PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL URGES ISRAEL TO DROP SETTLEMENT PLAN

Al-Quds (Jerusalem), 5 Shawwal 1434/12 August 2013 (MINA) – A senior Palestinian official has called on Israel to withdraw its decision to construct nearly 1,200 settlement units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel said on Saturday that 1,187 apartments had been given final approval, Alray, Palestinian Media Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Israel Radio quoted a high-ranking Palestinian official on Monday that the plan would derail the so-called peace talks.

If this is the way Israel seeks to make peace, then there is no need for negotiations and Netanyahu “can make peace with [Economy and Trade Minister Naftali] Bennett,” the official said.

The approval by Israel’s housing minister comes at a time when a new round of the so-called peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority is to resume in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

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The representatives of Israel and the Palestinian Authority met last month in Washington. The meeting was the first direct negotiations in three years.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle to the efforts aimed at establishing peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

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The United States, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has supported Israeli on several occasions by vetoing resolutions against Tel Aviv.

PA considers not participating in peace

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that “the Palestinian Authority is currently considering the possibility of non-participation in the peace talks due to begin on Wednesday in response to continued Israeli settlement construction.

Erekat said in a statement to the Hebrew radio that “the PA is in contact with the international community to persuade them to go in the footsteps of the European Union with regard to investment outside of Israel,”

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He warned that if (Israel) decides deport any of the prisoners to be released to the outside, the American-sponsored agreement concluded between the Israeli and Palestinian sides on the issue of prisoners will be considered canceled.

Spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Mark Regev said the plan approved Sunday to build new homes in East Jerusalem shall apply to the areas that are to remain under Israeli sovereignty in any future peace treaty.

The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government set off negotiating sessions with the aim of reaching a final status solution with the Israeli occupation not committed to halt settlement construction in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. (T/P02/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)