Israel settlement surge draws Rice criticism
Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:05am EDT
By Arshad Mohammed
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Israel on Tuesday not to undermine peace talks with the Palestinians after a report found it had nearly doubled Jewish settlement construction.
On her seventh visit this year in a long-shot push for a peace deal by January, Rice said the two sides were "somewhat closer" in their secret talks despite deep public skepticism about the chances of ending the six-decade conflict.
Israel's Peace Now group, citing data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, said construction had begun on more than 443 structures in settlements in the occupied West Bank since January compared with 240 starts in the same period in 2007.
"The settlement activity is not conducive to creating an environment for negotiations," Rice told a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Yet negotiations go on."
Earlier in Jerusalem, after talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Rice said, referring to settlements, "anything that undermines confidence between the parties ought to be avoided".
Palestinians say settlement building denies them land they want for a contiguous state. A U.S.-backed peace "road map" calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and for Palestinians to rein in militants.
Israel has said it plans to keep building in settlement blocs that it wants to keep in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Livni said Israeli settlement activity had been reduced "in the most dramatic way," especially in areas east of the barrier Israel is constructing in the West Bank, a project it terms a security necessity and Palestinians condemn as a land grab.
SETTLEMENT "NOISE"
"The peace process is not, and should not be, affected by any kind of settlement activities," Livni added, cautioning against allowing what she termed "noise" to derail peace negotiations.
Rice has said she still aims to reach a peace accord by January, when President George W. Bush leaves office, but she has played down chances of striking any partial accord in time for the September U.N. General Assembly.
Abbas, in his remarks in Ramallah, also voiced support for "a comprehensive solution".
With tireless work over the coming months, Rice said, "we have a good chance to succeed".
But few analysts believe Rice, who saw Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before meeting Livni, can secure a major breakthrough.
Progress towards a peace deal has been hampered by violence, Israeli settlement expansion and political uncertainty in Israel stemming from a corruption scandal that has forced Olmert to announce plans to step down.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Arshad Mohammed;, editing by Robert Hart)
