Settlement worries in Israel
2009-05-26 22:07
Maaleh Adumim - Israel scrambled on Tuesday to sidestep President Barack Obama's demand for a West Bank settlement freeze with a diluted counteroffer to Washington.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's compromise - to take down some squatter camps in exchange for permission to keep building in established settlements - was quickly rejected by hard-liners in his own coalition.
The dispute underscored Netanyahu's difficult juggling act. He's trying to avert a crisis with the US over settlements, while keeping his pro-settlement governing coalition intact and forging ahead with construction, such as the rows of flats going up in this rapidly expanding Israeli city in the West Bank.
However, Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have spoken in recent days about halting all settlement activity without exception, suggesting Netanyahu may have little room to bargain.
Also, the 2003 "roadmap" for peace negotiations, which Israel accepted, bans all construction in settlements and orders the removal of the outposts.
Cutting a deal with Israel on settlements could also hurt Obama's credibility and key policy goals, including improving US relations with the Arab world and moving toward the creation of a Palestinian state in a Mideast peace deal. There was no immediate reaction from Washington.
Continued construction could also close the door to a two-state solution, defined by Obama as a key US interest. Nearly half a million Israelis have moved into homes built during the last four decades on land the Palestinians want for their state.
The US has long criticised settlements as obstacles to peace but never succeeded in getting Israel to halt construction, which continued even during periods of peace negotiations. More than 3 200 flats were being built in the West Bank in 2008, and the Israeli settlement monitor Peace Now says 6 000 more units are in various stages of planning.
Nearly 300 000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in addition to some 180 000 in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' would-be capital.
Maaleh Adumim, near Jerusalem, has grown from a hilltop outpost in 1975 into a city of 35 000, complete with shopping mall and industrial zone.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed Netanyahu's proposal on Tuesday, saying Israel should not take any action until it has devised a comprehensive plan for tackling its problems with its neighbours.
- AP
