Israel, he said.
Abbas reaffirmed his stance against continuing peace talks if Israeli settlement construction renews.
Abbas said a rigorous meeting schedule over previous 10 days had included 100 meetings with global leaders in an effort to rally support for the Palestinian position, noting that all parties were in agreement that Israel must choose peace over settlements.
The president said he had made every effort to make sure that the peace talks, started less than one month earlier, did not stall. He said pulling out of talks would be a decision for the Palestinian leadership.
"It is not a personal decision, it is for the PLO, the Fatah Central Committee, the Arab follow-up committee and the Arab League summit," Abbas said. "A possible Palestinian response to the ongoing developments within all these entities" will be discussed in the coming days.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=318785
PM silent amid world criticism of moratorium's end
Mitchell to arrive today to continue search for compromise; Lieberman says Arab League should deal with its own enormous problems.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday to continue efforts to find a compromise to the settlement moratorium issue, as only muted sounds of building were heard on Monday in a few settlements, and voices of disappointment were raised around the world that Israel didn't extend the freeze.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has not said anything publicly about the end of the settlement construction moratorium since it expired at midnight on Sunday, is scheduled to meet with Mitchell on Wednesday. On Monday he met for the second time in four days with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, speaking with him at his private residence in Caesarea.
Blair also met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has been intensely involved in trying to find a compromise solution. Blair left the region after those talks.
Netanyahu, according to sources in his office, was on the phone throughout the day on Monday with leaders around the world and in Washington.
The diplomatic ball is very much in play to ensure a continuation of the talks [with the Palestinian Authority], one government source said.
In the meantime, the official added, quoting from an interview Ambassador to the US Michael Oren gave over the weekend to the American media, construction will be responsible, restrained and limited.
While Netanyahu met on Monday with Barak and discussed the situation with a number of his other cabinet ministers, the next cabinet meeting where the issue will surely be addressed is not expected until Monday, the same day the Arab League is slated to meet to discuss the issue. Netanyahu is unlikely to say anything publicly on the matter until then.
A number of ministers, including the Likud's Yuli Edelstein and Israel Beiteinu's Uzi Landau, have taken Barak to task in recent days for raising various compromise proposals with US officials without keeping them informed.
Meanwhile, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said in Paris on Monday that he would not react hastily and would wait until after the Arab League meeting on October 4 to decide on his next step. Abbas had repeatedly threatened to bolt the talks if the freeze was not extended.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, standing alongside Abbas, said the settlements must stop.
He also said that he has invited Netanyahu, Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to a meeting in Paris at the end of October, a move widely interpreted in Jerusalem as an attempt to carve out a role for France, and by extension the EU, in the emerging diplomatic process.
The EU was not represented at the Washington summit where direct talks were relaunched at the beginning of the month.
Asked whether Netanyahu was in favor of a Paris summit, one source in his office said, The prime minister is always agreeable to meeting the Palestinian leader any time, any place. He believes there is no substitute for direct dialogue between leaders, and that if we are ultimately to succeed in the peace process it will be because leaders on both side are making historic decisions.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office, meanwhile, seemed unfazed by international criticism of the decision not to extend the moratorium, with one official saying that some of the comment was expected, and that I think there is wide international support for continuing the direct talks.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, in the first Obama administration comment on the matter since the freeze ended, said the US was disappointed by the Israeli decision, but remained focused on our long-term objective and will be talking to the parties about the implications of the Israeli decision.
Both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Jerusalem over the past two weeks to extend the moratorium, and for the Palestinians to remain in the talks. Crowley said that position had not changed, and he praised Abbas for not immediately walking away from the talks.
Eighty-seven US senators, meanwhile, sent a letter to Obama on Monday expressing appreciation for restarting direct negotiations, and urging him to continue to emphasize to Israeli and Palestinian leaders that direct talks, while difficult, provide the best hope of reaching a meaningful and lasting peace agreement.
The letter praised Netanyahu for not abandoning the talks following the terrorist attack near Hebron that killed four people at the start of the negotiations, and wrote that it is critical that all sides stay at the table. In a clear reference to Abbas's threats to bolt the talks, the letter read, Neither side should make threats to leave just as the talks are getting started.
Elsewhere around the world, British Secretary William Hague, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon all issued condemnations of the government's decision to let the moratorium lapse.
While expressing regret for Israel's decision, and reiterating the EU's position that settlements are illegal under international law, Ashton urged the parties to act responsibly.
There is no alternative to a negotiated solution, she said in her statement. Therefore, it is in everybody's interest to find a satisfactory way for the negotiations to continue and gather momentum.
Ban expressed disappointment at the Israeli decision, saying ettlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, is illegal under international law.
He urged Israel to fulfill its road map obligation to freeze settlement activity.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Ban in New York on Monday and said that for nine months the Palestinians said that the moratorium was a trick, yet now have turned it into everything.
It is clear, Lieberman said according to a statement released by his office, that the Palestinians were using this issue as an excuse. Lieberman is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Regarding the upcoming meeting of the Arab League, Lieberman told Ban that organization had numerous challenges to deal with in the Arab world, such as hundreds of people killed each week in terror attacks and clashes between Islamic radical groups and security forces in Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Algeria and Tunisia.
The poverty and despair in those countries cries out to the heavens, Lieberman said, but instead of solving those problems the heads of the Arab League prefer to run away from them and blame Israel for all their internal problems. Instead of conducting a dialogue, they prefer to incite the masses against the Jews.
Israel was interested in a reasonable peace agreement and was willing to cooperate with the international community, but without compromising on its security and its vital interests,Lieberman said.
In addition to meeting with Ban, Lieberman met on Monday at the UN with the foreign ministers of Britain, Greece, Bulgaria, Austria, Nauru, Cyprus and Lithuania.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=189452
Russia on renewed settlement building: 'bad' for negotiations
Russia's Foreign Ministry expressed "deep concern" about the renewal of construction in West Bank settlements, saying this move undermined negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and was "bad for the political atmosphere" and for the chances of reaching lasting peace.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961419,00.html 7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 29 sept 2010
Russia concerned by Israeli settlements
An Israeli settlement
Russia expresses "serious concern" over Israel's refusal to extend its partial freeze on the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
"The decision of Israel's authorities not to prolong the moratorium on settlement construction raises serious concerns," Russia's envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said on Wednesday.
On September 26, Tel Aviv ended a partial 10-month settlement freeze, allowing its settlers to resume construction work in the occupied West Bank despite an international outcry.
Churkin, in a UN General Assembly meeting, also called on the officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel to show political will and do their best for the US-sponsored direct negotiations to succeed, RIA Novosti reported.
The PA has repeatedly threatened to walk out of the talks, calling for an extension of the moratorium.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144582.html
Palestinians: No talks without freeze
Israel would be blamed for talks' failure if it insists on expanding settlements, PA negotiator Shaath says; 'Let us throw this problem in face of world and see what they can do about it,' PLO official says.
The Palestinians dug in ahead of a crucial meeting Thursday with Washington's Mideast envoy, saying they can't be expected to continue peace talks unless Israel reverses a decision to lift restrictions on West Bank settlement construction.
President Barack Obama's emissary, George Mitchell, is making a secretive last-minute attempt to rescue the negotiations. He was to travel to Abbas' West Bank headquarters Thursday, after meeting with Israeli leaders on Wednesday. Mitchell said after talks with Netanyahu that he is undaunted by what he described as "bumps in the road," but offered no glimpse of a possible compromise.
Abbas advisers on Wednesday stopped short of posing an ultimatum, but signaled they would accept nothing less than an extension of the moratorium. Veteran Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said Israel should be blamed for any breakdown of the negotiations if it insists on expanding settlements on lands claimed by the Palestinians for their state.
Abbas ready for 'historic decision'
Abbas on Wednesday was quoted as saying, without elaborating, that he is ready to make a "historic decision" when Arab League foreign ministers meet Monday in Cairo to review the negotiations. It wasn't clear whether Abbas meant he was ready to quit the talks or whether he was simply trying to create some last-minute leverage.
On Saturday, Abbas will consult top officials from his Fatah Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision-making body before sitting down with the Arab officials.
Hanna Amireh, a member of the PLO body, said there was widespread opposition to resuming talks without a settlement curb.
"The consensus is that since the entire world is in favor of a Palestinian state and against settlements, then let us throw this problem in the face of the world and see what they can do about it," Amireh said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962094,00.html
Erekat calls on EU, US to enforce settlement halt
JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat called on the US and EU officials to push Israel to extend its settlement construction moratorium during meetings on Wednesday.
Settlement activity in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem must be stopped,and the peace process given the chance it deserves, Erekat stressed in separate meetings with US consul general in Jerusalem Daniel Rubinstein and the EU representative to Palestine Christian Berger.
"Negotiations are not the goal, but a means to a goal," Erekat said in a statement following the discussions, "settlements and peace cannot go together."
The discussions came as US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met with Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton met in Washington over a reported US-EU push to secure a settlement construction halt.
Palestinian negotiators have said they will walk away from talks if new settlement projects are announced, and in the wake of celebrations by Israeli settlers where new foundations for dozens of home were poured on Sunday, remain poised to end negotiations.
"How can the international community avoid its obligation to international law?" Erekat asked, adding that if talks failed and settlement construction continued, "the cycle of extremism, chaos and violence will continue."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319422
Japan calls for settlement freeze
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the nation's government was |disappointed that the Israeli moratorium on settlement activities has not been renewed," a statement issued on Wednesday said.
"Japan urges Israel to return to a moratorium on settlement activities," the document read, and added that the government "reaffirms its basic position that Israel should freeze all settlement activities in the West Bank which includes East Jerusalem."
The Palestinian Authority, which agreed to enter into direct talks with Israel on 2 September, made clear that talks would only continue as long as a moratorium on settlement construction remained in effect. On 25 September, a day ahead of the end of a government-mandated construction freeze, Israeli settlers began new housing projects.
Reports say the United States is attempting to secure and end to the settlement constructions, considered illegal under international law.
"Japan strongly encourages both Israel and the Palestinians to focus on the goal of a two-state solution, which is important not only for the Middle East but also for the international community as a whole, and to make efforts to develop mutual trust, and tenaciously continue their direct negotiations," the government statement continued.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319365
7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 30 sept 2010
Report: Four illegal outposts to be built in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The infrastructure for four illegal outposts is being constructed around the West Bank city of Hebron, a settlement affairs expert said Thursday.
In an interview with Ma'an Radio, Abed Al-Hadi Hantash said the outposts would be integrated to form a new settlement, which would be linked with Kiryat Arba, the largest settlement in the district.
Combined, the settlements would constitute a third of the city of Hebron, which is already surrounded by illegal settlements, Hantash said. The new project would confiscate a further 15 square kilometers of Palestinian land from Hebron's borders, he said, and is being funded by a Jewish society which supports settlement activity in the West Bank city.
The construction of a new school and kindergarten began earlier this week in illegal outposts in Hebron. Further, a road leading from Kiryat Arba to the Ibrahimi Mosque, which would cut through Jaber neighborhood in the Old City, was also approved. The road's construction would put Palestinians at risk of eviction, Hantash said.
Hantash said he was astonished at the Palestinian handling of the settlement issue, which focused on individual violations and failed to pay attention to the slow and systematic process by which settlements are taking over control of the heart of Hebron.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319747 7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 30 sept 201
Russia: Unilateral Iran Sanctions, Israeli Settlements Illegal
Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said unilateral sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program runs contrary to international law. "All members of the international community must act in solidarity and on the basis of mutual responsibility," Churkin told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
He added that unilateral sanctions against Iran "undermine the very foundation of further joint efforts" to resolve the Islamic Republic's nuclear issue. "We must put an end to this practice that runs counter to international law and is negatively politically charged," the Russian envoy said.
After US-engineered UN sanctions were imposed against Iran in June, the United States and the European Union followed suit, imposing their own unilateral sanctions.
Churkin also expressed Russia%u2019s "serious concern" over Israel's refusal to extend its partial freeze on the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
"The decision of Israel's authorities not to prolong the moratorium on settlement construction raises serious concerns," he said.
On September 26, Tel Aviv ended a partial 10-month settlement freeze, allowing its settlers to resume construction work in the occupied West Bank despite an international outcry.
Churkin called on the officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel to show political will and do their best for the US-sponsored direct negotiations to succeed, RIA Novosti reported.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=156107&language=en
Curing world disappointment with Israel - Daoud Kuttab
A US State Department spokesman told reporters this week that Washington was disappointed with Israel because of its failure to extend the settlement moratorium for as long as the peace talks were moving.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon used the same words to describe how the United Nations feels towards Israel. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris, expressed the same sentiment vis-a-vis Israel's decisions.
This is not the first time that the world community shows disappointment with the state of Israel. But foreign policy is surely not made of a negative feeling towards a particular country. If the sum total of the international community%u2019s dissatisfaction with Israel is simply expressed through a negative adjective, not much progress is going to be achieved on the way to a lasting peace.
The American position is probably the most perplexing. The US president invested the office of the presidency to make a public plea from the UN General Assembly rostrum, asking the Israelis to extend the settlement activity freeze a further three months, to give direct talks a chance. In the same speech, Barack Obama hailed the bravery of the Palestinian president who is taking risks for peace.
Washington, which is involved in two direct wars (and many undeclared ones) has clearly stated that Middle East peace is in the national interest of the United States. This statement was first made by former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, and has since been repeated by presidents Bush and Obama as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
So how can the US and the world community deal with this disappointment? Surely the Americans and the rest of the quartet (Russia, the UN and the EU) can't simply limit their reactions to public statements.
One way to cure this disappointment is to make the party that goes contrary to US national interests have its own interests affected. Washington has so many levers to use against Tel Aviv that will surely make this problem disappear.
The US is the best friend of Israel%u2019s. It provides it with political, financial and military support. One US vote (or an abstention in the UN Security Council) could put a quick end to the arrogance of a state that often acts as if it were not bound by the rules that bind other international parties.
The Americans should be smart in pressuring Israel. Israelis might be much more willing to react to undeclared pressure than to publicly declared attempts.
One observer of the US-Israel relationship once said that to be effective, the US must pressure Israel using invisible hands. In other words, the pressure must be strong enough to hurt but invisible enough to be difficult to pinpoint its direct source. For example, crucial spare parts for American-made F-16 fighters might be suspiciously delayed. When Israelis ask about them, the Americans could simply pretend that the delay is bureaucratic. The Israelis will get the message without it necessarily being seen as public pressure.
The reason why the US will need to play such games is, of course, domestic. Dealing with Israel is not simply a foreign policy issue but a domestic one as well.
Ten months ago, when the US asked Israel for a one-year moratorium on settlement freeze, Netanyahu agreed to a 10-month freeze, knowing well that when it runs out in September, the Obama administration will be too vulnerable, what with the mid-term elections, to take on Israel and, by extension, American Jewish and Christian Zionist voters.
This reality was made clear soon after Israel%u2019s decision not to extend the settlement freeze. A bipartisan letter from Congress was delivered to the White House, demanding that the US press the Palestinians to continue the direct talks in spite of the Israeli decision. No attempt was made in the AIPAC-inspired (and probably written) letter to deal with the fact that the US president's public plea was rebuffed by the Israelis.
While America's current vulnerability is connected to the upcoming mid-term congressional elections, other members of the international community are not that vulnerable. The antidote to the Israeli arrogance and rebuff of the international will must be strong, immediate and unambiguous.
European and UN leaders should start with lowering their public profile with Israel. There is no need for a while for London, Paris or the UN to meet with Israel officials and to shake hands with them. A cooling off period could send the correct message that actions have consequences.
The worse way to deal with Israel's obstructionism is to reward. Press reports are saying that the Obama administration are trying to sweeten the pie to encourage Netanyahu to extend the moratorium. This is the way to perpetuate and extend the whining and delays of Israelis. You can't and shouldn't reward violations of international law and international will.
Financial pressure must be used to cure this problem. The Israeli public, enjoying a high standard of living, must understand that their government%u2019s actions against the international community will result in their standard of life being affected. When Israelis are asked why they are punishing the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza, one often-repeated answer is that this is the result of Palestinians having elected Hamas. Well, the same consequences must be felt by Israelis for electing a right-wing settler government that refuses to accept minimum world demands regarding illegally built settlements.
Israel can't have it both ways. Just like when dealing with a spoiled child, tough love is often required at an early stage so as to avoid suffering in the long run. The world community has allowed Israel to get away with occupation and murder for too long. For a while, the Israelis were able to wiggle out of the consequences of their actions by putting the blame on the Palestinians. This time, the Palestinians have closed all loopholes and the party obstructing peace talks is clearly known. The sooner the?world community makes this guilty party pay for its actions the sooner we will all benefit.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319484
Erekat: Israel holds key to resuming talks
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The chief PLO negotiator says Israel can restart peace negotiations by freezing settlements.
Saeb Erekat said Thursday that the PLO had repeatedly demanded that Israel stop housing construction in the occupied Palestinian territories, including so-called natural growth, to give the peace process "the opportunity it deserves."
"We are not opposed to continuing direct talks. Israel is the one which holds the key to resuming these talks," Erekat told reporters in Ramallah following a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and US envoy George Mitchell.
Erekat said Abbas' stance is clear and that it was expressed in written letters to US President Barack Obama as well as the EU, Russia, and UN.
He praised the US administration for its efforts, but said he hoped it and the international community would commit Israel to fulfilling its previously signed agreements such as halting settlement expansion.
Mitchell said Obama's vision of a permanent solution in the Mideast would include two states living side by side in peace and prosperity.
"We realize that there are many obstacles in front of the peace process, among them those who want it to fail and use violence to prevent its success," Mitchell said. "We are determined to continue to find common ground between the parties to continue with the direct talks in a way which we hope will lead to an agreement."
Israel's return to building settlements in the occupied territories has cast the future of peace talks into question following a brief return to negotiations after a 20-month hiatus sparked by Israel's assault on Gaza in December 2008.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was scheduled to meet with Mitchell shortly after her arrival to the region on Thursday and speak with Abbas the day after. Informed sources told Ma'an that Abbas would sit with Mitchell for a second set of discussions Friday.
Palestinian leaders have made clear in public that they will not compromise on demands, made even before talks began on 2 September, that continued settlement construction on lands intended for a Palestinian state under a two-state solution would not be acceptable.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped talks would continue, he has not agreed to halt construction despite reports that the US offered the reported package of incentives to get the peace process back on track. Netanyahu met with Mitchell on Wednesday.
Abbas said he would discuss continuing talks at an Arab League meeting next week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319736
Palestinians may continue talks if construction limited to settlement blocs
Abbas and Mitchell
US envoy Mitchell meets Palestinian president Abbas in Ramallah as part of American, international effort to save peace talks; PLO Executive Committee to convene Thursday to discuss negotiations.
US envoy George Mitchell on Thursday stepped up the pace of efforts to avert the collapse of Middle East peace talks launched four weeks ago, saying, "We are continuing our efforts to find common ground between the parties to enable the direct negotiations to continue."
Speaking after talks in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who says he will pull out of the talks unless Israel extends a freeze on new building in Jewish West Bank settlements, Mitchell said, "We think it's important for the Palestinian people, for the people of Israel, and we think it's in the United States' interest and indeed the interests of people around the world that this conflict of long-standing be brought to an end."
According to chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians told Mitchell they would not be able to return to the negotiation table amid "significant" construction in the West Bank.
Before Thursday's meeting, which ended inconclusively, Abbas adviser Nabil Shaath said no progress has been made toward a compromise.
"Apparently the Israelis are determined to swallow and steal the land and consider that much more important than peace," Shaath told The Associated Press. "Unless the settlement activities stop completely, there is no use in continuing these negotiations."
Mitchell has been shuttling between Israelis and Palestinians since Tuesday to try to forge a compromise.
Later in the day Abbas is expected to convene the PLO Executive Committee to update its members on the recent developments. The heads of all the Palestinian organizations were invited to take part in the meeting.
It is estimated that the Executive Committee will recommend that the direct talks be suspended as long as settlement construction continues, but Palestinian sources told Ynet that Arab countries and the international community are working to find a formula that would allow negotiations to continue.
The Arab League, which is expected to convene October 4, will apparently not recommend that the Palestinians back out of the negotiations.
The Palestinians will likely agree to continue the talks if Israeli construction in the West Bank is limited to the large settlement blocs and if Israel agrees to base the negotiations on the 1967 borders.
Sources familiar with the negotiations said that despite the expiration of the 10-month settlement construction moratorium, construction in the West Bank's Jewish communities has yet to resume.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962220,00.html
'Obama promises Bibi: Only 2 more months of freeze'
Dennis Ross updates Jewish senators on US demand that Israel extend settlement construction moratorium. Washington Institute for Near East Policy says Obama sent Netanyahu letter guaranteeing he would not ask for another extension, offers incentives package.
WASHINGTON The Obama administration is pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the settlement construction moratorium by two months, Jewish senators were told at a White House briefing.
The Foreign Policy magazine's website quoted Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) as saying Wednesday that Dennis Ross, the National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and Susan Sher, chief of staff to the First Lady who also serves as the top White House Jewish outreach official, told Jewish members of the Senate that the Obama administration is pushing Netanyahu to extend the now-lapsed West Bank building moratorium for 60 days as one way to allow Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to continue.
During the meeting, Ross and Sher said the Obama Administration is also pressuring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to quit the talks regardless of whether Israel extends the moratorium or not.
Levin was among 87 senators who earlier this week sent President Barack Obama a letter urging him to pressure the Palestinians to continue the negotiations. According to him, both the Israelis and Palestinians want to continue the direct talks.
David Makovsky of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy reported that Obama had sent Netanyahu a letter in which he guarantees that the US would not ask Israel for another extension beyond 60 days.
"Rather, the future of settlements is to be settled at the table as part of territorial negotiations. Second, the letter promises that the United States will veto any UN Security Council initiative -- Arab or otherwise -- relating to Arab-Israeli peace during the agreed one-year negotiating period. Third, Washington pledged to accept the legitimacy of existing Israeli security needs and not seek to redefine them. In this context, the letter explicitly mentions the need to ensure a complete ban on the smuggling of rockets, mortars, arms, and related items, as well as the infiltration of terrorists into Israel," according to Makovsky.
The report further states that he letter explicitly discusses the "need to enhance Israel's defense capabilities in the event that the parties reach security arrangements.
"Even if a security deal fails to materialize, Washington's offer creates the baseline for Israel's defense needs in a post-peace era. These needs reportedly include a range of missile systems and aircraft (e.g., additional F-35s), layered missile defense, and multiplatform early warning means, including satellites. The Obama administration realizes that these needs would mean an unspecified increase in US security assistance to Israel once a peace agreement is concluded," Makovsky wrote.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962161,00.html
Egypt cynical about PA-Israel talks
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit
Egypt has expressed pessimism about the future direct talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel, given Tel Aviv's decision to resume settlement work.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Wednesday that the Palestinians would not be able to remain in the US-sponsored talks after Israel's refusal to extend its settlement slowdown, Ma'an news agency reported.
"Despite the international efforts, I am not optimistic," Aboul Gheit said in a televised interview with the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV.
The Egyptian official was referring to a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction on Palestinian land -- a partial freeze which failed to include East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and allowed construction of "community centers" across the West Bank.
Aboul Gheit's remarks come as Arab foreign ministers are to convene in Libya to discuss the continuation of the PA-Israeli talks, negotiations that he said were "stopped before they even began."
The troubled talks were further jeopardized by remarks made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Lieberman said he believed that Israel must arrive at an interim agreement with the Palestinians that "could take a few decades," and that an ultimate agreement would require population and territorial exchanges.
The Egyptian foreign minister further pointed out that he did not listen to his Israeli counterpart's speech as he did not ascribe importance to his words.
"It is known that Lieberman talks a lot, but not always out of an understanding of the framework in which he is in," he concluded.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144613.html
7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 1 oct 2010
Israeli Army Bulldozers Pave the Way For Settlement Construction Near Bethlehem
Israeli bulldozers began, friday morning, bulldozing lands adjacent to the settlement of Tekoa', south east of the city of Bethlehem.
Hassan Bergia, a member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, reported to P.A. news agency Wafa that work began in an attempt to expand borders and construct additional housing units.
He added that settlers had erected six ''caravans'' in al-M'asha region, south of bethlehem.
This work follows the end of the freeze on settlement construction on the West Bank. Under international law, the construction of housing with the intention of transferring population of an occupying nation, and the civilian occupation thereafter, is illegal.
The legitimacy of the settlement freeze has come under question, with Israeli human rights organisation, B'tselem, documenting 492 separate incidents where the moratorium was broken.
Nations, such as the U.S. and Japan, are calling for a continuance of the settlement freeze, as Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, stated upon entering peace talks this September, that if the freeze did not continue, then the Palestinian delegation would cancel further talks.
http://bit.ly/bLYsCB
DN!!!!! Piece-Loving Israel Rejects US Incentives to Extend Settlement Freeze
(0:49) DN!!!!! Piece-Loving Israel Rejects US Incentives to Extend Settlement Freeze
PM: Palestinians must relax their conditions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his advisors in a closed conversation that he expects the Palestinians to "relax their conditions and continue the direct negotiations with the Palestinians" despite the renewal of construction in West Bank settlements.
Netanyahu noted that "moderate and restrained construction in Judea and Samaria in the coming year will not affect the peace map in any way. So the international community must call on the Palestinians to remain in the peace talks."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962564,00.html
Likud officials: We'll support freeze in return for US loan guarantees
Senior Likud officials have told Ynet that they would support a two-month extension of the settlement construction freeze in exchange for loan guarantees from the United States.
Likud sources noted that a "significant" incentive package would help the prime minister receive the approval of the cabinet or any other forum.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962560,00.html
Ashton: Israel refused to extend freeze
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Following meetings with President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said no progress had been made.
Though she described the meetings as "positive and constructive dialogue," Ashton told reporters in Jerusalem on Friday that she had requested that Israel extend its moratorium on settlement construction.
"I regret that so far they have chosen not to," she said, adding that "Those of us engaged in the process have been very concerned that the ending of the moratorium puts at risk the possibility of long term peace."
Ashton also praised the continued work of Fayyad's government on state-building, adding the proviso that the project is essential to a Palestinian state only when "nurtured in the context of serious ongoing talks which lead to a solution on all final status issues."
She said the EU would "continue to offer whatever support we can so the talks continue and a comprehensive and sustainable solution is found, with the state of Israel and the state of Palestine living side by side in peace and security."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319863
'PA chief insists on settlement freeze'
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (L ) talks with acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas would not follow direct talks without a complete Israeli settlement freeze, his spokesman says.
"We will not negotiate without a complete freeze on settlements activity," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina was quoted as saying by AFP on Thursday.
His remarks came after the acting Palestinian Authority (PA) chief met with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Ashton made no statement after the meeting, but Abbas spokesman said she "supported the Palestinian position on the settlements freeze" during their meeting.
In a statement before her visit, Ashton said, "As I have said, the EU regrets the Israeli decision not to extend the moratorium on settlements."
Tel Aviv has dismissed the international calls to extend the partial 10-month moratorium on expansion of its occupation through settlement construction.
The moratorium expired on Sunday, but the PA said it would decide about the talks after consulting with Arab foreign ministers.
Abbas is expected to meet the ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo next Wednesday.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144740.html
Netanyahu rejects U.S. guarantees in exchange for renewing freeze
U.S. reportedly incensed over PM's rejection of draft letter; European diplomat: Netanyahu is humiliating Obama.
The United States is reportedly incensed over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of a draft letter that would have extended the freeze on West Bank settlement construction, formulated by advisers to the U.S. and Israeli leaders.
The letter, written by U.S. President Barack Obama's advisers and by Netanyahu's and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's adviser Isaac Molho, would have had Israel freezing construction in the settlements for another 60 days in exchange for unprecedented U.S. political and security assistance.
Senior American officials said they were frustrated by Netanyahu's conduct in the affair.
"We're not buying the excuse of political difficulties anymore," a senior U.S. official told his Israeli counterpart.
"The Americans said Netanyahu's conduct is humiliating the president," said a senior European diplomat who met with senior U.S. officials in New York last week.
The details of the letter were revealed by senior researcher David Makovsky on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
According to the report, the letter included benefits crucial to Israel's security that Netanyahu has been demanding for years. For example, the United States pledged to support Israel's position on stationing Israeli troops in the Jordan valley after the establishment of a Palestinian state, in order to prevent weapons smuggling.
The United States also would not ask Israel to further extend the building moratorium and would pledge that the issue of settlements would be dealt with only as part of final-status talks with the Palestinians, the letter reportedly said.
The United States also reportedly would veto any UN Security Council resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year, would upgrade Israel's defense capabilities after the peace agreement, and would increase security assistance.
This reportedly would include providing Israel with advanced fighter jets and early warning systems, including satellites. The U.S. also would start talks with Arab countries toward a regional agreement vis-a-vis Iran.
Obama adviser Dennis Ross, who is the moving force behind the letter, is believed to have encouraged Obama to change his policy toward Netanyahu in order to come off as friendlier. Ross reportedly worked with Barak and Molho on the letter during the UN General Assembly in New York.
The White House yesterday denied that Obama sent a letter to Netanyahu, but did not deny that the United States and Israel worked on a letter.
The Prime Minister's Office declined to answer any questions on the subject.
According to a source involved in discussions of the letter, Netanyahu agreed to the talks conducted by Barak and Molho in New York, but began to backpedal in two phone calls with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday night.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said he appreciated the letter but could not accept the American proposal because it included a two-month extension of the construction moratorium, which he said would damage his public credibility.
According to an Israeli source involved in the details of the affair, Ross was very insulted by Netanyahu's conduct and considered it "treason."
To head off a possible public confrontation following Netanyahu's rejection of the letter, Ross and White House Middle East adviser Dan Shapiro met Tuesday in Washington with a large group of Jewish senators and congresspersons to report on talks with Israel and the draft letter.
According to a source informed about the meeting, Ross said the administration was surprised that Netanyahu had turned down the draft. To increase pressure on Netanyahu, Ross reportedly passed on the draft to Makovsky, who published it online Tuesday night.
According to a senior Israeli official, the "guarantee letter" may now be off the table and the Americans may be formulating a different solution to allow continued negotiations.
On Tuesday morning, Netanyahu met with U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Mitchell met yesterday with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and will meet with Netanyahu again today.
Meanwhile, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton landed yesterday in Israel and will meet with Netanyahu today.
According to news agencies, the Arab League, which was to meet Monday to decide whether direct Israeli-Palestinian talks should continue, has put off the meeting until Wednesday, giving another 48 hours for Israeli-Palestinian talks.
http://bit.ly/dq1VcH
7 jan 2012, 16:05 , Respect -
Maria 2 oct 2010
Mitchell leaves without breakthrough
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- US Middle East envoy George Mitchell concluded his visit Saturday to the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel without achieving a breakthrough on a halt to settlement construction, tipped to bring negotiations to collapse.
Mitchell arrived in Cairo as part of a regional tour aimed at saving one-month old direct negotiations from being called off, after meetings a day earlier with President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, which failed to bring about progress on a halt to Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Earlier Saturday, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said an official stance on talks would be announced following a meeting with the PLO and Fatah, following Israel's decision not to extend its 10-month moratorium, despite threats that Abbas would withdraw from the nascent talks.
Meanwhile, Egypt's MENA news agency reported that Cairo has requested that a meeting be convened on the sidelines of an Arab League extraordinary session later this week, in Sirtre, Libya where Abbas is scheduled to announce his stance on talks with Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=320195
US: Settlement freeze must continue
State Department declines comment on PLO threat to suspend talks over Israel refusal to extend settlement construction moratorium; calls on Arab League to support talks, says it remains committed to achieving Mideast peace
WASHINGTON The United States on Saturday welcomed the Arab League's decision to postpone its conference by four days, thus allowing it to continue its efforts to prevent the Israeli-Palestinian peace process from coming to an abrupt end.
While the administration had no official comment on the PLO's threat to suspend the direct peace talks, a deadlock for which the Palestinians hold Israel and its refusal to extend the moratorium on settlement construction responsible for, a source in the State Department said Washington believes other Arab nations "play a vital part" in the peace process.
Washington, added the source, urges Arab nations to take steps to encourage trust between the parties and "the right momentum for talks."
The State Department believes that the West Bank settlement construction freeze must continue, said the source. Special US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell has remained in the area in order to try and convince both Israel and the PA to resume negotiations.
He is also travelling the region, trying to garner Arab League member nations' support for a League resolution preventing an irreparable impasse.
Mitchell is expected to arrive in Cairo later Saturday. He is scheduled to visit Jordan on noon Sunday, before heading back to Washington.
"We will continue our efforts," said the DC source. "We know this was a tough mission, but we are determined to achieve a comprehensive, viable peace in the Middle East."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962818,00.html
UN chief: Broaden settlement building restrictions
Even after PLO decision to suspend talks, Ban Ki-moon speaks to parties, calls on them to create atmosphere conducive to talks; Tzipi Livni: Breakdown will have 'serious consequences'
WASHINGTON - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his hope, in a series of conversations Saturday, that the government of Israel would broaden its policy of restricting settlement construction in the West Bank.
The secretary-general spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and US Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell. In a notice issued almost at the same time as the PLO executive committee decided to suspend talks over the settlement construction issue, Ban emphasized the need to maintain an atmosphere conducive to negotiations.
The crisis in the direct talks has still not led to any changes on Israel's political map, but the opposition is already using it to remind the prime minister that the breakdown of negotiations would have serious consequences for Israel.
Following the PLO decision, Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni said "Kadima calls on the prime minister to take the right decisions to enable the talks to continue and to prevent their collapse."
"Kadima will support any decision which will advance the negotiations and strengthen Israel's security interests, and will fight against any decisions leading to the cessation of the talks and seriously harm Israel's interests," Livni said. "Netanyahu must choose according to Israel's real long-term interests, above any personal political interests."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962791,00.html
7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 3 oct 2010
National bureau for lands: Settlement activities reported during alleged freeze
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The national bureau for defending lands and resisting settlement said that Israel's settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem were taking place during last September before its alleged freeze period expired.
Immediately after the period of settlement freeze ended, the Israeli settlers declared the start of widespread settlement construction, organized massive rallies all over the West Bank to celebrate this event and escalated their attacks on Palestinians and their property, the national bureau said in its report.
In Al-Khalil city, the settlers put the foundation stone of a kindergarten and a school for their kids in the heart of the city and rebuilt Havat Maon settlement near Maon settlement, east of Yatta town.
Near Kiryat Arba settlement in Al-Khalil, Israeli settlers bulldozed a piece of land belonging to Al-Bouti family and in the old part of the city, they savagely threw stones at Palestinian homes. They also used violence against the Palestinian citizens in Tafoh town, and seized and leveled 66 dunums of agricultural lands.
Settlers from Tel Rumeida outpost in the central part of Al-Khalil attacked one of the Palestinian homes and set fire to belongings in its yard.
In Bethlehem, settlers from Nokdim outpost set up mobile homes on nearby Palestinian lands, while construction activities resumed in Eliezer and Efrat settlements.
In Nablus and Salfit, many Israeli settlers took hold of Palestinian lands and established new structures in Revava outpost.
Different settlement activities were reported taking place in Yitzhar, Shavut Rachel and Yakir, Ariel and Barkan outposts.
A group of savage settlers reportedly attacked the villages of Qaryut and Awarta in Nablus and looted olive crops.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli court issued a decision allowing settlers to expel 20 Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
http://bit.ly/cZC9hK
Israeli media reactions to settlement controversy
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The issue of settlements has kept all those involved in the peace process busy for several weeks.
As the US, EU and regional leaders attempt to find a way out of the crisis, Israel has resumed building in settlements across the region.
The Israeli press on Sunday focused on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to accept a US proposal reported in the Hebrew daily Ma'ariv, under which the partial settlement freeze would be extended for two months in exchange for various US guarantees.
Hebrew news reports said Netanyahu would meet with senior ministers during the week to try and push for a two-month extension, before an Arab League meeting in which President Mahmoud is expected to announce his stance on negotiations. The reports added that Netanyahu would not include construction resumed since the expiry of the 10-month freeze on 26 September in a new moratorium. This may explain his hesitation in accepting the US proposal.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said President Mahmoud Abbas was not only disappointed by Netanyahu's refusal to extend the freeze, but by the overall outcome of direct talks, relaunched in Washington on 2 September. The newspaper said Abbas had told several UN diplomats during sideline meetings in New York that the Israeli prime minister had been reluctant to discuss any final status issues.
Abbas reportedly complained that Netanyahu was unwilling to discuss anything other than security, and was not serious about reaching a final agreement. In contrast, Netanyahu said his three meetings with Abbas had been positive, and indicated talks would be successful.
By instructing ministers not to give statements on the settlement issue, and urging settlers to build quietly, Netanyahu demonstrated that the real crisis is a lack of seriousness on the Israeli side toward reaching a final status agreement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=320556
Habayit Hayehudi faction decides will not support freeze
The Habayit Hayehudi faction convened Sunday and decided unanimously it will not subscribe to any decision on a partial or full construction freeze in the West Bank.
Party chairman Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said: "The faction supports the prime minister and urges him to stand firm amid all pressures."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3963474,00.html
Yesha chair: US' offer is poisonous pill
Danny Dayan says he hopes Prime Minister Netanyahu will withstand US' pressure over settlement freeze; adds conceding will put Israel in clear disadvantage for duration of peace talks.
One week after the settlement movement marked the end of the West Bank construction freeze, the movement on Saturday commended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusal to compromise on the matter.
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan told Ynet Saturday that any Israeli agreement to reinstate the settlement moratorium will be perceived as political concessions to the Palestinians, even before the peace process gained any true momentum.
"Those urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept Obama's offer lack in reading comprehension," he said. "They either fail to understand the gravity of the offer or are deliberately trying to trick Netanyahu."
Dayan's statement came following a reported incentive package the Washington administration offered the prime minister, in exchange for a 60-day extension of the settlement freeze.
Speaking of reports suggesting the American president promised Israel it could retain IDF presence in the Jordan valley as part of a future peace deal, Dayan said that should Israel agree to that, "It may as well admit it has given up on the area and all the communities in it before the negotiations have even begun. Otherwise, why would anyone need to agree to have Israeli military presence?
"This would be an admission that Israel is willing to return to the 1967 lines borders which cannot be defended. There is no deal hear, nothing that offers any incentive for two additional months of settlement freeze. This is an attempt to strip Israel of its assets," said Dayan.
'Beware the clear disadvantage'
The Yesha Council chairman went on to warn that if Israel concedes to anything now, "When the negotiations for Jerusalem, the refugees and water begin, Israel will be at a clear disadvantage.
"The Palestinians keep pressing to finalize the borders first and Israel keeps refusing. Accepting Obama's proposal will give them what they want."
The ramifications, he added would be detrimental to Israel, "as the settlement freeze will be prolonged and we will lose ground in the negotiations. We will pay a million dollars and get nothing but a slap in the face in return. It would constitute outrageous ineptness in negotiating skills.
"Obama's letter," he added, "Isn't a candy given by the American administration to Israel, but a poisonous pill made to look attractive."
Beyond the loss of face and standing on Israel's part should it accept Obama's offer, Dayan warned that once Netanyahu's credibility is shattered, Abbas and Obama will employ the same method over and over the Palestinian president will threaten to walk away, Netanyahu will be made to appease him, "And if this is how things go, when the negotiations end we'll all be travelling to the Western Wall on a tourist visa."
Dayan concluded by saying he believed a face off with Washington now was better that an Israeli surrender to all its demands. "A smart statesman never puts himself in a situation like this, even if he thinks he can get out of it."
Later Saturday, Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council commented on the PLO's threat to end the peace talks, saying that "We cannot blame Abbas and his colleagues. We have only ourselves to blame.
"We brought them here, we gave them guns and we continue to provide (the PA) artificial resuscitation, while all we get is a spit in the face. This is what the scripture mean when it says 'They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.'"
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962806,00.html
Israeli PM shrugs off settlement issue
sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on the rest of the direct talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to be conducted without a settlement freeze.
"I hope the Palestinians continue with the negotiation in order to achieve a peace deal within a year," the Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying on Saturday.
The Israeli premier once again shrugged off international calls to extend the partial moratorium on the settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly urged Tel Aviv to extend the 10-month freeze, which expired last week.
Israel resumed expansion of its occupation through settlement construction just hours after the expiry of the freeze, which allowed construction in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli move is believed to be illegal by the international community since it violates UN Security Council resolutions 446, 452, and 465.
Many Palestinian groups have expressed opposition to the rest of the direct talks which began last month after a 20-month break, saying that the US is partial toward Israel and Abbas does not represent all the Palestinians.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144960.html
'US to Israel: Favors for freeze'
US President Barack Obama (C) walks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L ) and acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas at the White House in Washington, DC.
The United States offers Israel several controversial favors in exchange for the latter's temporary extension of a partial freeze on its settlement activities.
The inducements were listed in a letter from US President Barack Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Thursday.
They range from guaranteeing Israel's military presence on Palestinian lands after the establishment of a Palestinian state to giving the Israeli military access to some of the latest high-tech US weaponry.
Israel, which refused to renew the freeze on its September 26 expiration date, would in exchange have to extend the ban, which is claimed to prevent the construction and expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The extension would, in turn, earn the Palestinian Authority's trust, thus expediting a deal in the US-brokered direct talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel.
The White House pressure recently resulted in the resumption of the talks, which had broken off at the turn of 2009 when Israel attacked the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians. Washington has promised to broker an agreement between the two sides.
Many Palestinian groups have expressed opposition to the negotiations, arguing that Washington is partial toward Tel Aviv.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas has said he would decide whether to continue the negotiations after an upcoming consultation with the Arab foreign ministers in an Arab League (AL) meeting, which is set for Friday.
AL Secretary General Amr Moussa says the PA has the right to quit the talks, should Tel Aviv begin building once again in the West Bank. The umbrella group of the Palestine Liberation Organization has also urged a pullout over the settlement activities.
Should Israel agree to the US demand, it would be allowed to remain in the Jordan Valley. Some 47,000 Palestinians live in the part of the valley that lies in the occupied West Bank.
The US would also shield Israel from any resolution, which it could be served by the United Nations Security Council next year.
It would also increase the $3 billion it sends Israel in military aid every year and reinforce the Israel Defense Forces with advanced weapons and early warning systems.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144957.html 7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 4 oct 2010
Carter recovers, slams settlement building
Former US president back to life as normal after hospitalization, calls on Israel to 'give up its ambition to occupy and control Palestine'
Former US President Jimmy Carter says he's recovered from a "bout with a virus" and has resumed his relatively hectic schedule at the age of 86.
Carter tells CBS television that "I feel fine." He says he had "one day of intensive hospital care and I've been out working ever since."
The former president, asked about prospects for Middle East peace, said it was time for Israel to give up its building of settlements in land the Palestinians claim as their own.
"The key thing is for Israel to give up its ambition to occupy and control Palestine," Carter said on CBS' "The Early Show."
"As long as they are still building Israeli homes in Palestine, against the wishes of the Palestinian people, that makes it very difficult for the Palestinians or the Arab world to comply with the desires of the United States, and that is to have peace.
"But it's always better, when you look at the Middle East, to have some hope," Carter said.
He also spoke approvingly of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying there was no better mediator.
"I don't think we could have any better interlocutor or mediator than Hillary Clinton, who is tough, competent, knowledgeable, intelligent and I think very determined to be successful. So, if anybody can do it, I think Hillary Clinton can do it."
Carter has been among America's most active former presidents, and he was in the capital Monday to look after a Habitat for Humanity project. The Democrat was president for one term, losing to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3963999,00.html
'Netanyahu agrees to extend settlement freeze by 2 months'
London-based newspaper quotes Israeli sources as saying that Obama offered incentives in return; Netanyahu: Most reports incorrect, sides working 'discretely' on issue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to extend Israel's freeze on settlement construction by 60 days, the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat quoted Israeli officials as saying on Monday.
The Asharq al-Awsat report came amid recent claims that U.S. President Barack Obama had offered Netanyahu an incentive package in exchange for keeping settlement construction at bay, a move which could quell Palestinian concerns over settlement building and consequently bring them back to the negotiations table.
According to Israeli sources quoted in the report, Netanyahu expressed his preliminary approval to the extend Israel's moratorium on settlement building, adding that he conditioned such a move on a list of U.S. assurances, which included a continued IDF presence in the Jordan valley and continued U.S. political and military support.
Sources quoted in the Asharq al-Awsat piece also said Netanyahu claimed that the assurances listed would aid him in the face of the widespread internal opposition expected to such a move.
Speaking at a meeting of Likud ministers which took place shortly before the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Monday, Netanyahu made a possible reference to the Asharq al-Awsat report, saying that there were "a lot of reports on the subject, most of which are wrong and we can't deny or correct everything.
"There's no need to start a debate on the subject," the PM said, adding, however that Israel was in the "midst of sensitive talks with the U.S. administration to find a solution that would allow talks to continue."
"There's no need to cause a stir, but there is a need to conduct ourselves in a wise and responsible manner in order to advance the diplomatic process," the PM said, adding that he believed he had to "weigh the situation quietly and far from the spotlight, and act quietly."
Netanyahu added that "efforts, mainly discrete ones, are made and we are expected to conduct ourselves in a restrained, discrete manner. If a decision will be made it would be brought before appropriate governmental bodies."
Israel was "interested in achieving peace," Netanyahu adding that it was a "vital interest of the State of Israel."
Last week, the White House denied that Obama sent Netanyahu a letter proposing a set of U.S. guarantees to Israel in exchange for Israel extending a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank for another two months.
"No letter was sent to the Prime Minister. We are not going to comment on sensitive diplomatic matters, said Benjamin Chang, the deputy spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
It is not clear, however, whether Obama could have made the offer via means other than a letter.
Obama's letter was said to include a long list of American favors in exchange for an extension of the settlement building freeze, which ended this week. Most of these favors are critical to Israel's strategic security needs that Netanyahu has been demanding for years.
Other commitments that Obama reportedly offered Netanyahu in the letter include an agreement not to ask for any more building freeze extensions, an agreement to veto any anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution in the next year, and an agreement that the future fate of the settlements be dealt with only as part of a final status agreement with the Palestinians.
Obama's letter was said to include additional commitments, including a series of guarantees to prevent the smuggling of weapons and missiles into a Palestinian state, a lengthy period of interim security arrangements in the Jordan Valley and a comprehensive regional defense pact for protection from Iran to follow the establishment of the Palestinian state.
The American president also reportedly vowed to upgrade Israel's security capabilities and increase the three billion dollar security aid package that Israel receives annually. The letter included commitments to advanced weapons and early warning systems, including satellites.
http://bit.ly/dpjLjF
Report: Netanyahu sets terms for freeze extension
London-based Arabic paper al-Sharq al-Awsat says prime minister has given consent in principle to two-month renewal of settlement building moratorium on condition it will be the last.
Is the West Bank settlement building freeze on the verge of renewal? The London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given his consent in principle to a two-month renewal of the settlement construction moratorium, but has conditioned it by stipulating it would be the last of its kind.
Citing Israeli sources, the paper reported that Netanyahu also asked the US to guarantee Israeli military presence in the Jordan Rift Valley as part of a final peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Other conditions include US military assistance and Washington's assurance that it will use its veto power in the UN Security Council to nip any decision against Israel.
The reports added that Netanyahu asked the Americans to help him deal with the broad political opposition he is likely to face on the matter. The prime minister, said the newspaper, explained to the Americans that he would need a benefits package to show his cabinet, if he is to garner their support for the move.
The same sources told the newspaper that according to Netanyahu, 15 ministers currently object to any form of a settlement freeze extension, eight ministers support it, and 10 are undecided.
Should there be a tie between those supporting the move and those opposed to it, Netanyahu will have the deciding vote, said the report.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3963660,00.html
7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 5 oct 2010
No mention of settlement freeze at Israel cabinet meeting
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- During its weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister and his seven top ministers did not discuss extending a temporary moratorium on settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli media reported.
Contrary to prior reports, the ministers only discussed Israel's preparation for flotillas to Gaza, and the work of the UN's Turkel committee examining a prior aid flotilla that came under deadly naval fire in May, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced, according to Ynet, an Israeli news site.
President Mahmoud Abbas met on Tuesday morning with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and discussed efforts Egypt is exerting in an attempt to save the Middle East peace process from collapse over Israel's settlement activity.
The two leaders addressed Mubarak's meetings with Israeli, US and EU leaders to try and make progress in the peace process after Israel announced it would not be extending a 10-month partial settlement freeze in the West Bank despite threats that the Palestinians would withdraw from talks.
Abbas also updated Mubarak on the latest efforts on the Palestinian side aimed at ending Hamas-Fatah rivalry, as officials from both parities prepare to meet over security disputes, the last point in contention on an Egyptian-sponsored unity proposal.
PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo and chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat were in attendance, as well as presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh and Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Barakaat Al-Farra. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman also participated in the high-level meeting.
Abbas' speech before the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, the body charged with overseeing the Arab Peace Initiative, has been postponed until Friday, an informed source told Ma'an.
Abbas was scheduled to address the committee on Wednesday in Cairo, ahead of an extraordinary session of the Arab League convenes in Sirtre, Libya. The source said the delay followed the change in location, with both meetings to be held in Libya.
The source further said the US was "striving to develop a solution that would satisfy the Palestinian leadership and push them to continue direct negotiations with the Israeli government."
One of the potential solutions, the source said, was prolonging Israel's settlement construction moratorium for a further two or three months, despite the Netanyahu government's decision to continue building following the freeze's deadline.
Abbas has reiterated that he would withdraw from talks if Israel failed to commit to the extension of the moratorium but said he would be announcing his stance on negotiations before the committee meeting in Sirtre.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321197
PM to convene top ministers to mull fresh settlement freeze in wake of Obama offer
Egypt's Pres. Mubarak: If peace talks collapse, violence and terrorism will erupt worldwide.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his forum of top ministers today to discuss extending Israel's moratorium on West Bank settlement construction for another 60 days.
The concession would be in exchange for a series of U.S. guarantees regarding Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israel initially halted construction for 10 months only, which ended on September 26. But the Palestinians have said they would not continue the recently resumed negotiations unless Israel agreed to halt construction again. The Obama administration has urged Israel to reconsider its rejection of this demand.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has also entered the fray: In an interview with the journal of the Egyptian armed forces, given to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he said he has told several leaders, including Netanyahu, that "if the peace process collapses, violence and terrorism will erupt in the Middle East and all over the world."
Yesterday, Netanyahu announced that he was canceling a planned tour of the Jerusalem area in order to hold today's session. If he succeeds in convincing his seven top ministers to extend the freeze, he will bring the matter to a vote in the diplomatic-security cabinet later today.
Netanyahu will try to persuade the ministers to accept the guarantees the American administration has offered Israel in exchange for extending the construction freeze.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak (Labor ) and Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor (Likud ) are expected to support Netanyahu's position, while Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu ) is likely to present the strongest opposition.
Netanyahu is pinning his hopes on Ministers Benny Begin (Likud ), Moshe Ya'alon (Likud ) and Eli Yishai (Shas ). He has met Begin over the last few days in an attempt to convince him to change his mind about extending the freeze.
The prime minister is interested in passing a decision on the matter before an Arab League committee meets in Libya on Friday to deliver its verdict on whether peace negotiations should continue.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Netanyahu earlier this week in an effort to resolve the settlement construction deadlock. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley defined the conversation as "very constructive" but refused to go into details.
Earlier yesterday, the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat quoted Israeli officials as saying that Netanyahu had agreed to extend the freeze on settlement construction by two months on condition that no further extension be demanded. It said he also insisted that Washington permit continued construction on West Bank projects that began after the freeze expired on September 26.
Speaking to Likud ministers yesterday morning, Netanyahu, in what may have been a reference to the Asharq al-Awsat report, said the time was not yet ripe "for issuing statements."
"There are a lot of reports, most of which are incorrect," he said. "We can't deny or correct everything."
Later, he told a cabinet meeting that he had "an interest in acting wisely and responsibly in order to advance the diplomatic process." He said Israel and the United States were holding behind-the-scenes talks aimed at resolving the deadlock in talks with the Palestinians, and that peace was a vital Israeli interest.
Also yesterday, Minister Michael Eitan (Likud ) urged Netanyahu to oust Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party from the coalition over the foreign minister's speech against the peace process in the UN last week.
Eitan, who blasted Lieberman for undermining the prime minister's leadership, said his party should be replaced with Kadima.
"We must look into expanding the coalition and adding new partners," he said.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai (Labor ) said Lieberman "makes mincemeat" of the government wherever he goes.
http://bit.ly/cMRPun
PA seeks Arab help to end talks unless freeze renewed
Poll shows Abbas's popularity versus that of Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh improved since the second quarter of 2010.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Cairo on Monday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the latest crisis surrounding the direct talks with Israel.
Shortly after his arrival, Abbas met separately with Egyptian General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and discussed the future of the negotiations in light of the Netanyahu government's refusal to extend the freeze on settlement construction.
Abbas, who was scheduled to meet with Mubarak on Tuesday, is seeking Arab backing for his decision to stay away from the talks unless Israel renews the moratorium, a PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post.
The Arab countries must support us in the wake of heavy pressure from the Americans to continue with the negotiations while the construction is going on in the settlements, the official said. Without such backing, we can't move forward with anything.
Abbas's discussions in Cairo come ahead of an Arab League meeting in Libya on Friday to discuss the repercussions of the resumption of construction in the settlements. The meeting is being held at the request of the PA leadership, which has announced that it will not return to the negotiating table while the work in the settlements is under way.
Meanwhile, two-thirds (66 percent) of the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip want the PA to pull out of the direct talks, according to a new public opinion poll published on Monday.
Only 30% of the Palestinians said the PA should not withdraw from the talks.
The poll was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last week after the end of the moratorium.
The poll covered 1,270 Palestinians and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
More than half of the respondents supported Hamas's terrorist attack against Jewish settlers near Hebron on the eve of the direct talks launch in Washington. Four Israelis were killed in the drive-by shooting.
According to the poll, the balance of power between Fatah and Hamas, in terms of popular support for each, has remained unchanged since the second quarter of this year.
However, Abbas's popularity versus that of Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh improved during that period, the results showed.
This means that Abbas and his Fatah faction have not lost public support by going to the direct talks with Israel and by cracking down on Hamas following the terrorist attack. Still, the overwhelming majority of those polled opposed the anti-Hamas clampdown.
About 70% of the Palestinians, the poll showed, believe there is corruption in the PA institutions in the West Bank, as opposed to 60% who think the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is corrupt.
The results also indicated that the Palestinians remain divided in their opinion about their two governments.
Twenty-six percent said the Hamas government was the legitimate Palestinian government, while 30% said they considered Salam Fayyad's government the legitimate one.
Another 30% said they saw both governments as illegitimate.
If presidential elections were held today and only two candidates were nominated, Abbas would receive the support of 57% of the Palestinians, while Haniyeh would get only 36%, according to the poll.
In a poll last June, Abbas received 54% and Haniyeh 39%.
http://www.jpost.com/home/article.aspx?id=190200
7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 6 oct 2010
10 days after settlement freeze expires, 350 new units under construction
West Bank settlers satisfied with the momentum; council chair: "Building proceeding normally, not at a heightened pace."
A Haaretz investigation reveals that since the building freeze in the West Bank was lifted ten days ago, bulldozers have been working furiously on the construction of 350 new housing units in various settlements.
As the end of the freeze approached, the settlements have made great efforts to launch a massive building campaign in response. The Yesha Council has expressed satisfaction at the large amount of construction that has taken place so far.
Danny Dayan, head of the Yesha Council of Settlements, said, "construction in Judea and Samaria is resuming normalcy. After ten wasted months, that only caused harm and didn't benefit anybody, we are returning to routine."
Dayan continued, "When you [finally let go after you] throttle someone's neck for two months, he does not start breathing four times as heavy, he starts breathing normally. That is what is happening right now in the settlements."
A long queue of Palestinian laborers lined up Tuesday at the entrance to the settlement of Talmon, west of Ramallah. The vehicles with white license plates parked at the side of the road, and Palestinian workers exited the vehicles.
The workers waited for the security officer to check their identity cards before entering the various construction sites spread out over the settlement that have sprung up since the end of the building freeze.
In the settlement of Kedumim, laborers are working on 56 new houses, and in Ariel bulldozers are flattening the land where 54 staggered-floor houses will be built for the evacuated Gaza settlers of Netzarim. The lands are also being measured because of a problem in the way that the land is parceled.
In Karmei Tzur in the Gush Etzion bloc they have started building 56 houses and executing major earth-moving work. In Adam, land-leveling work has begun for 24 new houses; some of those houses will be ready for their concrete foundations in the near future.
In Kiryat Arba they have begun construction on 34 new houses, and in the small settlement of Nariya they are expanding with 20 new houses. Workers are building 20 new houses in the settlement of Matityahu, and between five to ten in Nili.
There are also a number of settlements in which only a handful of houses are being built. In Oranit and Sha'arei Tikvah there has been some 'D-I-Y' construction. In Revava in Samaria, a single-digit number of houses are being built, some of which were already partially constructed. A similar situation exists in Yakir, Elazar and Kochav Hashachar.
In Barkan, building has begun on a small number of houses. In Kfar Adumim and Tekoa a few houses are being built. In the settlement of Dolev, two new houses are under construction.
http://bit.ly/bA5RWN
Israeli premier weighing new settlement curbs
RAMALLAH, West Bank Israel's prime minister has been sounding out key Cabinet members on extending a freeze on new construction in West Bank settlements in hopes of keeping peace talks with the Palestinians alive, but he is encountering stiff resistance, Israeli officials said Wednesday.
In Ramallah, key members of the Palestinian leadership in an increasingly tense waiting mode expressed optimism that an extension nonetheless was imminent.
The future of President Barack Obama's ambitious Mideast peace effort remained uncertain Wednesday as the U.S. pressed ahead with efforts to broker a compromise over the settlement issue, which has threatened to derail negotiations just a month after they were launched at the White House.
Israel's normally talkative leadership has been almost completely silent in recent days as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrestled with what appeared to be significant U.S. pressure to agree to some sort of extension of the construction slowdown which was in effect 10 months and expired on Sept. 26, just weeks after the resumption of peace talks.
The Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the talks if Israel refuses to reinstate it and another deadline of sorts has emerged with Friday's planned summit of the 22-nation Arab League, where the Palestinians expect support for whatever they decide.
Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, has been shuttling between the sides in an effort to find a magic formula sparking a variety of contradictory media reports about sweeteners the United States is prepared to offer Netanyahu if he reverses his promises to hard-line backers that the slowdown would not be renewed.
"There are ongoing efforts to ensure the continuation of the direct peace talks," said an Israeli official.
Another Israeli official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because Netanyahu has ordered a media blackout, said the premier was sounding out colleagues on a proposal to extend the slowdown for two months. Four of the seven ministers were opposed, the official said. Netanyahu's own position was not clear.
The Israelis are seeking various "assurances" in return for the extension.
Officials said the Israeli wish list included additional American military support, U.S. guarantees to veto anti-Israeli resolutions at the United Nations and guarantees that Washington would not impose an accord on Israel or force a full withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek both areas as part of a future state.
Israeli officials also said Netanyahu has sent indirect messages to the Arab League asking for a postponement of its vote this weekend to give him more time to work out a deal.
In Ramallah, several senior Palestinian officials, all also speaking privately for fear of harming the diplomatic efforts, said they expected a resolution before Friday's Arab League meeting.
The Palestinian officials said if the settlement slowdown is extended for two months and talks resume, the period would be used to try to hammer out an agreement on a border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
About 300,000 Israelis live in the roughly 100 West Bank settlements, interspersed among 2.5 million Palestinians. An additional 180,000 Israelis live in Jewish neighborhoods Israel has built in east Jerusalem.
Middle East specialist Aaron David Miller, a former official at the U.S. State Department, said guarantees offered by Obama included vast military hardware, support at the U.N., an extended Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley and regionwide security assurances from Arab states.
However, several of the Palestinian officials said they had been told by the Americans that the Jordan Valley pledge was not included in the package.
Miller said U.S. officials expected a deal with Netanyahu shortly and hope to use the 60-day window to work out the borders between Israel and a future Palestine. Miller refused to say where he got his information, though he remains in contact with key policymakers.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has pointed out several times that once a border is drawn, the settlement issue becomes irrelevant, because it would be clear to both sides that there would be no Israeli settlements in a Palestinian state.
One Palestinian official familiar with the talks said the United States was agreeing to block any anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N. Security Council something Washington has frequently done in the past.
American diplomats say only that ideas have been floated in talks, but no formal proposals have been made.
"This is a difficult moment. It's one that we anticipated," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley Wednesday. "If we can successfully work through this, then the negotiations will continue."
Last month Obama presided over the renewal of negotiations after nearly two years with no direct peace talks.
But the Palestinians said all along they would not keep talking if Israel did not renew its 10-month settlement construction slowdown, which expired Sept. 26.
The measure banned most housing starts but allowed completion of apartments already under construction, as well as public buildings and roads. Also, it did not apply to Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of their future state, though Israel imposed a similar, albeit undeclared, slowdown in east Jerusalem as well.
Israel refused to extend the slowdown, saying it was a one-time gesture, but the U.S. has been pressing publicly and privately for its reinstatement to ensure continuation of the talks. Obama has set a goal of an agreement within a year.
http://yhoo.it/d6p2O8
PA: US working on 3-month freeze extension to save talks
Abbas wins Egyptian, Jordanian backing for his refusal to return to negotiating table; Fatah and Hamas will restart reconciliation talks Oct. 20.
The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that it had won the backing of Egypt, Jordan and several other Arab countries for its refusal to return to the negotiating table unless Israel extended the moratorium on settlement construction.
The announcement was made following a meeting in Cairo between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
A senior PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that the US administration was now talking about the possibility of extending the moratorium by an additional three months to avoid the collapse of the peace talks.
This is not a bad proposal, the official said. But it remains to be seen if the Americans are able to exert pressure on [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu to stop the construction in the settlements.
Abbas's talks in Cairo come ahead of a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Libya on Friday to discuss the future of the peace talks in light of the resumption of construction in the settlements.
The meeting is being held at the request of the PA leadership, which has announced that it won't return to the negotiating table with Israel unless the settlement freeze is extended.
There is full agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Egypt with regard to the issue of settlement construction, said Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, following the Cairo meeting. There has to be a comprehensive freeze of settlement construction so as to give peace efforts a chance.
Nabil Sha'ath, a member of the PA negotiating team, said that the Palestinians can't resume talks with Israel under the motto of land for peace while the land is being stolen and settlements are growing. He added that Israel alone would be held responsible for the destruction of the peace process.
No US-sponsored peace process would have credibility when the Americans can't force Israel to fulfill one of the principal obligations to stop settlement construction, Sha'ath said.
We in Egypt are invested with our utmost efforts in ensuring that the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians will not collapse because of the settlements, Mubarak said after the meeting with Abbas. He added that Egypt hoped this opportunity to establish peace will not be missed as were many opportunities in the past.
Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II told Netanyahu by telephone on Tuesday to halt all building in the settlements.
Any unilateral steps that threaten peace must be stopped, especially building in settlements, Abdullah told Netanyahu, according to a statement released by his palace. The region is at a critical point that requires significant effort to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of two states for two peoples, an opportunity that must not be missed for the benefit of future generations.
Abdullah met in Amman earlier Tuesday with Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog and stressed the need to take advantage of the historic opportunity afforded by the current talks. According to Herzog, the king said that all efforts must be made to ensure that the direct talks continue, something that will necessitate courage and a great deal of responsibility on the part of the leaders.
We completely understand the size of this challenge and how it could eventually change the face of the Middle East, and the obligation on all the sides to take immediate, courageous steps for peace, Herzog told the king. We must advance direct negotiations for the sake of peace and improve relations between the states and residents of the Middle East in general. This requires that the leaders make maximum efforts and take responsibility.
This was Herzog's second trip to Amman in a little over a month, having met Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rifaay at the end of August.
A spokeswoman for Herzog said that the minister had a long history of relations with Jordan's royal family, starting many years ago with his uncle Ya'acov Herzog and former foreign minister Abba Eban, who worked with King Abdullah's father, King Hussein, during the 1960s and 1970s.
The crisis surrounding the peace talks coincides with reports about a possible reconciliation between Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas.
Representatives of the two rival parties are scheduled to hold a second round of talks on October 20 to discuss ways of ending their dispute and forming a unity government.
The first meeting was held in the Syrian capital of Damascus two weeks ago. It was the first meeting of its kind between Hamas and Fatah since the beginning of the year.
Spokesmen for the two sides said they were optimistic regarding the prospects of reaching a deal that would end their power struggle and the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Izat Risheq, a senior Hamas official in Syria, said the upcoming meeting would focus on solving security-related issues, including the release of hundreds of Hamas detainees from PA jails in the West Bank.
But despite the optimism expressed by both sides, Hamas and Fatah leaders continued to attack each other through the media.
Ahmed Bahr, a top Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, called on Fatah to take a brave decision and fire the unconstitutional government of Salam Fayyad. Bahr also called for bringing Fayyad to trial for allegedly perpetrating dangerous crimes against the Palestinians and their cause.
In a move that has further intensified tensions between Hamas and Fatah, a PA military court in the West Bank sentenced two Hamas supporters to prison.
Ala Hisham Abu Diab was sentenced to 20 years in prison with hard labor while Abdel Fatah Hassan was given 12 years. The latter%u2019s wife, Mirvat, was sentenced to one year in prison.
All three were indicted for their role in the death of three PA policemen during a violent confrontation with Hamas gunmen in Kalkilya in June 2009. The three were also found guilty of conspiring against the Palestinian Authority and possessing unlicensed weapons. In response, Hamas said that the verdicts contradicted the talk about a possible reconciliation with Fatah.
Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel condemned the court ruling, saying that judges who receive their salaries from the Zionists can't be called Palestinian. He said that the verdict was in the context of the PA's ongoing security clampdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank.
The families of the three defendants denied the charges and said their only crime was that they had provided shelter to Hamas gunmen who engaged in a firefight with PA security forces.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190322
J'lem: Arab League not meeting deadline on settlements
Official: "Deadlines have proven to be elastic, doesn't mean that if some formula is not found by Friday, that's the end of the story."
The Arab League may have to make its determination Friday about whether to give a green light to the Palestinian Authority to continue direct talks with Israel without any clear declaration from Israel regarding the settlement moratorium construction issue, senior government officials said Monday.
According to the officials, just as the much talked about September 26 expiration of the settlement construction moratorium passed without the sky falling, so too the Arab League foreign ministers may meet in Libya over the weekend without any formal Israeli proclamation about a new formula for settlement construction.
The Arab League meeting has been widely considered a deadline by which the issue must be cleared up, lest the Palestinian Authority carry out its threat to quit the talks because Israel did not extend the moratorium.
But these deadlines, one official said, have in the past proven to be elastic. There are always deadlines, but this doesn't mean that if some formula is not found by Friday, that's the end of the story, the official said, adding that intensive discussions with the Americans were continuing to take place.
Another official noted that the search for finding a formula was being negotiated between each side and the Americans as was the case during the proximity talks not directly between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
That Israel was not necessarily working according to the Arab League clock seemed clear Tuesday when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened the septet, his forum of senior ministers, where the issue at least according to a statement put out by Netanyahu's office was not even discussed.
According to the statement, the septet discussed the campaign of delegitimization that would deny Israel's right to defend itself, and was briefed by Joseph Ciechanover, Israel's representative on the four-man UN panel probing the Mava Marmara incident.
Contrary to various media reports and in accordance with a statement issued yesterday by the Prime Minister's Bureau, the forum did not discuss the efforts being made to enable the continuation of the peace talks, the statement read.
The 15-member security cabinet is scheduled to meet Wednesday, but like Tuesday's septet meeting the current impasse in the negotiations is not on the agenda.
Netanyahu has, however, reportedly held private discussions over the last few days with senior ministers, including each of the septet members, to brief them on the current status of the efforts to get over the present standstill.
One senior official said that Netanyahu was concerned that if Israel extended the moratorium, Jerusalem would be seen as having no red lines, a bad perception to foster on the eve of negotiations dealing with much more critical issues.
According to this senior official, the US was putting pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians to show flexibility, and was also making it clear to both sides that it was not in either of their best interests for the negotiations to grind to a halt.
The official said there have been intensive US diplomatic efforts in recent days to lobby key Arab states, such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries, to back a continuation of the talks.
Another diplomatic official said the impression that Israel was holding out on extending the moratorium by some two months to get more incentives from the US beyond various political and military promises that the Obama Administration was reportedly already willing to offer Israel was mistaken.
Were Netanyahu to hold a vote on extending the freeze at Wednesday's security cabinet meeting, it would almost certainly be defeated. Out of the security cabinet's 15 voting members, only Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would support it. Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, who would also vote for it, is abroad.
The move would be opposed by three Israel Beiteinu and two Shas ministers, plus Bennie Begin, Moshe Ya'alon, Yuval Steinitz, Gideon Sa'ar and Silvan Shalom of Likud, and Yaakov Neeman, who is unaffiliated.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni blamed Netanyahu for failing to advance the peace process on Tuesday in an address at Harvard University.
The government of Israel wasted two years by not continuing the negotiations from where we left off, she said. Now it must make decisions to save what is left of the negotiations. The prime minister knows that Kadima would back him if he makes the right decisions, so he should make them soon.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190355
7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 7 oct 2010
Jordan Valley settlement expands
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Settlers in the northern Jordan Valley settlement of Mehola began large-scale construction projects on Wednesday night, reports from the Palestine News Agency WAFA said.
Official sources told the agency that the settlers were adding new housing units in the western side of the settlement.
Governor of Tubas Marwan Tubasy said three housing units had already been added during the past week, with several concrete pouring machines seen entering and exiting the settlement.
A report in the daily Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the foundations for some 350 homes had been set in the 10 days following the construction freeze expiration.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for Israel to show restraint as peace negotiators continue to work for a compromise on the issue, with Palestinian officials remaining adamant that peace talks will not continue if settlement construction does.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321636
Tubas group sues Palestinian settlement workers
TUBAS (Ma'an) -- A group of public figures in Tubas filed a lawsuit Thursday to the Palestinian General Attorney against Palestinian construction workers employed in illegal settlements.
The lawsuit is the first of its kind to be filed in Palestinian courts.
The complainants said they hoped to obtain a ruling which would demonstrate that the confiscation of Palestinian land to build settlements violated public and private rights to property.
The group, from the northern West Bank, said they hoped the Palestinian judiciary would assess the harm caused to them and their property by the construction of illegal settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321940 7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 7 oct 2010
Israeli Ambassador: US offered incentives
WASHINGTON (Ma'an) -- Israel's US envoy Michael Oren said Wednesday the US administration offered Israel "incentives" to extend a settlement freeze, in an interview with The Washington Post.
Oren did not specify what the incentives were, but said they were offered in exchange for a limited extension of the moratorium by two or three months.
US envoy George Mitchell has held bilateral meetings with Israeli, Palestinian, and regional leaders in efforts to keep all parties in negotiations, relaunched on 2 September in Washington.
Direct talks hit a stalemate two weeks ago with the expiry of a temporary moratorium on illegal settlement construction on Palestinian lands. Palestinian negotiators said they would withdraw from talks if the moratorium was not extended, and Israeli leaders said they did not have the will of the people on their side and could not enforce a further ban. Meanwhile, full scale construction resumed in settlements across the West Bank.
An earlier report that the US administration had offered Israel incentives to extend settlement building restrictions was reportedly denied by Mitchell. PLO negotiator Nabil Sha'ath told the Nazareth-based radio station Shams that Mitchell denied that the US had offered Israel guarantees in exchange for a settlement freeze.
According to the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, Sha'ath said Thursday that Palestinians had accepted the proposal of a two-month extension to the freeze, provided both sides could agree on borders between the two states within the two-month time frame.
President Mahmoud Abbas is due to meet with the Arab League on Friday, when analysts expect the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee to give Abbas the mandate to walk away from talks if Israel does not agree to a settlement construction freeze.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321947
'Palestinians accept 2-month freeze extension proposal'
Top PA negotiator says acceptance is provisional on sides reaching agreement; Abbas threatens to step down if peace talks fail; State Department working to save talks.
The Palestinians have accepted a US proposal calling on Israel to extend a West Bank settlement slowdown for another two months, top PA negotiator Nabil Sha'ath said Thursday.
Sha'ath said the Palestinians accept such a limited extension provided the two sides can reach an agreement on the borders between Israel and a future Palestine in those two months.
On Wednesday, Abbas indicated that he intends to step down from his post if peace talks with Israel fail, Army Radio reported.
Speaking at a Palestinian National Council meeting in Jordan, Abbas said that it is possible he will only serve as PA President for one more week, according to the report.
Abbas was scheduled to depart Amman on Thursday for Libya where an Arab League meeting was expected to take place on Friday to discuss the peace talks. The Arab League foreign ministers meeting was scheduled in order to give an opinion on whether the PA should continue with the talks if Israel does not renew its settlement freeze that expired on September 26.
In the meeting with PLO figures, Abbas demanded an official commitment to renew the building moratorium.
The PA leader reportedly claimed that the Palestinians gave all the guarantees and fulfilled all their commitments, but Israel has not taken one step towards peace.
Several senior Palestinians said the US has proposed the two-month extension of the building moratorium.
US working frantically to salvage talks
A US official close to the negotiations said Wednesday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seems likely to cut a deal to keep the talks going. Palestinian officials said much the same, and Israeli officials said Netanyahu does not want talks to founder.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Wednesday with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who represents the "Quartet" of international Mideast peacemakers, to try to find a solution. On Tuesday she spoke with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
"We're at a critical stage in the process," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday.
"We want to see the negotiations continue," he said. "We don't want to see the parties step away from this process, and we continue to offer ideas to both sides as to how to navigate through the settlement issue that currently confronts us."
US officials caution that they do not know exactly what Netanyahu will do. For some Israeli politicians in his complex governing coalition, the collapse of talks, and an opportunity to blame both the United States and the Palestinians for it, would be a welcome outcome.
Compromise on Jordan Valley security forces
A former US official with knowledge of the secretive American proposals now before Netanyahu said they are extremely vague, particularly about the composition of a security force in the Jordan Valley after a peace deal is signed.
The former official said the US has proposed to "recognize Israel's security concerns and needs in the Jordan Valley as they exist today." The official said the proposal stops well short of endorsing an Israel Army presence there.
The language could be used, however, to signal that the United States would not object to international peacekeepers in the Jordan Valley, possibly with Israeli participation.
Abbas, however, said at the PLO meeting that he is against the proposal that Israel maintain a presence in the Jordan Valley after a peace agreement, Israel Radio reported.
Yasser Abed-Rabo, a chief PLO official, said at the meeting that the whole world understands that there will be no peace talks if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues his current policies.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=190584
Palestinians open to US proposal on settlements
JERUSALEM The Palestinians said Thursday they have accepted a U.S. proposal calling on Israel to extend a West Bank settlement slowdown for two months, the latest indication that a deal is emerging to keep peace talks from collapsing.
Israel has so far declined to extend the slowdown, despite American pressure and pledges.
Negotiator Nabil Shaath said the period would be used to try to hammer out an agreement on a border between Israel and a future Palestinian state and another extension would be required if the sides failed to reach agreement.
The Israeli settlement limits, which expired on Sept. 26, banned most new housing starts while allowing completion of apartments already under construction and the building of public structures.
Under U.S. pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been sounding out key Cabinet members on extending the freeze in exchange for American political assurances, but he has run into stiff opposition from pro-settlement ministers.
The Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the talks if Israel refuses to reinstate the moratorium, which was in force for 10 months to promote resumption of peace talks. Another deadline of sorts has emerged with Friday's planned summit of the 22-nation Arab League, where the Palestinians expect support for whatever they decide.
Shaath said that in principle, "We will not accept anything less than stopping settlement activity in total, period."
The Israelis and the Palestinians resumed talks last month in Washington despite concerns they might be derailed by the settlement issue.
Various incentives have been floated, including American military aid to Israel, diplomatic support at the United Nations and backing for key Israeli positions in the peace talks. It remains unclear what, if any, formula will break the impasse. Israeli officials said Netanyahu has sent out diplomatic feelers asking the Arab League to postpone its vote this weekend to give him more time to work out a deal.
Indirectly addressing the peace negotiations, Netanyahu scheduled a Cabinet vote on a contentious citizenship bill in what appears to be a move aimed at garnering support for an extension of a West Bank settlement slowdown.
The bill would amend a loyalty oath for non-Jewish immigrants applying for citizenship to describe Israel as "Jewish and democratic." While largely symbolic, it has angered the Palestinians and Israel's own Arab minority.
Among the main backers of the measure is Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who opposes extending the settlement slowdown. Cabinet approval of the declaration might win a softening in his position on settlements. Lieberman's allies denied there was a deal.
Also, Netanyahu said the measure is meant to underline Israel's insistence that in the negotiations, the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "There is a very big struggle today to abolish, to blur, the state of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said Thursday during a visit to the central Israeli city of Lod.
The Palestinians are refusing to declare Israel a Jewish state for two reasons: they feel it would undermine the status of Israel's minority Arab community and would undercut their claim of the right of millions of Palestinians %u2014 refugees and their descendants %u2014 to return to their original homes in Israel.
http://yhoo.it/d7XCy0
Ban urges Israel to halt WB settlements
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Israel to renew its partial settlement moratorium on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
"I urge Israel to restore settlement restraint, under its Roadmap obligations," Ban said on Wednesday during a monthly news conference on global flash points, Ma'an news agency reported.
The call comes amid heightened tension between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that is expected to announce its decision regarding the continuation of direct talks with Tel Aviv following an Arab meeting on Thursday.
The UN chief further urged the Arab leaders meeting in the Libyan city of Sirte to keep doors open for negotiations and give their support to acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas.
"Negotiations should move forward intensively, focused on resolving core issues -- not talks for the sake of talks," he demanded.
Abbas joined the negotiating table with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early in September in Washington upon an invitation by the US State Department, in the face of sharp opposition from Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Major Palestinian factions have repeatedly called on Abbas to quit the talks, citing fears that a US-backed Tel Aviv might win even more concessions.
The negotiations have been pushed on the verge of collapse following Israel's insistence on expanding its settlements and its refusal to renew its 10-month settlement freeze despite Palestinian threats to walk out of the talks.
Meanwhile, US State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley indicated efforts to pressure the Arab League to continue to support the US-sponsored talks.
The Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee has given its backing to the decision of the Ramallah-based Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to halt talks if settlement construction continues.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/145624.html
7 jan 2012, 16:06 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2010
'US offered incentives to Israel'
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren
The Israel's US envoy has announced that the Obama administration offered Israel "incentives" to extend the recently expired moratorium on settlement activities.
In an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren said the US has "come back to Israel with a number of suggestions%u2026 to maybe pass a limited extension of two or three months."
The direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) reached a stalemate when a partial freeze on illegal settlement construction on Palestinian lands ended two weeks ago.
Tel Aviv intensified its construction projects in the occupied West Bank hours after the expiration of the freeze despite international calls to extend the halt.
Palestinians believe that the expansion of settlements on their lands will make the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip impossible.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas is due to attend the Arab League summit in Libya where he is expected to decide about the future of the negotiations.
Abbas had earlier warned that he would stop the talks with Israel's resumption of settlement activities.
Last month, Israel's Maariv newspaper cited Israeli officials that US President Barack Obama had offered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an incentive package in return for a two-month extension.
In a letter to Netanyahu, the US president vowed to block any efforts to bring Palestinian statehood before the UN Security Council and to supply Tel Aviv with advanced weapons, according to the report.
However, the White House denied Obama had sent Netanyahu a letter outlining inducements.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/145739.html
Israelis, Palestinians signal deal on settlements
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Israeli official Ilan Harari attend a meeting during
JERUSALEM In the clearest sign that a deal may be emerging to keep the troubled U.S. Mideast peace push alive, a top Palestinian official said Thursday that his side would accept an American proposal for Israel to curtail settlement construction for two months.
Israel indicated it, too, was edging toward a compromise. The country's ambassador to Washington confirmed for the first time that the U.S. is offering "incentives" for Israel to extend a just-expired settlement slowdown. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also came out in favor of a contentious new loyalty oath in what appeared to be an attempt to placate hard-liners opposed to further concessions on the settlements.
The settlement issue has threatened to derail peace talks just a month after they were launched at the White House.
The Palestinians have threatened to walk away from the talks if Israel resumes settlement construction on lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.
An Arab League gathering this weekend is expected to recommend support Friday for whatever the Palestinians decide. A resolution to call off the talks would be a critical setback, but diplomats are hoping for a more ambiguous statement that would leave room for compromise.
With the clock ticking, U.S. mediators have been frantically trying to broker a compromise that would salvage the negotiations.
Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath told The Associated Press Thursday that the Palestinians accepted a U.S. proposal for a 60-day extension to the Israel settlement slowdown, with the idea that final borders between Israel and a Palestinian state be negotiated during that time. If borders are set, Israel could then resume construction on all territories it expects to keep, while halting construction on Palestinian lands.
"We accepted a moratorium for two months on condition that by the end of this period we will reach an agreement on the issue of the borders," Shaath told The Associated Press, adding that if no agreement is reached, "then this moratorium should be extended."
In principle, the Palestinians demand a full halt to all settlement activity, saying that continued construction on lands they claim sends a message that Israel isn't serious about negotiating peace, but Shaath signaled they are prepared to accept the partial freeze Israel maintained for 10 months before its expiration.
Some 300,000 settlers already live in the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim both areas, with east Jerusalem as their capital.
Netanyahu has said the settlement slowdown, which expired on Sept. 26, will not be extended. With his government dominated by pro-settler hard-liners, further moves against the settlers could result in a political crisis and possibly even fracture the coalition and bring down his government.
At the same time, he faces heavy pressure from the Americans to keep the negotiations afloat. In a videotaped interview posted on the Washington Post's website, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, confirmed the U.S. has offered "incentives" for Israel to extend the settlement curbs.
He did not elaborate, but Israeli officials have said that a package of "assurances" are being sought, ranging from U.S. diplomatic support at the United Nations to new military aid to backing for key Israeli positions in the peace talks.
Oren said he expected a resolution within 48 hours, a timeline that roughly coincides with the Arab League meeting.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Americans were counting on the 22-member Arab League to grant "continued support" for the new negotiations. "We think that withdrawing support from the negotiations at this stage would be premature," he said.
After months of U.S. shuttle diplomacy, Obama personally launched peace talks the first in nearly two years at the White House on Sept. 2.
He hopes to broker an agreement within a year that will tackle all of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: final borders, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees whose families were displaced during the creation of Israel in 1948, and resolving the conflicting claims to Jerusalem.
Before addressing those explosive issues, though, the impasse over Jewish settlements will have to resolved.
Netanyahu has been sounding out key Cabinet members in recent days on extending the settlement restrictions, which halted new housing starts while allowing pre-existing construction to continue. But he has run into stiff opposition from pro-settlement ministers.
In a move that appeared to be aimed at placating the hard-liners, Netanyahu said Thursday he would hold a Cabinet vote next week on a contentious citizenship bill.
The bill would amend a loyalty oath for non-Jewish immigrants applying for citizenship to describe Israel as "Jewish and democratic." While largely symbolic, the nationalistic language has angered the Palestinians and Israel's own Arab minority.
Among the main backers of the measure is Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who opposes extending the settlement slowdown. Cabinet approval of the declaration on Sunday might win a softening in his position on settlements. Allies of Lieberman, himself a West Bank settler, denied a deal was made.
Netanyahu said the measure is meant to underline Israel's insistence that in the negotiations, the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "There is a very big struggle today to abolish, to blur, the state of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said Thursday during a visit to the central Israeli city of Lod.
The Palestinians refuse to declare Israel a Jewish state for two reasons: They feel it would undermine the status of Israeli Arabs and would undercut the claims of Palestinian refugees.
Ahmed Tibi, an Arab lawmaker in the Israeli parliament, called the proposal unacceptable.
"The international community should say no to this," he said. "The Arab states should ... demand from Israel that any agreement with Israel should include total equal rights for the Arab citizens of the state of Israel."
http://yhoo.it/cKIza3