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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| UN Envoy: Settlement slowdown not enough |
| 2009-12-18 |
| [Ma'an] The UN envoy to the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry told the UN Security Council on Thursday that a partial slowdown on the expansion of West Bank settlements falls short of Israel's obligations. "Particularly as regards East Jerusalem, the policy falls considerably short of Israel's commitments under the Roadmap to freeze all settlement activity, including 'natural growth', and to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001," Serry said. He noted that, "Under the terms of the announcement, construction already underway on over 3,000 units and on public buildings will continue -- as evidenced by the approval of a further 28 public buildings in settlements." "The restraint does not apply to settlement activity in the Israeli-determined municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem," he continued. "In addition, on 13 December the cabinet granted additional budget allocations to some 110,000 settlers, many living in isolated settlements deep in the West Bank" "We are in a race against time to overcome the contradictions on the ground and the crisis of confidence between the parties, and move decisively towards a political end game," Serry told the security council. He also said that the Palestinian Authority needs to do more to honor its Road Map obligations, for example by improving security. He noted a late November incident in which the car of the deputy mayor of Nablus was attacked by gunmen. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Israel to UN "Go Pound Sand" |
| Posted by: AlanC 2009-12-18 20:06 |
| #1 IMO, God created Arabs to train His People to deal with Europeans. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-12-18 05:36 |