GAZA CITY, 23 August 2004 — Palestinians yesterday denounced a US change of stance on Jewish settlements on occupied territories and warned this could destroy the Middle East peace process.
The strong Palestinian reaction came after Washington signaled it could accept some growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Until now, the United States had demanded the freezing of all building on land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and which are seen as illegal by the international community.
On Saturday the Bush administration signaled flexibility on some limited growth in West Bank settlements to help embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he tries to get a plan for withdrawal from occupied Gaza past his far right.
“I do not believe that America says now that settlements can be expanded. This thwarts and destroys the peace process,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei told reporters.
Palestinians, who fear uprooting the Gaza settlers is a cover for strengthening Israel’s hold on bigger West Bank enclaves, said the United States was tearing up its own peace road map.
A senior US administration official, commenting on Israel’s plan to build 1,000 more settler homes, said Saturday: “There is some flexibility there”.
While the White House denied any official change in the US stance, an official said efforts were under way to clarify with the Israelis what “settlement activity” means.
Based on this new understanding, officials said Washington could agree to new construction provided it did not take place outside the boundaries of existing settlements, in undeveloped parts of the West Bank.
The head of the Arab League described the change in the US administration’s attitude as “a very grave development”.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said: “It’s a very grave development... It’s not something we look at with any peace of mind, but rather with distress. A question arises: ‘Where is the role of the Quartet and international law?’” The road map drawn up by the Quartet of Middle East mediators — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — requires that Israel freeze all settlement activity.
Moussa told reporters at Cairo airport: “For the United States to take such positions... can only damage the peace process, if it exists, and damage the whole situation and make it more difficult.”
— Additional input from agencies
