Netanyahu: Settlement slowdown to start once 500 new homes built
By Mazal Mualem, Barak Ravid, Chaim Levinson and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz
Correspondents and Agencies Last update - 16:13 06/09/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1112669.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with several Likud cabinet
ministers and Knesset members over the weekend, in an attempt to persuade
them to support a freeze on construction in the West Bank settlements.

One of Netanyahu's main messages is that Israel has done its part, and that
he is now waiting to see what gestures toward normalizing ties Arab states
are willing to make.

The security cabinet is scheduled to meet on Sunday to continue its
preparation for the arrival later this week of U.S. special envoy to the
Middle East George Mitchell.

Ministers and MKs who spoke with Netanyahu and his associates told Haaretz
that the prime minister showed them the final agreement reached with the
U.S. administration on suspending settlement construction. A source in the
Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu did not use the word "moratorium" or
"freeze," opting instead to describe the proposed measure as "reducing the
scale of construction."

Netanyahu's announcement late last week that he intends to approve the
construction of hundreds of new housing units in the settlements before the
suspension of building takes effect has drawn criticism from the
international community.

European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Stockholm on Friday, criticized
the decision in a statement by Javier Solana, the outgoing EU foreign policy
chief.

"The position of the European Union is well known. All settlement activities
must stop," Solana was quoted as saying.

British Foreign Minister David Milliband seconded Solana, describing the
settlements as "illegal" and as "posing an obstacle to the peace process."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, a well-known supporter of Israel
in the EU, said that EU foreign ministers are in agreement on the issue.

"The foreign ministers of the European Union condemn the announcement on new
construction in settlements right when the international community is asking
Israel to freeze [construction]," Frattini said. "Ending construction was
essentially the sole precondition for restarting the negotiations."

France also condemned Netanyahu's decision, saying that it went against
Middle East peace efforts.

The White House also criticized the decision Friday. "We regret the reports
of Israel's plans to approve additional settlement construction," a White
House statement said. "Continued settlement activity is inconsistent with
Israel's commitment under the road map."

The White House added that the administration of President Barack Obama
"does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we
urge that it stop. We are working to create a climate in which negotiations
can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate."

In response to a reporter's question, the White House spokesman said that
the U.S. had been informed of Netanyahu's intention to proceed with new
construction in the West Bank.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Mitchell and the Israelis had been
having "a very open dialogue" in "very intense discussions." He would not
elaborate.

But one U.S. official familiar with Mitchell's meeting last week in New York
with Netanyahu envoy Yitzhak Molcho said the Israelis "told Mitchell they
were going to [continue construction] and he told them they could expect a
sharp response."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting had "not
gone well." He added that the White House statement was released before a
formal Israeli announcement of Netanyahu's plans because "we wanted to send
a strong signal early on."

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed the plans in an interview
with Israel Radio on Sunday morning.

"The prime minister will decide in the coming days on the building of
hundreds of additional housing unitsin order to solve existing problems in
various settlements," said Katz.

Meanwhile, settlers are planning to step up their protests against the
construction freeze, irrespective of Netanyahu's announcement of approval
for hundreds of new homes in the settlements. Settler leaders said 500
housing units will be built in places such as Givat Ze'ev, Ma'aleh Adumim
and Beitar Ilit, where demand is enormous, and in Gush Etzion.

"The demand is for hundreds of housing units in each of these communities,
not just a few hundred in total. The construction will probably take place
to the east of the fence," according to Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha
Council.

"A freeze has enormous political implications which are no less than a
catastrophe for the settlement enterprise. Freezing construction in Ma'aleh
Adumim, Gush Etzion, Beitar, what are called the 'settlement blocs,' places
them clearly on the negotiating table. Why would the state freeze
construction in areas that are not open for negotiation? There is nothing
that signals to the Arabs that it is possible to restore them to the 1967
border than such a freeze," Dayan said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is expected to approve the holding of a
groundbreaking ceremony at Ma'aleh Adumim this week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the planned approval of
residential construction as "unacceptable."

"What the Israeli government said [about the planned construction] is not
useful," Abbas said after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Friday. "It is unacceptable to us. We want a freeze on all settlement
construction."

Abbas also told journalists that a possible summit meeting with Netanyahu
and Obama in New York at the UN General Assembly later this month depended
on "steps that are taken beforehand regarding a settlement construction
freeze."

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also criticized the move on
Friday, saying it would derail any progress in peace negotiations.

"I think the only thing that will be suspended by this announcement is the
peace process," Erekat said.