West Bank settlements stopped by Netanyahu

Russia News.Net
Wednesday 25th November, 2009

The Obama administration in the US has welcomed an action by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze for 10-months any new settlement construction in the West Bank.

While administration officials have said the commitment falls short of a complete freeze, they have urged Israel and the Palestinians to seize the opportunity to resume peace talks.

After the announcement by Mr Netanyahu, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell told reporters that while the United States shared Arab concerns about the limitations of the gesture: "It is more than any Israeli government has ever done."

he said: "In the moratorium just announced by the government of Israel, there will be no new housing construction starts during the 10-month period. There will be no approval of any housing projects. None. No Israeli government has ever taken this step and nothing remotely like this occurred during the Bush administration."

The US envoy said he would soon return to the region to try to build on momentum generated by the Israeli gesture.

The freeze still allows for buildings already under construction in West Bank settlements to be completed and does not apply to East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want to claim as their future capital.

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