Palestinians will not accept a partial settlement freeze, a senior official reiterated on Monday, as Israel and the United States pressed on with negotiations over the thorny issue.
”If [US President Barack] Obama approves continuing settlement building in Jerusalem, Obama has pulled out of the Middle East peace process,” Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian Authority official, told reporters.
Obama’s administration has pressed Israel to completely halt all settlement activity on occupied Palestinian land as it seeks to jumpstart peace talks that were suspended during Israel’s war on Gaza at the turn of the year.
Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted a freeze, but agreed not to issue any new tenders until early 2010 in what Washington called a step in the right direction but critics slammed as falling short of a complete halt.
Israel and its main ally are engaged in talks to find a compromise ahead of the United Nations general assembly in New York in September, with Israeli officials due to meet US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in the US later this week.
According to Israeli media reports, one possible compromise includes Israel agreeing to a temporary freeze, with projects already under way allowed to continue.
The Palestinians, who have demanded a complete freeze before resuming peace talks, have repeatedly rejected any partial or limited stop in settlement activity.
Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem are among the main obstacles in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Shaath also reiterated that the Palestinians would not recognise Israel as a Jewish state, as demanded by Netanyahu as part of a final peace deal. — AFP
