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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Â Israeli envoy says only peace can halt settlements |
| 2010-10-18 |
| [Geo TV] Israel will only stop its disputed settlement building when the Paleostinians make a peace agreement, its UN ambassador said ahead of new Security Council talks Monday on the Middle East conflict. But Israel would be concerned if Arab nations pressed ahead with a campaign to get United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society recognition of a Paleostinian state before any accord, the envoy, Meron Reuben, told media in an interview. Reuben will face new international pressure when he appears before a UN Security Council meeting on Israeli-Paleostinian hostilities. The United States and most world powers have backed Paleostinian demands that Israel renew a freeze on settlement building in the occupied territories. "People understand," Reuben declared. "I don't think they agree with the way we are going, but they definitely understand the fact that settlements are not a burden on the peace processor and not something that will stop the peace processor." Paleostinian negotiators withdrew from new US-brokered talks with Israel two weeks ago when Israel's 10-month moratorium on settlement construction ended. The Israeli government faced new protests on Friday when it approved 238 new homes in East Jerusalem. "The other side is only looking for pretexts to put obstacles in the road, because they were never an obstacle in the road" in the past, Reuben said. The ambassador said Israeli settlements in the Sinai desert did not prevent the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt -- "and they were dismantled" -- nor Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gazoo in 2005. |
| Posted by:Fred |