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http://english.aljazeera.net
Removed from: Arab leaders weigh peace options Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has also called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to sit down together again. "I urge Israel to restore settlement restraint under its road map obligations and I urge Arab leaders meeting in Sirte this week to keep doors open and support [Palestinian] President Abbas." "Settlement is an impediment to negotiations and creates an atmosphere in which Israel alone is to be blamed for the obstruction of the political process," President Abbas said. "resuming negotiations requires a full freeze of settlement activities" in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians view the presence of 500,000 Israelis in more than 120 settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a major threat to the viability of their future state and see the freezing of settlement construction as a key test of Israel's seriousness about the talks. Jewish settlements on occupied territory are illegal under international law but have been expanding in the West Bank for 30 years. "We sometimes forget that the main issue is that Israel is occupying the Palestinian land, now we're just talking about settlements," Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian president said. "This is wrong. We should be talking about returning Palestinian occupied land. When the land is returned the issue of settlements becomes a moot point," he explained. |
