NEW YORK – The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators will next Tuesday call on Israel to extend its settlement moratorium, saying the freeze has had a positive impact as the two sides seek a peace deal within the next year, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.
“The Quartet noted that the commendable Israeli settlement moratorium instituted last November has had a positive impact, and urged its continuation,” said the statement due to be issued by the Quartet, which comprises the US, EU, United Nations and Russia.
The statement, to be issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, increases pressure on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a 10-month settlement freeze due to expire at the end of this month. US president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton have already urged Mr Netanyahu to extend the moratorium on new settlement activity on land in the West Bank captured in the 1967 war.
The Palestinians have said they would drop out of the peace talks, launched just this month with Mr Obama’s backing, unless the freeze continued.
Mr Netanyahu has been reluctant to take that step, which could affect his ruling coalition, dominated by pro-settler parties.
The draft statement repeated the group’s backing for the peace talks and reaffirmed its hopes for a deal within one year that would see a viable Palestinian state emerge. It urged both sides to refrain from “provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric”, and called on Israel to further ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – a step which the World Bank says will be important for the economic viability of a future Palestinian state.
It stressed the importance of parallel peace deals between Israel, Syria and Lebanon, and called on Arab states “to support Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and progress on the other tracks by taking bolder steps to foster positive relations throughout the region and to combat violence and extremism”. The statement also condemned continued violence against both sides, particularly an attack in the occupied West Bank which killed four Israelis on August 31st and was claimed by Hamas, which has rejected the current peace negotiations.
It also repeated calls on Arab states to step up financial support for the Palestinian Authority, which needs much more help as it seeks to take on more of the attributes of full statehood in advance of a possible peace deal. – (Reuters)