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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Stop all settlements and we'll talk: Palestinians |
| 2010-11-16 |
| [Pak Daily Times] If Israel is serious about peace, it must call a complete halt to settlement building and not just limit the freeze to the West Bank, a Paleostinian official said on Monday. "If Netanyahu stops the settlements, we will go back to direct negotiations," chief Paleostinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP, referring to a comprehensive ban on settlement construction on all occupied Paleostinian land. Obama, he said, was very much aware that the Israeli leader held the key to salvaging the peace talks. "President B.O. knows very well that Netanyahu is responsible for stopping the negotiations," he told AFP. "He also knows very well that Netanyahu has the key to the negotiations, and that he has closed the door to negotiations and chosen settlements not peace," he said. David Hale, assistant to US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, was to discuss the idea with Paleostinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah later on Monday, an official source said. Until now, the Paleostinians have refused to continue talking without a fresh ban on settlement construction, a move which Israel has so far refused to consider. On the other hand, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill... said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a 'serious effort' by considering a new settlement freeze aimed at reviving peace talks. "This is a very promising development and a serious effort by Prime Minister Netanyahu," Clinton told news hounds in Washington, a day after the Israeli leader briefed his cabinet about a 90-day, one-off moratorium on settlements in the West Bank. Clinton declined to provide details but said "we are in very close touch with both the Israelis and the Paleostinians, working intensively to create the conditions for the resumption of the negotiations. "The status quo is unacceptable so we're going to continue doing everything we possibly can" to have the negotiations resume, she said. Commentators said on Monday that Israel's government is deeply divided over a US proposal for a new ban on West Bank settlement building, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks likely to accept it. Details of the plan were put before Netanyahu's inner circle late Saturday and to the cabinet on Sunday in a move which won him praise from US President Barack B.O.Obama. "I commend prime minister Netanyahu for taking, I think a very constructive step," Obama told news hounds in Washington. "It is not easy for him to do, but I think it is a signal that he is serious." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 push their ass into the sea then there is no reason too discuss anything |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-16 08:21 |
| #1 Stop all settlements and we'll talk: Palestinians Bullshit once you give an inch they see NO need to Talk. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-11-16 00:55 |