Channels

Fayyad. 'Insufficient commitment by Israel'
Photo: Gil Yochanan

Fayyad says Israel fails to keep Road Map promises

In visit to US Palestinian prime minister faults Israel for failing to adhere to its Road Map commitments, namely freezing settlement construction and removing checkpoints

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday accused Israel of failing to keep its commitments to freeze Jewish settlement activity and to ease checkpoints that limit Palestinian mobility on the West Bank.

 

In a speech to Arab Americans, diplomats and journalists, Fayyad complained of a lack of progress on these issues more than two months after the US-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland, where the two sides agreed to start negotiations with a goal of reaching a peace agreement by the end of this year.

 

"Annapolis was a major step forward, but I cannot say we are not having difficulties. In the two months following Annapolis, Israeli incursions and bombings on Palestinians and their property claimed the lives of 165 people, injured another 521, and caused untold damage to property," Fayyad said.

 

Fayyad made the comments before he was to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She is expected to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories in early March, a US official said.

 

'Israel not committed to settlement freeze'

Under the US-backed Road Map peace plan launched in 2003, the Palestinians committed to crack down on militants launching attacks on Israel. The Jewish state, among other things, committed to freeze "all settlement activity."

 

"What I see has not happened - not happened to the extent it should or it can - is progress on these issues, progress on the implementation of commitments under the Road Map," he said. "I do not see sufficient commitment on the part of Israel to the ... settlement freeze."

 

Fayyad faulted Israel for having issued a tender for more than 300 housing units around Jerusalem the week after the Annapolis conference - a step that drew a rare rebuke of Israel from the US government - and for failing to ease the checkpoints that limit Palestinian mobility in the West Bank.

 

"I do not believe that Israel, or the process for that matter, can afford waiting until there is an absolutely perfect alignment of stars over the Middle East." such checkpoints can be removed, he said. "They cannot be removed overnight ... (but) why can't that process begin?"

 

Israel argues that the checkpoints are needed to protect itself against Palestinian suicide bombers.

 

"Israel has worked to strengthen the Palestinian Authority headed by President (Mahmoud) Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad in the hopes of ending Palestinian terror and reaching a peace agreement," said an Israeli official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

 

"The only thing choking the Palestinian economy is continued Palestinian terror, including by elements affiliated with the Palestinian Authority as well as continuous rocket attacks on Israel's civilian population," the official added.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.12.08, 08:01
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment