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West Bank settlement.
 Emile Salman
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Last update - 08:58 05/07/2009
Israel seeks Arab response for settlement building freeze
By Barak Ravid
Tags: Israel News, Barack Obama 

The Barack Obama administration is continuing its efforts to draft a comprehensive agreement for freezing West Bank settlement construction and normalizing relations between Israel and the Arab states.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials told U.S. envoy George Mitchell in recent weeks that Jerusalem is willing to temporarily freeze settlement construction, but that the move would be conditioned on substantive steps from the Arab side, as well as guarantees from the United States.

Yesterday Obama sent a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco expressing his hope and expectation the Arab states will take steps to end Israel's "isolation" in the Middle East, and that he hopes "Morocco will be a leader in bridging gaps between Israel and the Arab world."
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Israeli officials said yesterday they believe the United States is seeking to encourage Morocco and the Persian Gulf states to allow Israel to open diplomatic offices in their territory, and to send their own diplomatic delegations to Israel.

In his meeting with Mitchell, Barak encouraged the envoy to engage in "shuttle diplomacy" between Jerusalem and a number of Arab capitals to draft a regional peace plan. Another proposal that emerged in the talks was the convening of an international peace summit in the coming months on a "comprehensive regional agreement" that would lay out the steps ahead for both the Israeli and Arab sides.

Israeli officials said the thrust of the message delivered to Mitchell was "the length and breadth of the temporarily building freeze will be in proportion to the scope of the renewal of peace talks, and signals received from the Arab states."

Tomorrow Barak and Mitchell will meet again in London to discuss solutions to the settlement issue and steps to be taken by Arab states in return. Barak will be joined by Yitzhak Molcho, a diplomatic adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At the center of the meeting will be the fate of some 2,500 housing units currently being built in West Bank settlements. Israel is prepared to announce a temporary construction freeze of several months, but is seeking U.S. acquiescence to complete building projects that have already begun.

The talks are aimed at reaching an agreement on the majority of issues that remain points of conflict between Washington and Jerusalem, and to reach final understandings ahead of Netanyahu's meeting with Mitchell in Jerusalem in two weeks.
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  1.   Israel had diplomatic missions in Morocco&Qatar,paying again 02:35  |  Absolute Sweden 05/07/09
  2.   Israel wants response to what it hasn`t agreed to 03:00  |  WHG 05/07/09
  3.   So Israel Wants Sweeties For Stealing Slightly Less? 03:57  |  gearoid 05/07/09
  4.   Freezing setlement is not a favor, its Palestinain right! 04:43  |  Moise 05/07/09
  5.   Sooooo, if Israel agrees to a "temporary freeze"... 05:07  |  Johnboy 05/07/09
  6.   smart move from israel 07:13  |  paulo2005 05/07/09
  7.   israel looking for the day" hell froze over" 09:42  |  v hardman 05/07/09
  8.   Freezing is only a temporary measure... 10:12  |  Esther 05/07/09
  9.   Israel is offering a doubtful temporary status quo... 10:18  |  Esther 05/07/09
  10.   What settlement freeze? 10:21  |  Tzfonit 05/07/09
  11.   paulo.... smart? 10:37  |  ravi 05/07/09
  12.   Hallucinations 11:05  |  Peter 05/07/09
  13.   Arabs will trust a freeze to be permanent??? I wouldn`t! 11:13  |  Hannah 05/07/09
  14.   #8 hannah should ask her sisters to tell her about 12:30  |  v hardman 05/07/09
  15.   Could not trust them then--cannot trust them now. 13:47  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  16.   #10 Paul Harris aka vicky hardhead--what rights 13:56  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  17.   So the freeze is temporary 14:18  |  Jackie 05/07/09
  18.   who cares 14:19  |  Tarzan 05/07/09
  19.   So if it`s a TEMPORARY freeze then obviously.... 14:52  |  Johnboy 05/07/09
  20.   Redraw behind the Green Line, then absolutly 15:39  |  Cassandra White 05/07/09
  21.   #14 Jackie it seems logical if you seek peace 15:52  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  22.   #15 labarse of arabia and an inability to know what constitues a 16:41  |  v hardman 05/07/09
  23.   Israel Loses Nothing if it Freezes Settlement 23:15  |  ARTH 05/07/09
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