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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel must extend settlement freeze: Arab League | |
| 2010-09-25 | |
[Dawn] Israel must send a message that it is prepared to extend a freeze on settlements if the peace negotiations with the Paleostinians are to continue, Arab League chief and Jerry Lewis look-alike Amr Moussa said Friday.
Such settlements would "affect the territorial integrity of territories that would be the territories of the new state of Paleostine," he added. He insisted Israel must show it is "stopping building settlements" adding that "continuing or prolonging or extending the moratorium is a must and is a symbolic message that the Israeli policy is serious about this." Israel on Friday raised the possibility of a compromise on settlement construction just ahead of when the freeze is supposed to end, threatening to derail newly-won US-backed Middle East peace talks. "Israel is prepared to reach a compromise acceptable to all parties," a senior Israeli government official said when asked about US President Barack B.O.Obama's call for the 10-month moratorium to be extended. Mussa urged caution, saying: "Let us wait and see what happens in the next couple of days. If they continue eroding the territorial integrity of the Paleostinian land, if they continue changing the democratic composition of the territories, if they continue changing the geographical character of the territories, why are we wasting time?" he asked. The US administration said Thursday it was proposing "ideas" to Israeli and Paleostinian negotiators in a bid to break the stalemate over settlements. The B.O. regime played a key role in getting the two sides back to the negotiating table on September 2 after a 20-month pause in the peace talks. | |
| Posted by:Fred |