U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says an Israeli plan to expand
settlement activity in disputed areas of East Jerusalem could slow
progress toward a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. “At a time when we need to build confidence between the
parties, the continued building and the settlement activity has the
potential to harm the negotiations going forward,” Dr. Rice said in a
June 15th appearance with Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in
Jerusalem.
Israel announced plans to build
one-thousand-three-hundred new homes for Jewish settlers in territory
Palestinians claim for the future capital. Secretary of State Rice says
there is great need for continued progress to define the borders of the
future Palestinian state, one of several goals of an intensive
U.S.-supported peace effort launched at the November 2007 Annapolis
Conference. Following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in
Ramallah, Dr. Rice said, “It’s important to have an atmosphere of
confidence and trust. The United States believes that the [settlement]
actions and the announcements that are taking place are indeed having a
negative effect on the atmosphere for negotiation.”
Dr. Rice
said, the new construction should not be allowed to shape future
Israeli-Palestinian borders, which remain under negotiation. “The
United States will not let these activities have any effect on final
status negotiations, including final borders,” she said.
Settlement
expansion also conflicts with the road map – a series of peace-building
measures proposed by President George Bush in 2002 and subsequently
developed by the diplomatic Quartet of the European Union, the United
Nations, Russia, and the United States. Since the Annapolis conference,
U.S. Air Force General William Fraser has been tasked to work with
Palestinians and Israelis to oversee their implementation of the road
map.
“Israel will benefit from the establishment of a peaceful
and democratic Palestinian state,” said Secretary of State Rice, “and
so it is in Israel’s interest to do everything that it can to promote
an atmosphere of confidence.”
