By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
RAMALLAH, Palestine – The Israeli/Palestinian peace process has been threatened by Israeli moves over the past week to move forward with the construction of more than 3,700 new illegal settler homes in occupied Palestinian territories.
Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, said . Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are “illegitimate.” (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)
Several international leaders have called upon Israel to restrict the construction of settlements in Palestinian territory seeing the construction of these settlements could derail peace process between Palestine and the state of Israel.
On Wednesday United States Secretary of State John Kerry called for Israel to limit the construction of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. Kerry said that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are “illegitimate” and are serving as a hindrance to the ongoing peace talks between Israel and Palestine. He said “Let me emphasise that the position of the United States is that we consider now, and have always considered, the settlements to be illegitimate.” He also said that there was no deal that the Palestinians accept that would recognize illegal settlements in return for peace, saying; “I want to make it extremely clear that at no time did the Palestinians in any way agree, as a matter of going back to the talks, that they could somehow condone or accept the settlements.”
Kerry’s statement reflects the growing feeling amongst the international community that Israel’s government sanctioned settlement program is preventing any real progress in talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
On Thursday Catherine Ashton, the head of foreign affairs for the European Union addressed Europe’s concerns over the announcement that Israeli’s decision to allow the construction of more than 1,5000 homes in the West Bank, which she feels can damage the peace process. She said “The EU deplores the latest settlement announcement and calls on the Israeli government to reverse its decision.”
Ashton also said in a statement that the European Union has “repeatedly stated that settlements are illegal under international law and that bold and decisive leadership is needed for the current peace negotiations to succeed,” and that the planed actions that “could hamper or undermine the ongoing negotiations must be avoided.”
Secretary Kerry met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. According to his spokesman, President Abbas told the Secretary of State that “the Palestinians are committed to negotiations that would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.” He also said that the Palestinians consider all Israeli settlements to be illegitimate.
An anonymous senior Palestinian official said that Palestinian officials would refuse to continue the talks with Israel as long as Jewish settlement on the West Bank are allowed to continue to proliferate. He said “The Israeli side is determined to continue its settlement and we cannot continue negotiations under these unprecedented settlement attacks,” he said after a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
For more information please see:
Al Jazeera – EU Deplores Israel’s New Settler Homes Plan – 7 November 2013
Al Jazeera – Kerry: Israeli Settlements are Illegitimate – 6 November 2013
The Jerusalem Post – Kerry: US Considers Israeli Settlements to Be Illegal – 6 November 2013
The New York – Kerry Presses Israel on Settlement Construction – 6 November 2013
