An Israeli interior ministry committee has recommended expanding one of the largest settlements in the occupied West Bank, army radio reported yesterday.
Israeli settlements are viewed as one of the main stumbling blocks in the tortured Middle East peace process and if the committee’s recommendations are approved, the move is certain to spark criticism from the US and Palestinians.
In its report the committee said that the small settlement of Qedar should be integrated into the giant colony of Maale Adumim, along with the lands that lie between the two.
PHOTO: EPA
The move would expand Maale Adumim, one of the largest West Bank settlements in terms of population and area, by another 1,200 hectares and add another 800 people to its current 34,500 residents.
To be implemented, the committee’s recommendations have to be approved by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which generally supports settlements, and the largely right-wing cabinet of hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a supporter of settlements, told army radio “a decision on this matter cannot be taken without serious reflection.”
Israel’s main ally Washington has on numerous occasions spoken out against the expansion of Maale Adumim as such a move would in effect cut the West Bank — the largest part of the Palestinians’ promised state — in two.
Meanwhile, Israel said it would talk peace with Syria if it dropped preconditions such as an Israeli commitment to return the Golan Heights, Lieberman said yesterday.
“I would be happy to hold negotiations with Syria this very evening, but without preconditions and without ultimatums,” Lieberman told Israel Radio. He said the less than month-old government was still formulating foreign policy, but made clear he saw Syria’s bedrock demand for the Golan as up for debate.
This is not the view from Damascus, which says that Israel, which annexed the Golan in a move not recognized abroad, is legally required to return it along with other occupied Arab land.
“Each of the sides has a position. Syria may want sovereignty on the Golan Heights, while we ask for a 200-year lease on the Golan Heights,” Lieberman said.
“They can demand the Golan Heights in exchange for peace, while we will demand peace for peace,” he said.
In Cairo, rival delegations from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas met yesterday for a new round of reconciliation talks already deemed “difficult.”
The two delegations were expected to meet separately with Egyptian security officials ahead of three-way talks today with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
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