NETANYAHU REINFORCES ILLEGAL SETTLEMENT AHEAD OF MEETING WITH KERRY

Rome, 19 Dul Hijja 1434/24 October 2013 ( MINA ) – On the eve of his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged more settlement in the occupied Palestinian city of Hebron.

In a message to the illegal settlers in Hebron, Netanyahu said: “The renewal of Jewish settlement in the city [Hebron] is a sign of the Jews’ deep connection to it. I hope thousands of Jews arrive in the old city to attend the ceremony.”

Netanyahu and Kerry are scheduled to hold an unusually long meeting, which might last for several hours. “The partly private meeting will focus on Israeli concessions for reaching a deal with the Palestinians,” said the Israeli daily. “Netanyahu is sceptical about the success of the negotiations as his position made very clear after his speech at Bar Ilan University.”

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Kerry, it is claimed, wants Netanyahu to offer “clear and specific” answers about the talks with the Palestinians, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

The Iranian nuclear issue is also on the agenda, as is the recent thaw in relations between Tehran and Washington, something that has alarmed the Israeli government.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking in Lithuania, made it clear that Israel would be responsible for any failure of the peace talks. “We will not accept that,” he said in response to a question on future

Israeli military control of the borders of a demilitarised Palestinian state. “They do not have the right to stay on our land after the signing of the peace treaty,” he insisted.

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European Union rotating president Lithuania called Monday for Israel to stop building settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying they were impeding the peace process.

The statement followed talks between Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

Grybauskaite called on Israel “to end the expansion of settlements in the occupied territories,” insisting that “the European Union does not recognize settlements as part of Israel.”

“Such actions by Israel impair the progress of peace talks,” she said in an official statement published on her website.

Construction starts in Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land rose by 70 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2013, anti-settlement group Peace Now said last week.

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Settlement building in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War is considered illegal under international law, and the issue remains one of the most divisive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas has previously termed them “illegal” and asked the Israeli government to stop. (T/P04/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)