25 November 2009
Israeli Settlement Moratorium Helps Move Talks Forward, U.S. Says
Washington — Although the Israeli government’s announcement of a 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction falls short of a full settlement freeze, the Obama administration says the decision helps move forward the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and urges both sides to engage in final status negotiations to reach an agreement on a two-state solution that will realize a secure and recognized Jewish state and an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state.
In a November 25 statement, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “We believe that through good-faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends the conflict.”
That outcome would reconcile “the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements,” Clinton said.
She added that the Obama administration’s commitment to achieving a two-state solution is “unwavering.”
Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell told reporters at the State Department November 25 that Israel’s announcement “falls short of a full settlement freeze, but it is more than any Israeli government has done before, and can help move toward agreement between the parties.”
“For the first time ever, an Israeli government will stop housing approvals and all new construction of housing units and related infrastructure in West Bank settlements,” he said.
“Nothing like this occurred during the [George W.] Bush administration. From 2000 to 2008, there were new housing construction starts on nearly 20,000 new housing units, 9,000 of them between 2004 and 2008.”
He added that the Israeli decision was unilateral, and not part of an agreement with either the United States or the Palestinians. “As the president has said, America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,” Mitchell said.
With the exception of “a small number of public buildings such as schools and synagogues within existing settlements,” and the completion of buildings already under construction, “there will be no approval of any housing projects during the 10-month moratorium. None,” Mitchell said.
“Implementation of the moratorium could mean much less settlement construction than would occur if there is no moratorium,” he said.
The special envoy said the United States recognizes Palestinian and Arab concern that the moratorium is permitting the completion of buildings under construction and it does not include East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope will be the capital of their independent state, saying those are “concerns which we share.”
The U.S. policy toward Jerusalem remains unchanged, Mitchell said. “The status of Jerusalem, and all other permanent-status issues, must be resolved by the parties through negotiations.”
In addition, “The United States also disagrees with some Israeli actions in Jerusalem affecting Palestinians in the areas, such as housing, including the continuing pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes.”
“The United States has not accepted, and disagrees with, any unilateral action by either party which could have the effect of pre-empting negotiations,” he said.
Mitchell said he wants the issue of borders to be resolved during the negotiation process “so that there will no longer be any question about settlement construction, so that Israelis will be able to build what they want in Israel, and Palestinians will be able to build what they want in Palestine.”
The negotiations should begin as soon as possible, and the United States hopes they will be “time-limited to a period at the end of which all of the permanent-status issues will be resolved and the people of the region can achieve their objective.”
With the goal of a comprehensive peace in the region, Mitchell also said the Obama administration strongly encourages Israel and Syria to renew peace talks, saying those efforts and the Palestinian track are “not exclusive alternatives.” The United States is attempting to “find a mechanism” to reconcile the disagreement between Israel’s wish for talks without preconditions and Syria’s desire to first conclude the indirect talks that had begun through Turkey in 2008.
Mitchell added that U.S. officials welcome Turkey’s further participation in the talks and “any mechanism that will result in progress,” but “that is, of course, a decision for the parties to make.”
More broadly, the Obama administration has asked all Arab governments to support the Arab Peace Initiative that would encourage them to take steps toward normalized relations with Israel.
“We’ve not asked anyone to take the final step of full normalization,” he said. “What we’ve asked is gestures, actions, statements and movement in that direction.” As an example, Mitchell suggested regional discussions to address common issues of concern, such as energy and water, and said they would not occur before the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“We think that increased contacts between political and nonpolitical leaders, cultural and other exchanges, trade relations and other forms of contact of mutual benefit … can form an ever-strengthening web of support for the concept of normal relations throughout the region,” he said.
The special envoy said U.S. officials from President Obama on down have never “promised anything other than a total commitment” on the part of the United States to a comprehensive peace in the region. “That remains our commitment and our goal.”
“We have to continue to urge, to encourage, to seek, to persuade. The alternative is to accept for the people of the region endless conflict, never-ending disagreement, and the absence of opportunity and hope for the future,” Mitchell said.
