Washington, August 06: The US calls for Israel’s guarantee that it will halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Defense Minister Ehud Barak, US Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell called for a “deposit,” an advance commitment of a one-year freeze in the construction of West Bank settlements.
He argued that in order to encourage Arab countries to make concessions in peace talks, Tel Aviv should guarantee to put an end to construction activities in the settlements, Haaretz reported.
Based on the report, Netanyahu and Barak did not reject the request, but they disagreed with the Americans over some of the details.
While Mitchell insisted on at least a one-year freeze in the settlement work, Israel agreed to suspend the construction for six months, at most.
Under the US-backed “roadmap” peace plan, Israel is committed to halting the expansion of Jewish settlements in the territories occupied in the 1967 war. The new Israeli government led by the Likud party, however, says the freeze would not include the construction projects underway to meet the needs caused by the natural growth.
—–Agencies