Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem to continue

GAZA CITY: The United States has dropped a key demand that Israel freeze settlement construction in East Jerusalem, a report said on Thursday.

The Israeli daily, Haaretz, citing Israeli officials and Western diplomats said US envoy George Mitchell capitulated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal during their meeting in London on Wednesday to halt settlement construction. The officials said the US will not endorse new construction there, but would not demand Jerusalem publicly announce a freeze.

According to the daily, Netanyahu offered Mitchell a nine-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank excluding Jerusalem. In addition, Netanyahu wants 2,500 housing units on which construction has already started to be excluded from the moratorium. He also wants the construction of schools and other structures in the settlements to go ahead as planned.

The newspaper said Israel is demanding that the Palestinian Authority and Arab states make concessions in exchange for a freeze on settlements. If these measures are not taken, the report says, Israel wants guarantees that the US will not oppose an end to the freeze and further settlement construction.