‘Settlements spoil two-state solution’
Israel ignores UN demand
BERLIN, March 25, (Agencies): German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she was concerned about Israel’s building in settlements in the occupied West Bank, which she said was undermining progress towards a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel is building in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem — seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and occupied for nearly 50 years — where Palestinians want to establish their state and capital.
“As before, I see no reasonable alternative to the goal of a two-state solution,” Merkel told reporters before holding talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin.
“Both the Israeli and the Palestinian people have the right to live in peace and security and none of the other options can deliver that credibly,” she said.
Merkel’s comments jar with past remarks by US President Donald Trump, who has expressed some ambivalence about a two state solution. Trump has, though, recently invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to visit.
The German chancellor said the building in settlements posed “an impediment to the resolution of the conflict”.
“I am very concerned about developments in the West Bank, which are leading to an erosion of the basis for a two-state solution,” Merkel said.
Mladenov
Frustration
A meeting between the governments of Germany and Israel that was scheduled to take place in May has been cancelled amid rising frustration in Berlin with settlement activity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
German governments have made strong relations with Israel a top priority ever since World War Two, going to great lengths to make amends for the killing of six million Jews by the Nazis.
But relations have grown tense in recent years as Germany questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
On Thursday, talks between the United States and Israel ended without agreement over limiting future construction on land the Palestinians want for a state.
The four days of high-level meetings marked the latest step by Trump’s aides aimed at opening the way to renewed peace diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians, despite scepticism in the United States and Middle East over the chances for success.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen since 2014 and settlements are one of the most heated issues. Palestinians want the West Bank and East Jerusalem for their own state, along with the Gaza Strip.
Most countries consider Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land, as well as security interests.
Israel ignores UN demand:
Israel has ignored a demand by the United Nations Security Council to halt settlement building and some Palestinian groups are continuing to incite violence against Jews, UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov told the 15-member body on Friday.
It was Mladenov’s first report on the implementation a Dec 23 resolution adopted by the council with 14 votes in favor and a US abstention. Then Presidentelect Donald Trump and Israel had urged Washington to wield its veto.
“The resolution calls on Israel to take steps ‘to cease all settlements activities in the occupied Palestinian territory including east Jerusalem.’ No such steps have been taken during the reporting period,” Mladenov told the council.
Israel for decades has pursued a policy of constructing Jewish settlements on territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with its Arab neighbors. Most countries view Israeli settlement activity as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel disagrees.
The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
“Many of the advancements that were made in the past three months will further sever the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state and accelerate the fragmentation of the West Bank,” said Mladenov of settlements, adding that they were “one of the main obstacles to peace.”
Mladenov also said an increase in rockets fired from Gaza toward Israel was a “worrying development” and described it as regrettable that Palestinian Authority officials had not condemned attacks against Israelis.
“The continued incitement to violence against Jews emanating from Hamas extremists and some Palestinian groups is unacceptable and undermines trust and the prospects for peace,” he said.
Deserve
“Reactions by Hamas officials to terror attacks against Israelis have been particularly reprehensible and deserve condemnation,” Mladenov said.
The United States traditionally shields Israel, Washington’s long-time ally that receives more than $3 billion in annual US military aid, from council action. The five council veto powers are the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China.
The resolution, put forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and Trump, was the first adopted by the council on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.
Retired US Army Lieutenant Michael Flynn, who at the time had been chosen by Trump to be his national security adviser, called the UN missions of Malaysia and Uruguay before the vote in a bid to stop council action, UN diplomats said.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Friday: “There can be no moral equivalency between the building of homes and murderous terrorism. The only impediment to peace is Palestinian violence and incitement.”
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters: “Settlements need to be stopped, not only because they are illegal, but they are the main obstacle in the path of the two-state solution.”
The resolution didn’t impose sanctions on Israel, so the council isn’t called on to take any action. But it does enshrine the world’s disapproval of the settlements.
Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, reiterated that the United Nations “considers all settlement activities to be illegal under international law and one of the main obstacles to peace.”