A panel of Israeli cabinet ministers endorsed proposed legislation on Sunday to annex an area of the occupied West Bank likely to be the eastern border of a new Palestinian state.
The move, pushed by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, could weigh on troubled U.S.-brokered peace negotiations several days before another visit to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry.
But centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who also heads Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, immediately challenged the motion, and said she would use her powers to block the legislation from being voted on in Parliament.
Peace talks have shown few signs of progress since Kerry oversaw their renewal in July after a three-year deadlock.
The target is to reach an agreement by April towards achieving a "two-state solution" in which Israel and a new Palestinian state would co-exist side by side.
The Jordan Valley region of the West Bank which Israel captured in a 1967 war and Palestinians seek as part of their future state, has been a focus of recent disagreement. Palestinians reject Israel's demand to maintain a security presence there.
Kerry said in Washington earlier this month that the need to resolve the dispute over the Jordan Valley was "a critical threading of a needle that has to happen in order to achieve an agreement". He said he was coordinating with Jordan as well.
The Israeli proposal to incorporate the Jordan Valley within its borders, endorsed by the cabinet's legislative committee, was the first Israeli step in years to annex any territory occupied in 1967.
- Shortly after that war, in a move not recognised internationally, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and added some adjoining West Bank land to the city, which it regards as its capital.
- The last time Israel annexed any land captured in the 1967 war was in 1981 when it applied its law to Syria's Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that lies to the north.
The prisoners had been jailed for deadly violence committed before a 1993 Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accord.
Also expected to weigh on Kerry's visit this week is an Israeli plan to build 1,400 homes in Jewish settlements, which Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said would "destroy the peace process" and could be met with retaliation.
worldbulletin.net
29/12/13
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Israel summons EU envoys in tit for tat after settlement protest....
ReplyDeleteIsrael summoned European ambassadors on Friday accusing them of pro-Palestinian "bias" damaging to peace prospects, in a tit-for-tat move after Israeli envoys were called in over settlement expansion plans.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called in the ambassadors of Britain, France, Italy and Spain to "stress to them that their perpetual one-sided stance against Israel and in favour of the Palestinians is unacceptable and creates the impression they are only seeking ways to blame Israel," his spokesman said.
The foreign minister asked that the envoys be told "Israel is making great efforts to enable the continued dialogue with the Palestinians".
"Beyond being biased, unbalanced and ignoring the reality on the ground, the positions held by these states significantly harm the possibility of reaching some sort of agreement between the sides," a statement said.
Lieberman's spokesman told AFP the envoys were being summoned for Friday. Another Israeli official told AFP that calling in ambassadors for the same day was a rare move indicative of the degree of offence caused.
Last Friday, Israel announced plans for some 1,800 homes in the West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, just days after the latest peace mission by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had said she was "deeply concerned" over the move, noting settlements were "illegal under international law" and "constitute an obstacle to peace".
Israeli ambassadors in London, Rome and Paris were called in over the plans on Thursday, with the ambassador in Madrid summoned for Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the move as "hypocritical." "The EU calls our ambassadors in because of the construction of a few houses? When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors about incitement that calls for Israel's destruction?" Netanyahu asked foreign correspondents at a Thursday reception.
Netanyahu said this "imbalance... pushes peace further away," and insisted Israel's settlement plans, announced during the nine-month US-backed peace talks, should not be seen as counter-productive to the efforts to reach a deal with the Palestinians.............http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israel-summons-eu-envoys-in-tit-for-tat-after-settlement-protest.aspx?pageID=238&nID=61178&NewsCatID=352
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ReplyDeleteKritik am Siedlungsbau "Heuchelei": Benjamin Netanjahu bestellt EU-Botschafter ein....
Aus Protest gegen den Siedlungsbau zitierten mehrere EU-Länder die Botschafter Israels in die Außenministerien. Nun bestellt Premier Benjamin Netanjahu ebenfalls die EU-Botschafter ein.............http://www.n24.de/n24/Nachrichten/Politik/d/4138568/benjamin-netanjahu-bestellt-eu-botschafter-ein.html
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