Netanyahu to Meet US Envoy in Europe on Settlements
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu flew to London today, where he will meet PresidentBarack Obama’s Mideast envoy in an effort to resolve differencesover a U.S. demand for a freeze on settlement building.
Netanyahu will hold talks with George Mitchell on Wednesdayand British Prime Minister Gordon Brown tomorrow. He willmeet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday.
“The prime minister will make clear that in the peaceprocess Israel will not accept any restrictions on itssovereignty over Jerusalem,” Nir Hefez, a spokesman forNetanyahu, told reporters on the plane before take-off. “Normallife for residents of the West Bank must be ensured alongsidethe start of negotiations that are expected to take place withintwo months.”
Mitchell has been shuttling across the Middle East to tryand win an Israeli settlement freeze and Arab agreement to takesteps toward recognizing Israel, as precursors to renewingIsraeli-Palestinian peace talks. Obama told Egyptian PresidentHosni Mubarak on Aug. 18 that he hopes “there will be a finalblueprint” for Israeli-Palestinian peace declared in September,Mubarak’s spokesman Soliman Awaad said.
In his meetings with Mitchell, Hefez said the primeminister “expects certain progress but there are noexpectations for a breakthrough.”
Confidence Building
Some confidence-building measures that the U.S. has askedArab states to consider in return for an Israeli settlementfreeze include opening Israeli trade offices in their capitalsand allowing Israeli planes to fly over their territories.
Arab gestures such as opening trade offices will not “makethe difference” for the Israeli public, said Shlomo Brom, headof the program on Israel-Palestinian relations at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies. Still, Brom saidhe believed that Israel and the U.S. could reach a compromise onsettlements that would allow peace negotiations to resume.
Obama has been pushing Israel to halt construction in theWest Bank and east Jerusalem, sought by the Palestinians asthe capital of a future state. The area, captured by Israel fromJordan in the 1967 Middle East War, was later annexed by theIsraeli government. The move was never internationallyrecognized.
Netanyahu has said he will limit building to that which isnecessary to meet growing population needs in existing West Bankcommunities. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hasmade the resumption of peace negotiations contingent on acomplete halt to settlement building.
‘Maximum Pressure’
The Israeli leader will also use his visit to London andBerlin to lobby for an increased international commitment tohalting Iran’s nuclear program. Hefez said that Netanyahu wouldimpress on Brown and Merkel “the need for maximum pressure onIran to stop its plans and efforts to develop nuclear weapons.”
Obama has said the Iranian government must respond by lateSeptember to his invitation for talks on its nuclear program.
The meeting with Merkel will include discussions on“leakage” of the sanctions out of Germany, said GeraldSteinberg, a political scientist at Bar Ilan University near TelAviv.
“Economically, Germany has the greatest amount of tradewith Iran among all European countries,” Steinberg said. “Theyare not doing nearly enough.”
Sanctions
Germany is ready to tighten sanctions against Iran if thecountry’s government doesn’t signal soon that it’s willing tocompromise on the issue of nuclear enrichment, Spiegel reportedon Aug. 15.
Iran denies allegations by the U.S. and Israel that itseeks an atomic weapon or the means to build one and insiststhat its nuclear program is intended to generate electricity.
Europe is Israel’s chief foreign trade partner, with avolume of $40 billion in 2008, according to government figures.Exports to Europe made up 32 percent of a total of $3.7 billionin exports in May, the Central Bureau of Statistics said June 18.
To contact the reporters on this story:Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: August 24, 2009 08:19 EDTSource: Bloomberg
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