Israel must extend settlement moratorium: Italy FM
AFP
RIYADH- Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Saturday urged Israel to reinstate a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank until a final peace deal is reached with the Palestinians.
Europe has to make a greater effort to convince the Jewish state "that it is in the best interest of Israel to reach a peace deal," he told reporters on a visit to the Saudi capital.
That means Israel needs to extend the moratorium on settlement building in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem that expired at the end of September, halting three-week-old peace talks, Frattini said.
"An 'extension' meaning until a final agreement ... is reached," he said.
Palestinian negotiators called off the talks when the moratorium expired, saying they cannot negotiate for a two-state peace deal while Israel is continually building Jewish homes on lands the Palestinians hope to reclaim.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said the Arab League, which on October 8 gave Washington one month to get the talks restarted, would take the Palestinian case to the UN Security Council if nothing happens.
"The intent is to go to the United Nations" to seek peace for the Palestinians, the veteran Saudi diplomat said.
A committee of Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Libya set the one-month deadline but they were not specific on what action they would take if talks did not resume.
They were to meet again after the 30-day period to decide on the next step.
On Friday, a senior Palestinian official said the next committee meeting on the stalled US-brokered direct peace talks was likely to be delayed until the end of November.
The committee will meet "after the end of the one-month period and, above all, after the American side has informed us what it reached with Israel," Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
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"An 'extension' meaning until a final agreement ... is reached," he said.
Palestinian negotiators called off the talks when the moratorium expired, saying they cannot negotiate for a two-state peace deal while Israel is continually building Jewish homes on lands the Palestinians hope to reclaim.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said the Arab League, which on October 8 gave Washington one month to get the talks restarted, would take the Palestinian case to the UN Security Council if nothing happens.
"The intent is to go to the United Nations" to seek peace for the Palestinians, the veteran Saudi diplomat said.
A committee of Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Libya set the one-month deadline but they were not specific on what action they would take if talks did not resume.
They were to meet again after the 30-day period to decide on the next step.
On Friday, a senior Palestinian official said the next committee meeting on the stalled US-brokered direct peace talks was likely to be delayed until the end of November.
The committee will meet "after the end of the one-month period and, above all, after the American side has informed us what it reached with Israel," Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
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