Jerusalem - Israel claimed Wednesday that it and the US had
made 'progress' in talks aimed at resolving their disagreement over
ongoing Israeli construction in West Bank settlements.
'There is still the issue of settlements, what we call
construction for the purpose of allowing a normal life for the
settlers, but here too there has been a certain progress in the last
few days,' said Israeli Ambassador-designate to the US Michael Oren.
Israel, he said, was waiting for its next meeting with President
Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, but
expected a solution in the near future.
'Both sides have expressed much will to put an end to this issue
and there are new ideas,' the ambassador-designate told Israel Radio,
adding 'I prefer not to get into details.'
He urged the Palestinians to give up on their demand for an
absolute Israeli settlement freeze, as a pre-condition for resuming
peace negotiations.
'For the first time they are the ones posing conditions ... They
will have to give up this pre-condition, which is really new,' he
said, arguing the same demand had not been made of previous Israeli
government including those of former premiers Ehud Olmert and Ariel
Sharon and Ehud Barak.
The Palestinians fear that continued settlement construction would
further fragment their territory ahead of any agreement, especially
if Netanyahu is not serious about completing negotiations within a
specific time frame and wants to start the talks from scratch,
ignoring the progress which has already been made.
Oren reiterated that the Netanyahu government opposed East
Jerusalem becoming the capital of the Palestinian state - a core
Palestinian demand - as well as a full Israel withdrawal to the
borders of before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from
Egypt during that Six-Day War. Previous Israeli governments have also
demanded Israel be allowed to keep its main settlement blocks near
the armistice line separating the West Bank from Israel. The previous
Olmert government offered a territorial exchange as compensation.
'Our position is clear that Jerusalem will remain the undivided
capital of Israel,' said Oren, but nonetheless added, 'the issue will
be discussed in the late stages of the talks.'
'We will not return to the 1967 borders and I think there is broad
national consensus here. Also on the American side there is
understanding that the 1967 borders are indefensible and that is one
of the reasons the war broke out.'
Netanyahu promised in an interview with CBS Tuesday that Israel
would not 'grab new land' in the West Bank for the 'natural growth'
in or of existing settlements he insists on.
Obama on Monday nonetheless reiterated his demand for a 'cessation
of settlements.' The US president was reacting to the Israeli
premier's policy speech of Sunday night in which Netanyahu for the
first time publicly supported a - demilitarized - Palestinian state.
'There is a tendency to try to parse exactly what this means, but
I think the parties on the ground understand that if you have a
continuation of settlements that, in the past, have been categorized
as illegal, that's going to be an impediment to progress,' Obama told
reporters after meeting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at
the White House.
Netanyahu's refusal to agree to a total settlement freeze, and -
previously - to endorse a two-state solution, has led to public
tensions with the White House since he took office in late March,
following elections in Israel in which the bloc of right-wing parties
headed by his Likud won a majority of mandates.
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