ISRAEL - PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Peace talks stalled over settlements row
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet Thursday to try to overcome disputes over Jewish settlements that paralysed U.S.-backed peace talks.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
JERUSALEM, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet on
Thursday to try to overcome disputes over Jewish settlements
that have paralysed U.S.-backed peace talks.
The first two negotiating sessions between the Israeli and
Palestinian teams ended in discord with the Palestinians
protesting Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in an
area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to
Palestinians as Abu Ghneim.
Thursday's meeting in Jerusalem between Olmert and Abbas
will be their first since last month's U.S. peace conference in
Annapolis, Maryland, in which the leaders set the goal of
reaching a statehood agreement before U.S. President George W.
Bush leaves office in January 2009.
It is unclear how Olmert and Abbas can bridge their
differences and jumpstart talks ahead of Bush's visit to the
region early next month. Both Olmert and Abbas have been
weakened politically and questions remain about Bush's
commitment in pressing for painful concessions from both sides.
The Palestinians have so far ruled out negotiating
substantive issues such as borders, the future of Jerusalem and
Palestinian refugees until Israel commits to halting all
settlement activity, including so-called natural growth, as
called for in the long-stalled "road map" peace plan.
Israel defines its road map obligations differently, arguing
that construction within built-up areas of existing settlements
is permissible as long as no new settlements are built and no
additional Palestinian lands are confiscated.
Palestinians see the building of Har Homa as the last
rampart in a wall of settlements encircling Arab East Jerusalem,
cutting it off from Bethlehem and rest of the occupied West
Bank. They say it is a strategic move by Israel to pre-empt any
possibility of East Jerusalem becoming the Palestinian capital.
CRITICISM
Israel's Har Homa plan has also drawn rare criticism from
the United States, Israel's key ally. Israeli construction at
the same settlement derailed a previous round of talks in 1997.
Since Annapolis, Israel has also disclosed plans for new
building within the Maale Adumim settlement which the Jewish
state hopes to keep as part of any final peace deal.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas would ask
Olmert during their meeting to commit to a complete settlement
freeze "so as to give the peace process a genuine chance".
Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said "both sides bring to the
table issues of concern, and the goal is to find common ground".
Israel has responded to the protests over settlements by
pressing the Palestinians to meet their road map commitments to
rein in militants in the occupied West Bank and Hamas-controlled
Gaza Strip as a condition for establishing a Palestinian state.
Hamas seized Gaza in June after routing Abbas's secular
Fatah forces there.
It is unclear how any statehood agreement, if reached, would
be implemented with the Palestinian territories divided between
Abbas's Western-backed government in the West Bank and a rival
Hamas administration running Gaza.
Israel is expected to make some goodwill gestures to Abbas
before Bush arrives in the region.
Officials said one option under discussion involved the
removal of a few small Jewish outposts in the West Bank that
were built without Israeli government authorisation.
Israel is also considering easing criteria for freeing
Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said could
pave the way for the release of Palestinian uprising leader
Marwan Barghouthi, a possible successor to Fatah leader Abbas.
Easing restrictions on releasing prisoners who Israel says
have "blood on their hands", a reference to attacks against
Israelis, was part of efforts to secure a swap deal with Hamas
for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet on
Thursday to try to overcome disputes over Jewish settlements
that have paralysed U.S.-backed peace talks.
The first two negotiating sessions between the Israeli and
Palestinian teams ended in discord with the Palestinians
protesting Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in an
area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to
Palestinians as Abu Ghneim.
Thursday's meeting in Jerusalem between Olmert and Abbas
will be their first since last month's U.S. peace conference in
Annapolis, Maryland, in which the leaders set the goal of
reaching a statehood agreement before U.S. President George W.
Bush leaves office in January 2009.
It is unclear how Olmert and Abbas can bridge their
differences and jumpstart talks ahead of Bush's visit to the
region early next month. Both Olmert and Abbas have been
weakened politically and questions remain about Bush's
commitment in pressing for painful concessions from both sides.
The Palestinians have so far ruled out negotiating
substantive issues such as borders, the future of Jerusalem and
Palestinian refugees until Israel commits to halting all
settlement activity, including so-called natural growth, as
called for in the long-stalled "road map" peace plan.
Israel defines its road map obligations differently, arguing
that construction within built-up areas of existing settlements
is permissible as long as no new settlements are built and no
additional Palestinian lands are confiscated.
Palestinians see the building of Har Homa as the last
rampart in a wall of settlements encircling Arab East Jerusalem,
cutting it off from Bethlehem and rest of the occupied West
Bank. They say it is a strategic move by Israel to pre-empt any
possibility of East Jerusalem becoming the Palestinian capital.
CRITICISM
Israel's Har Homa plan has also drawn rare criticism from
the United States, Israel's key ally. Israeli construction at
the same settlement derailed a previous round of talks in 1997.
Since Annapolis, Israel has also disclosed plans for new
building within the Maale Adumim settlement which the Jewish
state hopes to keep as part of any final peace deal.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas would ask
Olmert during their meeting to commit to a complete settlement
freeze "so as to give the peace process a genuine chance".
Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said "both sides bring to the
table issues of concern, and the goal is to find common ground".
Israel has responded to the protests over settlements by
pressing the Palestinians to meet their road map commitments to
rein in militants in the occupied West Bank and Hamas-controlled
Gaza Strip as a condition for establishing a Palestinian state.
Hamas seized Gaza in June after routing Abbas's secular
Fatah forces there.
It is unclear how any statehood agreement, if reached, would
be implemented with the Palestinian territories divided between
Abbas's Western-backed government in the West Bank and a rival
Hamas administration running Gaza.
Israel is expected to make some goodwill gestures to Abbas
before Bush arrives in the region.
Officials said one option under discussion involved the
removal of a few small Jewish outposts in the West Bank that
were built without Israeli government authorisation.
Israel is also considering easing criteria for freeing
Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said could
pave the way for the release of Palestinian uprising leader
Marwan Barghouthi, a possible successor to Fatah leader Abbas.
Easing restrictions on releasing prisoners who Israel says
have "blood on their hands", a reference to attacks against
Israelis, was part of efforts to secure a swap deal with Hamas
for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
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