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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| US assures Palestinians on Jerusalem settlement | |
| 2010-05-03 | |
CAIRO - The key guarantee given by Washington to the Palestinians to persuade them to enter indirect talks with Israel was a halt to a controversial plan to build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, a top official said on Sunday.
'We made a decision on March 2 to support the indirect talks, and then Israel made decisions we objected to. The Americans came back to us and said this will not happen,' Hisham Yusef, chief of staff for Arab League chief Amr Mussa, said. 'The assurances take us back to the status quo ante before March 2.' He did not say whether the assurance covered only the period of the indirect talks and whether the United States had made further guarantees. Mussa on Sunday told reporters: 'Our understanding in light of discussions is that the decision to build 1,600 units has been halted.' The Palestinians and the Arab League first agreed to indirect talks in March but broke them off when Israel said it would build 1,600 homes in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood named Ramat Shlomo. On Saturday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told reporters in Cairo the talks would be suspended if Israel built any homes there. Abdullah Al Efranji, a foreign ministry official with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, told Egyptian television on Monday Washington had assured them it would not tolerate settlement construction in east Jerusalem. 'There was a confirmation from the US side in the last meeting between (US envoy George) Mitchell and president Abbas that the US side wants indirect talks as soon as possible and it will not be lax this time with whoever takes provocative steps,' he said. Mitchell 'explained what the provocative actions were, they were building settlements in east Jerusalem,' Efranji said. In Jerusalem on Sunday, however, an Israeli cabinet minister insisted the Jewish state would continue building settler homes. 'We shall not build just one house in Ramat Shlomo, we shall build many houses,' hardline Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Maybe the US should try this. Stay the fuck out of it just this once and see how that works out. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-05-03 14:43 |
| #3 #2 187,000 e. J'lem Jewish homes planned Many of us here are old enough to remember new "homes planned" right here in the states. Then the hammers fell silent. Congratulations g(r)om. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-03 08:02 |
| #2 187,000 e. J'lem Jewish homes planned Glad to hear that, g(r)omgoru. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-03 05:27 |
| #1 187,000 e. J'lem Jewish homes planned |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-05-03 04:43 |