>US deals Abbas another serious blow with regard to settlement freeze
[ 03/12/2010 – 12:04 PM ]
WEST BANK, (PIC)– An official PA source said on Thursday that the US has informed them of the failure of its efforts to get the Israeli occupation to renew the “freeze” on settlement expansion to give peace negotiations a chance.
The official told AFP on condition anonymity that the US administration informed them that the Israeli government did not agree to renewing the freeze on settlement expansion, adding that the US will continue in its efforts in this regard.
The “peace talks” which were resumed in September, after intensive US efforts, stopped shortly after they started because the Israeli government refused to renew the “freeze” on settlement building in the West Bank.
Despite this US failure in convincing the Israeli government to freeze settlement for 90 days, the PA is still holding to the negotiations option.
Saeb Erekat “Declares WAR” on Israel: Israel has Chosen West Bank Settlements over Peace
02/12/2010 The United States should openly blame Israel for the “collapse” of the so-called peace process, a senior Palestinian official said on Thursday, in one of the bleakest assessments yet on Middle East peace efforts, according to Haaretz.
New Israeli plans to build near East Jerusalem show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to resume “peace talks”, Palestinian officials said.
“It’s time for the American administration to tell the world that Israel holds the responsibility for the collapse of this peace process,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. “Israel has chosen settlements and not peace,” he told Reuters.
The United States has been trying to revive direct negotiations between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but weeks of diplomacy have yet to yield a breakthrough.
Israel announced on Wednesday plans for 625 new homes in Pisgat Zeev, which is built on occupied West Bank land.
“This Israeli signal shows that they are not willing and not ready for any deal in order to resume the negotiations,” Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas’s spokesman, told Reuters.
Erekat said the United States should now recognize a state of Palestine in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital if it wished “to preserve the two-state solution”.
Meanwhile:
- IOF troops kill two Palestinians in Gaza, destroy water well in Al-Khalil
- Abu Zuhri: Fatah authority crimes in WB reflect total allegiance to IOA
- Tadamun report: IOF troops killed 3 Palestinians, detained 200 in November
- Jewish settlers desecrate Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalemite worshipers face them
- IOA endorses construction of 625 new housing units in OJ
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