Rice: Construction in settlements a problem
US Secretary of State arrives in Israel for another round of meetings, upon arrival says Israel has not done enough to ease Palestinian restrictions in West Bank. Abbas plans to insist that Rice pressure Israel to halt all construction in settlements
Rice, currently visiting Israel and the Palestinian Authority for the 17th time in the past two years, said that the construction in the settlements is "a problem, and I think it's a problem that we're going to address with the Israelis."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to insist that Rice pressure Israel to stop settlement construction when they meet this week. "Especially the issue of the new settlement units will be discussed," Abbas aide Nimr Hamad added. "The United States should exert real pressure on Israel and not just make statements. That's what we'll ask for from Secretary Rice."
On Friday, Interior Minister Ze'ev Boim announced plans to build 1,300 homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, angering Palestinians. "Everyone understands in any final status agreement the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem will remain part of Israel," Government spokesman Mark Regev said Saturday.
"Building in those Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem is in no way contradictory to the peace process," he added, but Rice disagreed. "This is obviously a roadmap obligation that is not being met," she said.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to convene this week in order to discuss a proposal calling on Israel to halt the expansion of "illegal West Bank settlements". The proposal, which has been pushed in recent weeks by a number of Arab countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, followed Israeli Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim's announcement according to which 800 new housing units would be built in Har Homa and Givat Ze'ev.
The US-backed Road Map for peace initiative and the Quartet call for the freezing of Israeli settlement construction, but it remains unclear how the European Union would react to a Security Council resolution against Israel. The US is expected to use its veto power to thwart the proposal before it reaches the Security Council.
