AS ISRAELI settlers in the northern West Bank yesterday poured cement for new housing units, Israeli and Palestinian leaders attempted to defuse the crisis caused by Israel’s refusal to extend beyond midnight a partial freeze on fresh construction.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on settlers to exercise “restraint and responsibility” and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared he would not immediately pull out of negotiations.
He said he would decide his course of action after meeting Arab foreign ministers on October 4th and consulting the policymaking bodies of Fatah, his political base, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the body conducting negotiations with Israel.
While such consultations may buy time for the Obama administration to find an acceptable compromise, a burst of Israeli construction on land Palestinians demand for their state could force Mr Abbas to withdraw from talks resumed this month.
On Saturday, during his UN General Assembly address, he said Mr Netanyahu had to choose between settlements and negotiations. Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa promptly endorsed Mr Abbas’ stand.
He has repeatedly threatened to bolt the short-lived talks if settlement construction resumed. Aware that the settlement issue has eroded Mr Abbas’ credibility with Palestinians, US president Barack Obama, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and various European leaders have urged Mr Netanyahu to extend the freeze for three months until the border between Israel and a future Palestinian state is delineated. Once this is done, Israel would be free to build anywhere on its side of the line.
Although Mr Abbas may receive a green light from Arab League ministers eager to see the negotiations continue, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has condemned the talks while nine out of 10 PLO member factions have expressed opposition. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine suspended its membership in the PLO executive committee. Other factions could follow suit, depriving the PLO of representivity.
Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib told The Irish Timeshe believed the US "will find a way to convince the Israelis to continue with the freeze. America will not allow Netanyahu to ignore the [international] consensus... The worst case scenario is if America turns to the Palestinians and Arabs and asks them to ignore the resumption of construction. If it puts pressure on the weaker [Palestinian] party, the positions of Abbas and [Prime Minister Salam] Fayyad – who are already weak – will be weakened. Abbas, in particular, will find it difficult to backtrack. He has been repeating [his threat to withdraw] every day he has been in the US."