Disputed construction project in east Jerusalem Photo: AFP
French FM Kouchner Photo: AFP
France summons Israeli ambassador over settlements
French Foreign Ministry questions Ambassador Daniel Shek, demands immediate end to Jewish settlement building 'including in east Jerusalem'. Shek also told that 'Israel should open checkpoints regularly to allow reconstruction of Gaza'
France's Foreign Ministry questioned Israel's
ambassador Thursday and demanded an immediate end to Jewish settlement building and freer movement in and out of Gaza.
Construction in the Capital
Ban urges Israel to freeze east Jerusalem settlements / AFP
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon urges Israeli government to 'commit fully to its obligations'
"An immediate freeze in settlements, including in east Jerusalem, is indispensable for preserving the two-state solution and allowing the resumption of negotiations," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.
France has helped lead an international push against Jewish settlement building, which has caused a rift between Israel and the United States. President Barack Obama has called for a halt to settlement construction as a confidence-building move to get stalled peace negotiations back on track.
Israeli Ambassador Daniel Shek was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, and its political director reminded him about France's opposition to settlements and Israel's blockade of Gaza, Chevallier said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
says construction must be permitted in existing settlements to accommodate population growth. Nearly 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians as part of a future independent state.
The French ministry also expressed concern about difficulties French diplomats have experienced in getting around the Palestinian territories because of Israeli security measures.
"Israel should open checkpoints regularly to allow the reconstruction of Gaza," Chevallier said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in talks in Paris on Tuesday, revived calls for an international conference for the Middle East, according to Sarkozy's office. They gave no details on a proposed time or place for the conference, but suggested that world leaders could discuss it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.
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