JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday Israel would not freeze all building in West Bank settlements as demanded by Washington but could limit its scope to help restart peace talks with the Palestinians.
Israeli officials have said work would continue on 2,500 homes being built in the occupied territory, and Netanyahu reaffirmed his position in remarks to a legislative panel, before talks on Tuesday with US envoy George Mitchell.
That falls short of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ conditions for resuming talks on establishing a Palestinian state. So Mitchell still must square several diplomatic circles if Obama is to get his wish to see Abbas and Netanyahu meet as early as at next week’s UN General Assembly in New York.
“They (Americans) asked us for a complete freeze and we told them that we will not do this,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying by a parliamentary official, who briefed reporters on his comments to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“I told the Americans we would consider reducing the scope of construction,” the premier said, according to the official. “But there has to be a balance between the desire to make progress in political negotiations and the need to allow inhabitants of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to continue to lead normal lives,” Netanyahu said.
Israel Radio quoted Netanyahu, who heads a right-leaning government, as saying any construction restrictions would be in effect only for a limited time, but said he gave no time frame.
Abbas, also due to meet Mitchell on Tuesday, has said he would not return to peace negotiations with Israel until it froze settlement activity in line with a 2003 peace road map.
Talks have been suspended since December.
At its weekly meeting, the Palestinian Cabinet demanded Israel agree to a “comprehensive halt to settlement activities including ‘natural growth’,” a term that refers to construction to accommodate growing families of Jewish occupiers.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and in Arab East Jerusalem, also captured in 1967, alongside some three million Palestinians.
The World Court calls the settlements illegal and Palestinians say the enclaves could deny them a viable state.
Mitchell, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, has been trying to prepare a package under which Israel would halt construction in settlements and Arab states would take initial steps toward recognizing Israel.
Washington hopes both moves would lead to a resumption of talks. Mitchell and Netanyahu said separately on Sunday gaps needed to be bridged before a settlement deal could be sealed.
Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak drew a US rebuke by approving 455 building permits in settlements in the West Bank, land Israel captured from Jordan in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want as part of a future state.
The move was widely seen in Israel as a bid to placate Jewish occupiers before any construction limitations.
A senior Israeli government official said Monday that it was a step toward a “package” deal that could include “very severe limitations in the growth of settlements — a possible moratorium.”
