Israel stunned at US firmness on freezing settlements
"Tensions between the USA and Israel are growing after the US administration's demand that Israel completely freeze construction in all Jewish colonies in the West Bank," Haaretz Israeli daily said, Sunday.
Israeli political officials expressed disappointment after Tuesday's round of meetings in London with George Mitchell, US President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East.
"We're disappointed," said one Israeli senior official. "All of the understandings reached during the [George W.] Bush administration are worth nothing."
Another Israeli official said the US administration is refusing every Israeli attempt to reach new agreements on Jewish settlements construction. "The United States is taking a line of granting concessions to the Palestinians that is not fair toward Israel," he said.
The Israeli officials attributed the unyielding US stance to the speech Obama will make in Cairo this Thursday, in which he is expected to deliver a message of reconciliation to the Arab and Muslim worlds.
The Palestinian Presidency Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeina said, today that the understandings between former Israeli Government and US Administration regarding the continuity of settlements construction are 'illegal and violate the international Law.
"Settlement activities should be stopped once and forever to pave the way for the resumption of negotiations which might come up with real results," Abu Rdeina said, commenting on media reports that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is seeking an understanding with the current US Administration to let Israel keep its so-called the 'natural growth' of settlement, which refers to children of settlers being able to build in the settlement, etc.
