Asia-Pacific

Palestinians don't expect 'effective' US pressure on Israel

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-29 20:37

RAMALLAH - The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) doesn't expect "effective" US pressure on Israel to halt Jewish settlement in the West Bank, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.

Neither the PNA nor the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was aware of any US pressure on Israel to get peace talks, which have stalled shortly after being re-launched on September 2, back on track, said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee.

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The Palestinian leadership was not informed about any US threats to the Israeli government to push it to extend the partial moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank, which expired on September 26, for two months, Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio.

Abed Rabbo said Israel's "insistence to adhere to settlement kills the peace process."

Israel's Maariv newspaper reported that Washington, which brokered the negotiations, presented "unique" offers to Israel in exchange for renewing the construction ban. Among the new guarantees is that the US demonstration will block any Arab or Palestinian attempt to obtain a resolution from the UN Security Council recognizing a Palestinian statehood unilaterally.

According to the reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still resisting all pressure to halt settlement.

The failure to stop Israel from continuing building and expanding settlements frustrated the Palestinians, as the expansion annexes more spaces from the land the Palestinians wish to establish their future state on. "If the settlement's issue alone needs a compromise, how much and long it is going to take for the final-status issues," Abed Rabbo wondered.

The Palestinians wait for a meeting of the Arab League Follow- up Committee, scheduled on October 4, to assess the negotiations and decide on the future steps in the light of Israel's refusal to stop settlement.