国际英语新闻:Israeli settlement expansion blows up peace talks: Palestinians

RAMALLAH, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The fresh Israeli announcement Wednesday of planning to build additional 20,000 housing units in the Israeli settlements outraged the Palestinian leadership, which thought that the direct peace talks with Israel has reached a real deadlock.

However, Israel retreated as soon as chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat warned, in press statement to Xinhua, to suspend immediately the peace negotiations with Israel if it doesn 't immediately annul its decision of building more units in the settlements.

"President Mahmoud Abbas instructed to the negotiations team to hold immediate contacts with Washington, Russia, China and the European Union to urge them for an immediate intervention," Erekat said, adding "As Israel insists on settlement expansion, it means that it blows up the entire peace process."

The veteran negotiator told Xinhua that Israel's decision of expanding settlements "is blowing up the direct peace talks and bring the whole peace process to a deadlock," adding "if the talks stop, our options will be opened and we will never accept to cover settlement by keeping the talks going on."

The United States, which sponsors the direct peace talks between the two sides, which were resumed in Washington in late July after it had been suspended for three years, had repeatedly expressed concerns over the new Israeli plans of settlement expansion.

Israeli Radio reported earlier on Wednesday that sources in the White House stressed that the U.S. stance concerning the settlements is clear and considers it as "illegal," adding that lunching new plans of expanding settlement "won't help the creation of a proper atmosphere for keeping the peace talks going on."

Meanwhile, Israeli Peace Now Movement said in a statement earlier on Wednesday that the crazy increase in settlement building on the Palestinian territories while the two sides are sitting on one negotiations table "is emptying the talks from any meaning and simply makes the talks absurd."

In the light of these developments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contacted his Israeli minister of housing and construction and asked him to reconsider all the new plans of building thousands of housing units in the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.

"These actions were made without an in-advance coordination, and won't help settlement at all," Israel Radio quoted Netanyahu as saying. "These plans don't have any practical or legal meaning and provokes the international community, which we are convincing to reach a good deal with Iran."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry didn't express full satisfaction over Netanyahu's statements of freezing the new plan of settlement building. It said in a press statement that "his statements are misleading; he makes statements to the media that the plans are frozen, but on the ground building goes on."

"The countries, of the International Quartet, mainly the United States, should bear their responsibilities in accordance to the international law to protect first all Palestinian people and their lands, which are the lands of the state of Palestine," the statement said.

Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Abbas postponed a scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to loosely follow up the current political developments, a well-informed Palestinian source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, adding "the Palestinian leadership will hold a meeting soon."

"The rounds of direct peace talks between the two sides which are held on daily bases had stopped last week because chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and his deputy Mohamed Ishteya declined to attend the new rounds of negotiations," said the source.

Ishteya told Xinhua that he and Erekat "had presented their resignation from the negotiations teams to Abbas ten days ago," adding "the resignation came in response to the Israeli insistence on continuing settlement building on the Palestinian territories."

"President Abbas hasn't yet accepted or rejected our resignation," said Ishteya.