Palestinians rule out any further West Bank settlements

THE PALESTINIAN Authority rejects any compromise between the US and Israel which would permit any Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said yesterday.

“There are no middle-ground solutions for the settlement issue: either settlement activity stops or itdoesn’t stop,” Mr Erekat asserted, adding that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had sent a letter putting forward that position to US president Barack Obama.

Dr Erekat continued: “If settlement continues, Israel will be allowed to build 1,000 units here and 2,000 units there. This will lead Arabs and Palestinians to believe that the American administration is incapable of swaying Israel to halt its settlement activities. The message is clear: settlements should stop immediately.”

Last week, the Israeli press reported that the US and Israel had reached a deal which would allow Israel to complete 2,500 housing units already under construction in the West Bank. A US official denied that such an arrangement had been made.

Since the 1967 occupation, Israel has planted 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in violation of international law.

Dr Erekat’s comments coincided with a call by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu for an immediate resumption of negotiations. Mr Abbas conditions negotiations on a total Israeli settlement freeze.

He rejects Mr Netanyahu’s proposal for discussing Palestinian economic development instead of the final status issues of settlements, Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, borders and resources.

Palestinian officials at all levels are boycotting contacts with Israeli counterparts to protest settlement construction in areas the Palestinians claim for their state.

On Saturday, EU policy chief Javier Solana called upon the UN Security Council to proclaim a Palestinian state by a specific deadline, even if the sides have not reached an agreement.

Advocating a return to Israel’s borders before the 1967 war, he recommended that the council should draw up a plan for a “two-state solution”, resolving all final status issues, and “set a calendar for its implementation”. The Palestinian state would become a UN member and Israel’s remaining territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon would be settled.