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Palestinians reject Israel’s temporary settlement ease

* PM Fayyad demands inclusion of east Jerusalem in settlement moratorium

JERUSALEM: Israel’s prime minister on Wednesday pushed for a temporary ease in settlement building amid US pressure for concessions towards peace, even as the Palestinians rejected the offer as insufficient.

“As part of the efforts to kickstart peace efforts... the prime minister will today ask the security cabinet to approve the temporary suspension of new construction permits for houses and new building starts” in the occupied West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. The statement did not mention east Jerusalem, implying that the halt would not extend to the mostly Arab part of the Holy City, a key Palestinian demand.

In Washington, a US official told AFP that “we’re hopeful this will lead to a resumption” of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that were suspended during the Gaza Strip war at the turn of the year. After deliberating the measure for more than three hours, Israel’s security cabinet approved it, despite protests from hardline supporters of settlements. The full cabinet was due to debate the issue at its regular meeting on Sunday.

But the Palestinians warned even before the announcement that they would reject the measure as it fell short of their demand for a complete freeze on settlements in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem. “This sort of announcement is not a halt to settlements, because Israel will continue to build 3,000 settlement units and government buildings in the West Bank and will exclude Jerusalem,” chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said after the announcement: “The return to negotiations must be made on the base of a total stop of settlements in the West Bank, including Jerusalem... “Jerusalem is a red line not to be crossed in the eyes of the Palestinians and the Arabs.”

East Jerusalem: On Wednesday, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said mostly Arab east Jerusalem would have to be included in any settlement moratorium. “The exclusion of Jerusalem is a very, very serious problem for us,” he told reporters.

With Washington pushing for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, a cornerstone of its Middle East policy, both sides have blamed each other for the impasse. The Palestinians insist that without a total settlement freeze, Israel is not living up to the obligations it undertook as part of the 2003 international roadmap for peace plan. Israel says the Palestinians are setting pre-conditions for a resumption of talks. afp

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