THE PALESTINIAN leadership and the US have condemned Israeli plans to approve hundreds of new units to be built in West Bank Jewish settlements before agreeing to a construction freeze, raising new difficulties in efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
Speaking at a news conference at the Elysée palace after a meeting with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas made it clear that the Israeli plan was unacceptable. “The Israeli government’s stance on the spurring of construction is unproductive and we reject it,” Mr Abbas said. “We want a total freeze of construction in settlements,” he added, making clear this was a condition for the resumption of peace talks.
His comments were echoed by Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who said “the only thing suspended by this announcement will be the peace process”.
The White House also expressed regret over the Israeli plan, calling it counter-productive to efforts to launch peace negotiations.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement: “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion, and we urge that it stop. We are working to create a climate in which negotiations can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate.”
With contacts with Washington over a compromise on settlement construction now at a critical phase, the announcement by Israeli officials that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to approve hundreds of new West Bank homes next week came out of the blue.
According to the Israeli officials, the new permits will be in addition to the 2,500 units currently under construction in West Bank settlements, which are likely to be allowed to be completed as part of the deal being negotiated with president Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Mr Netanyahu, after approving the new construction, will then “consider” a settlement building moratorium “for a few months”, according to the Israeli officials, depending on moves to normalise relations with the Jewish state undertaken by Arab countries.
The construction freeze would not include East Jerusalem.
Israeli and US officials had expressed optimism that, after months of negotiations, a compromise may be reached at talks in Jerusalem next week with Mr Mitchell. Such a breakthrough would enable a tripartite meeting to take place later this month at the UN General Assembly in New York, involving Mr Obama and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Anticipating a settlement freeze, right-wing members from Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party and settler leaders have stepped up their criticism of the prime minister over recent days, accusing him of caving in to US pressure and of betraying his own electorate.