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Photo: Gil Yohanan
'Peace bigger than just any one person.' Olmert
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Photo: AFP
'Deeply concerned.' Ban Ki-moon
Photo: AFP

US renews opposition to new Israeli settlements

On eve of Olmert's visit to Washington, White House spokeswoman says Israel's plan to build some 900 more houses in east Jerusalem 'exacerbates the tensions when it comes to the negotiations with the Palestinians'. UN chief: Continued settlement construction is contrary to international law, Annapolis process

The White House warned Israel Monday against plans to build 884 more houses in east Jerusalem, saying building such settlements "exacerbates the tensions" with the Palestinians.

 

"Our position on the settlements is that, you know, we don't believe that any more settlements should be built. And we know that it exacerbates the tensions when it comes to the negotiations with the Palestinians," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

 

Two days before US President George W. Bush was to meet at the White House with embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Perino added that the Middle East peace was "bigger than just any one person."

 

"It's the Israeli people and the Palestinian people that are working towards this goal, and so it's bigger than just any one person," spokeswoman Dana Perino said, as Olmert faced growing calls to resign over corruption charges.

 

But "as far as I know, the Israelis and the Palestinians have continued to have talks in good faith while all of the discussion in the press has gone on in Israel," she said when asked about the impact of Olmert's political woes.

 

The prime minster, 62, is accused of unlawfully accepting large sums of money from a US millionaire before becoming premier in 2006, although he denies any wrongdoing.

 

Bush was to welcome Olmert to the White House on Wednesday for talks not listed on the US president's official schedule. US officials warned not to expect much media access to the two leaders.

 

'Not acting in good faith'

Asked about the goals for the meeting, Perino said Bush hoped to push Israel and the Palestinians to keep up the "long effort to try to get a Palestinian state defined before the end of the year."

 

"We continue to be engaged to try to help them, we're not going to be able to solve their problem for them, they are going to have to continue to work together," she said.

 

"And we know that their governments are talking to one another, the Palestinians and the Israelis, but there's a lot of tension, there's a lot of historical complexities that enter into this," said Perino.

  

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Monday that he was "deeply concerned at the recent announcement by the Israeli government to invite new tenders for construction in Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem."

 

"The Government of Israel's continued construction in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory is contrary to international law and to its commitments under the Road Map and the Annapolis process," the statement said.

 

The so-called "road-map" to Middle East peace -- drafted by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- calls for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in Palestinian territories and an end to Palestinian attacks against Israel.

 

The plan has made little progress since it was drafted in 2003, but Israel and the Palestinians agreed in November to relaunch it during a conference in the US city of Annapolis that restarted the peace process after a seven-year hiatus.

 

Sunday, Israel announced plans to build 884 more houses in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, in a move that enraged the Palestinians who have demanded it has the capital of a promised state.

 

The Palestinians have repeatedly called the expansion of settlements in the West Bank including east Jerusalem the biggest obstacle to a final peace deal.

 

"We know that, even if it is a settlement that exists, and there's expansion of that settlement, that that is part of the problem, in terms of Palestinians feeling that that is not acting in good faith when it comes to their negotiations," said Perino.

 

"Obviously, the Israelis see it from a different point of view. And that is one of the very difficult issues, along with the right-of-return issue that they're going to have to work out," the spokeswoman said. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.02.08, 21:50
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