Israel: Progress made in Israeli-US talks on settlements compromise

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.