‘Peace Talks’: US power centers back Israel settlements

Israel intelligence minister says settlement building in the occupied West Bank must continue in a “coordinated manner.”

Nov 13, 2013 3:3PM

On Wednesday, Yuval Steinitz said Tel Aviv should continue the construction activities in “an intelligent and coordinated way.”

Steinitz made the comments one day after Tel Aviv announced plans for the construction of some 24,000 new settler units in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The plans drew international condemnation, including from Israel’s longtime ally, the United States.

the criticism prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider the decision, noting that at a time when Tel Aviv is trying to persuade the West and Russia to take its interests into consideration, Israel must be coordinated in its actions.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts made to establish peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/13/334532/settlement-construction-must-continue/

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All centers of power in US lined up behind Israel: Norr

Nov 13, 2013 8:6AM

Press TV has conducted an interview with Henry Norr, with the Palestine Solidarity Movement, in Berkeley about the illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/13/334475/all-us-centers-of-power-back-israel/

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is cancelling plans to build thousands of new illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank.

Nov 13, 2013 1:33AM

Netanyahu made the announcement late on Tuesday, hours after acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas threatened to end the so-called peace talks with Israel if it would go ahead with its illegal settlement expansion plans in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“If Israel does not go back on its latest construction plans for the settlements, that will spell a formal declaration of the end of the peace process,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat quoted Abbas as saying on Tuesday.

Erekat added that Abbas has passed on his ultimatum to the Arab League and the Middle East Quartet — the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States.

Earlier in the day, anti-settlement group Peace Now revealed that Israel’s Housing Ministry has planned to build a “record” 20,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/13/334436/israel-cancels-new-settlement-plans/

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US power centers back Israel settlements: Analyst

Nov 13, 2013 3:20PM

All influential bodies in the United States are supporting the continuation of illegal Jewish settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian lands, an analyst tells Press TV in an interview.

“All the centers of power in the United States are lined up behind Israel no matter what it does,” Henry Norr said on Wednesday.

“The power of the pro-Israel forces in this country, the so-called Israel lobby, the power of the pro-Israel American media and the US Congress,” he added.

Norr noted that it would be an “illusion” to think that the US “is somehow a disinterested broker, a neutral party to bring the two sides together.”

“It’s the American government and the Israeli government lined up together against the poor powerless Palestinians. That’s the way it’ been since before the Oslo agreement and more so today,” he stated.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/13/334533/us-power-centers-back-israel-settlements/