Tel Aviv backs controversial loyalty oathRAMALLAH, West Bank: A top Palestinian negotiator says the Palestinians have accepted a US proposal calling on Israel to extend a West Bank settlement slowdown for another two months. Nabil Shaath says the Palestinians accept such a limited extension provided the two sides can reach agreement on the borders between Israel and a future Palestine in those two months. It's unclear whether Israel's pro-settler government will agree. If there's no deal, Shaath says the settlement freeze must be extended. On the other hand, another senior Palestinian official said he saw no hope of a serious peace process with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in some of the darkest comments to date on the US-mediated talks. Yasser Abed Rabbo's remarks signaled deep Palestinian skepticism about the outlook for the talks, which began on Sept. 2 but have been on hold since an Israeli moratorium on new settlement building in the West Bank expired last week. The United States wants the talks to continue and has been trying to find a formula to save the negotiations. “There will be no serious political process while Netanyahu's government pursues settlements,” Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio. “I can go further still and say that there will be no serious political process with Netanyahu's government.” Netanyahu, who heads a Cabinet dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own Likud, has said he will not extend the freeze which his government had enforced for 10 months. Abbas and Netanyahu met three times before the end of the moratorium. The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said Saturday talks would not resume until Israel halted settlement building on land where the Palestinians aim to found a state. Meanwhile, plans to introduce an oath of loyalty to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state” for anyone wanting to become a citizen were welcomed by rightwing ministers on Thursday. The controversial move would amend the current citizenship law and incorporate the phrase: “I swear to respect the laws of the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday. The proposal, which is being backed by Netanyahu, is to be put to a vote in the Cabinet Sunday. Israeli newspapers said the change was aimed at Palestinians looking to gain Israeli citizenship after marrying Arab Israelis. “I praise the prime minister for the decision to go along with this legislation,” ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told public radio. “Everyone who wants to receive Israeli citizenship must swear loyalty to the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” he said. Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party had made the oath the centerpiece of its campaign in 2009 elections, which eventually led to it becoming the second largest member of the governing coalition after Netanyahu's Likud. Recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is one of Netanyahu's key demands in any eventual peace deal with the Palestinians.
