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Last update - 22:31 25/09/2008
UN to hold open debate on West Bank settlement expansion
By News Agencies
Tags: Palestinians, UN, Israel news

The UN Security Council announced on Thursday that it has agreed to hold a high-level open debate Friday on Israeli settlement building in disputed territory.

Agreement came Thursday in closed-door consultations of the council, said
Libyan UN delegate Mahmoud Gebreel.
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Saudi Arabia had requested the meeting at the ministerial level on behalf of the Arab League. Prime ministers, foreign ministers and other world leaders and senior diplomats are currently in New York attending the annual UN General Assembly.

Public speeches are expected from Saudi Arabia and the Arab League, and probably Israel speaking in response, Gebreel and several other diplomats said as they left the private consultation. No council resolution on the matter is expected.

Continued Israeli settlement construction and Israeli security concerns have clouded Middle East peace negotiations, and both Palestinians and Israelis have expressed doubt about achieving U.S. President George W. Bush's declared goal of finalizing a peace accord by the end of the year.

UN Mideast envoy Robert Serry warned last week that peace talks were at a crossroads after 10 months and that both sides must step up efforts to reach their goal. The sides remain at odds over key issues like the final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the competing claims to Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees.

A U.S.-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November drew 44 nations, including Israel's neighboring Arab states, whose support is considered vital to any peace agreement. The gathering was aimed at pushing forward negotiations under the so-called road map for peace plan.

Under the first phase of the plan, Israel was to freeze all settlement construction and the Palestinians were to crack down on militant groups. But each side has accused the other of shirking its responsibilities.

The plan's sponsors, the Quartet of Mideast mediators - the U.S., the European Union, Russia and the U.N. - are scheduled to meet Friday on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting.

Palestinian negotiators have said Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank is undermining U.S.-sponsored efforts to achieve a peace accord.

Israel has said it plans to keep building in large settlement blocs it intends to keep under any future peace deal. Israeli officials say, meanwhile, the Palestinians have failed to meet their obligation to rein in militants.

According to a recent report by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, Israeli authorities and settlers have seized large tracts of land in the West Bank for security zones around Jewish settlements beyond an Israeli-built barrier.

The barrier is deemed illegal by the World Court because it is being built in part on occupied territory, but Israel says it is necessary to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out.

The Palestinians condemned the project as a landgrab and say settlement expansion could deny them a viable and contiguous state alongside Israel.

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      1.   Convened to attack Israel 03:02  |  Arie 25/09/08
      2.   NO to Arab interference 03:20  |  Brod 25/09/08
      3.   NO to Arab interference 03:23  |  Brod 25/09/08
      4.   Brod 06:04  |  Phil 25/09/08
      5.   give me a break already 06:19  |  vik 25/09/08
      6.   TO Arie #1 06:21  |  Steve Beikirch 25/09/08
      7.   settelments are ILLEGAL 06:27  |  antoine 25/09/08
      8.   #5 VIK 07:00  |  Courcey 25/09/08
      9.   courcey 07:15  |  vik 25/09/08
      10.   Arie, Vik, Brod - It Beats Bullets 07:19  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/08
      11.   Jewish Communities in Eastern Israel are lawful 07:47  |  Baruch Gold 25/09/08
      12.   antoine and my post asking him to prove illegallity 08:35  |  victor hardman 25/09/08
      13.   Why not have a UN building permanently in place to discuss Israel 09:36  |  x-ray 25/09/08
      14.   Killing people in Darfur is illegal, when will the UN recognise i 09:38  |  x-ray 25/09/08
      15.   WHAT have settlements got to do with the Hamas rejection charter? 10:00  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
      16.   only racists support the terrorist occupation of Palestinian land 10:08  |  anti-racist 25/09/08
      17.   Israeli settlers go back home to Europe and USA 10:09  |  anti-racist 25/09/08
      18.   #11 I believe I see a flaw in your argument, Baruch Gold 10:20  |  Johnboy 25/09/08
      19.   This is the central issue of global peace or WWIII 10:56  |  Ivar 25/09/08
      20.   ANTI RACIST Only racists ignore the racist filth in the Pal media 11:06  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
      21.   JOHNBOY Does UNSCR 242 say it ends at the Green line? 11:26  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
      22.   18 johnboy at the 4 ale bar again 11:30  |  victor hardman 25/09/08
      23.   #21 ISRAEL says it ends at the Green Line, PETER SM 13:13  |  Johnboy 25/09/08
      24.   #19 does ivar actually work in haaretz offices called estonia ? 13:27  |  v.hardman 25/09/08
      25.   #20 Hey Peter SM 23:05  |  ballistic 25/09/08
      26.   The dream of `greater Israel` is dead. 23:26  |  Maureen Ann 25/09/08
      27.   Ivar #19 There is no global peace 00:08  |  Brod 26/09/08
      28.   # 21 petersm 00:19  |  Axel 26/09/08
      29.   arie 1 00:31  |  potobac 26/09/08
      30.   Notice the disparity in the claims 01:25  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
      31.   Since we can`t do anything about Sudan... 01:26  |  Polybios 26/09/08
      32.   #23 videogameboy does it again 01:47  |  peter 26/09/08
      33.   #22 2nd try to respond to VictorPaul 02:14  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
      34.   Baruch 11 02:59  |  Anthony 26/09/08
      35.   #17, like the song says..... 02:59  |  Heinz 26/09/08
      36.   To Peter re Johnboy 03:13  |  Free Gilad Shalit 26/09/08
      37.   Johnboy - drafting of 242 Learn something 03:20  |  Free Gilad Shalit 26/09/08
      38.   Johnboy - continued 03:34  |  Free Gilad Shalit 26/09/08
      39.   UN? Open? 04:10  |  FulghumInk 26/09/08
      40.   #26 Such a lovely straw man, peter 06:08  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
      41.   #26 Here, peter, a quick question. 06:14  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
      42.   fulghumink 06:20  |  potobac 26/09/08
      43.   Hello, Everybody!! 06:31  |  US CITIZEN 26/09/08
      44.   johnboy`s SMOKESCREEN on "OCCUPIED terrority" 06:46  |  CK Tan 26/09/08
      45.   #41-videogameboy`s 3-legged chair 07:31  |  peter 26/09/08
      46.   CK Tan, nonsense as usual... 08:03  |  BBSNews 26/09/08
      47.   #45 peter starts to bluster.... 08:45  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
      48.   #47, JOHNBOY, please read johnboy 14:12  |  VIPER 26/09/08
      49.   #18 johnboy settlements 14:09  |  duncan 28/09/08
      50.   #30 johnboy roadmap 14:22  |  duncan 28/09/08
      51.   #23 johnboy west bank 14:27  |  duncan 28/09/08
      52.   #349 These are nonsense arguments from you, duncan 04:03  |  Johnboy 29/09/08
      53.   #50 Oh, yes, Israel did indeed agree, duncan 04:13  |  Johnboy 29/09/08
      54.   #51 Another nonsensical argument, duncan 04:23  |  Johnboy 29/09/08
      55.   All of Israel is smaller than New Jersey, west bank is too hot to 16:16  |  straight 2de point 29/09/08
      56.   Duncan # 49/51 It is only disputed at gunpoint 22:54  |  American in NY 29/09/08
      57.   #56 Yes, exactly so, American 01:35  |  Johnboy 30/09/08
      58.   Eric 20:48  |  American in NY 30/09/08
      59.   the battlefield 12:40  |  mitch 01/10/08
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