BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday piled pressure on Israel to freeze its settlement-building program in the occupied territories and to resume the peace process with the Palestinians.
“We must make progress in the peace process ... and a stopping of the settlement (building) is very important,” Merkel said at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the German capital. “Time is of the essence,” she said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will only restart talks with Israel if it freezes Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank. Israel has so far resisted US President Barack Obama’s calls to stop building settlements to enable talks to resume.
Netanyahu, a right-wing leader in office since March, has pledged not to build any new settlements but wants to enable what he calls “natural growth” of existing enclaves. He reiterated he was open to talks with the Palestinians.
Merkel also said that Iran could face new sanctions in the energy and financial sectors if it failed to show a willingness to negotiate on its disputed nuclear program.
“If there is no positive answer by September we will have to consider further measures,” she said. Obama has given Iran until September to take up an offer of talks on trade benefits if it shelves nuclear enrichment or face harsher penalties. But Netanyahu said “crippling sanctions” against Iran should be slapped soon. “There is not much time,” he said.
“I think the most important thing that can be put in place is what the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called crippling sanctions. It is possible to put real pressure, real economic pressure, on this regime if the major powers of the world unite.” Even if the UN Security Council fails to approve tougher sanctions against Tehran over its sensitive nuclear work due to opposition from Russia or China, a “coalition of the willing” could enact its own measures, he added.
