No peace talks for now - Abbas
2010-03-11 17:06
Ramallah - The Palestinians said on Thursday the United States must put pressure on Israel to revoke a settlement expansion decision before indirect peace talks can get underway.
Israel's announcement this week, during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, of plans to build 1 600 settler homes in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem, cast a shadow over US efforts to relaunch Middle East peacemaking.
The decision embarrassed Biden, who said it undermined peace efforts, and infuriated the West Bank-based Palestinian leadership, which had agreed to a US proposal for indirect talks under pressure from Washington and its Arab allies.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Wednesday he had decided not to enter talks for now.
The Arab League had endorsed a four-month framework for the US-mediated negotiations.
Not ready to negotiate
"The Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances," Moussa said in Cairo.
An aide to Abbas said the Palestinians wanted US pressure on Israel to reverse the settlement expansion decision, which Israeli officials said was badly timed, but would not be cancelled.
"What is required is that when (US envoy George) Mitchell comes back is that he is supposed to succeed in revoking the Israeli settlement decisions in East Jerusalem in order to give an opportunity to launch the indirect talks," said the aide, Nabil Abu Rdainah.
Mitchell, who has been trying to broker for a year a resumption of talks on Palestinian statehood, was expected to return to Israel and the West Bank next week.
Jerusalem dispute
Abbas had demanded a full halt to settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in a 1967 war, before any resumption of the two-decade old peace process.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that has not won international recognition. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and construction there will be carried out like in Tel Aviv or any other city - in every part of Jerusalem according to the plans," Israeli Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser told Israel Radio.
Asked about a report in Israel's Haaretz daily that 50 000 more homes were being planned for Jerusalem, he said: "I repeat, construction in Jerusalem will continue in all its stages." He added: "Jerusalem is a big city. It is a city that has to grow."
Unfortunate timing
A statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the final approval process for the 1 600-home project announced this week would likely take more than year and no construction would begin for several years.
It said Netanyahu had spoken to Biden and "expressed his regret for the unfortunate timing" of the announcement.
A senior Israeli official said Israel sought to ease tensions, telling the Americans that Netanyahu would take steps to exert control over settlement decision-making at different levels of government to avoid future diplomatic "mishaps".
Israeli officials said Netanyahu had been blindsided by the disclosure of the project by the interior ministry, controlled by the ultraorthodox, nationalist Shas party, a main member of his government coalition.
Some 200 000 Israeli settlers already live in East Jerusalem and areas of the West Bank annexed by Israel to its Jerusalem municipality. Another 300 000 live in the West Bank.
The Palestinians say the settlements, considered illegal by major world powers, will deny them a viable state. Under US pressure, Israel announced in November a decision to restrain building in its West Bank settlements for 10 months but said the restrictions would not include East Jerusalem.