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Palestinians reject any Israel-U.S. settlement deal
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 12 - 07 - 2009


Palestinians reject
any deal between Israel and the United States that would allow
even limited Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West
Bank, a top Palestinian negotiator said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
"There are no middle-ground solutions for the settlement
issue: either settlement activity stops or it doesn't stop,"
Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio.
Erekat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed
that message in a letter on Saturday to U.S. President Barack
Obama.
Erekat was responding to reports Israel and the United
States were discussing a compromise that would allow some
building in existing settlements under what Israel terms
"natural growth" to accommodate expanding families.
A U.S. official denied on Wednesday a report in the Israeli
daily Maariv that the Obama administration agreed work could
continue on 2,500 housing units whose construction had begun,
despite its call for a total freeze to spur peace efforts.
The report followed talks in London last week between George
Mitchell, Obama's special Middle East envoy, and Israeli Defence
Minister Ehud Barak aimed at healing a rift over continued
settlement activity.
The U.S. State Department said Mitchell was expected in the
region "soon" for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Barak has been seeking a deal with the United States that
would include initial steps by Arab states to normalise
relations with Israel in return for limiting settlement
activity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday renewed
his call for Abbas to resume peace talks, telling his cabinet,
"there is no reason for us not to meet anywhere in Israel."
In separate remarks, Netanyahu said Palestinians "must
finally abandon the demand" to resettle families of hundreds of
thousands of refugees of a 1948 war over Israel's establishment,
which he said could "undermine" the Jewish state's existence.
Addressing a memorial to the founder of Zionism, Netanyahu
reiterated demands for Palestinians to explicitly recognise
Israel as a Jewish state, calling this "the key to peace."
Palestinians have said they would not revive stalled peace
talks with Israel unless its settlement activities stopped, that
they have recognised Israel under past interim peace deals and
that refugees must be compensated or resettled.
"If settlement continues Israel will be allowed to build one
thousand units here and two thousand units there, which will
lead Arabs and Palestinians to believe that the American
administration is incapable of swaying Israel to halt its
settlement activities," Erekat told the radio.
"The message is clear: settlements should stop immediately."
Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and Arab East
Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war. Palestinians say
Jewish settlements, deemed illegal by the World Court, would
deny them a viable and contiguous state.
Western officials said the United States was moving in the
direction of making allowances so Israel could finish off at
least some existing projects which are close to completion.
Israel estimates 2,500 units are in the process of being
built, but under U.S. pressure, Netanyahu has pledged not to
build any new settlements in the West Bank.


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