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Construction in the West Bank settlement of Efrat in August 2004. (AP)
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Last update - 13:34 14/11/2007
Israel to freeze settlement construction ahead of summit
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: U.S. 

Israel will announce a freeze on settlement construction prior to the Annapolis conference, and will also declare its willingness to dismantle illegal West Bank settlement outposts, government sources said Tuesday.

Tuesday night, a group of senior Israeli officials flew to Washington to discuss the components of this freeze with Bush Administration officials. They will also brief the Americans on Israel's security interests in the talks with the Palestinians.

In recent weeks, the United States has been demanding that Israel make significant gestures on settlements and outposts prior to the conference, to compensate for its refusal to discuss the "core issues" of a final-status agreement until after the conference ends. These gestures are meant to make it clear that Israel does not intend to remain in the territories, and understands that its presence there is only temporary.
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According to the Israeli government sources, the Americans asked Israel whether it preferred to announce a settlement freeze or outpost evacuations. "Of the two, a settlement freeze is easier than evacuating the outposts, because this only involves a declaration, not a confrontation with settlers in the field," explained one.

The settlement freeze is also meant to help persuade Arab and Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, to attend the Annapolis conference.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa had put a settlement freeze at the top of the list of gestures that the league was demanding of Israel before the conference.

Domestically, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert intends to present these gestures as a mere reconfirmation of the commitments Israel took upon itself when it accepted the road map peace plan. The first phase of the road map, which was adopted by Ariel Sharon's government in 2003, requires Israel to freeze all settlement activity, "including natural growth," and evacuate all outposts set up after March 2001.

Olmert met Tuesday with leaders of the Yesha Council of settlements for the first time since taking office, and told them that "the first stage of the road map speaks of dismantling outposts and freezing settlements, and that's a document that all Israeli governments, including Likud ministers, have accepted." Sharon, who founded the Kadima Party that Olmert now heads, was a member of Likud when Israel accepted the road map.

Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak all consider it vital to reach an understanding with the Americans on what a settlement freeze entails, which is why the delegation flew to Washington Tuesday night. Olmert would like the large settlement blocs - Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and the settlements around Jerusalem - to be exempted from this freeze, as Israel wants to keep these blocs under any future agreement.

U.S. President George Bush seemingly backed Israel's demand to retain the blocs in his April 2004 letter to Sharon, which stated that "in light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949." Nevertheless, without an explicit agreement with Washington to exempt the blocs from the freeze, "we're afraid that Israel would continue to build in the blocs, or implement existing plans; Peace Now would complain; and we'd look like liars and people who don't keep their promises," explained a government source.

As for the outposts, Israel has repeatedly promised to evacuate them, but has never done so. The delegation comprises Olmert's bureau chief, Yoram Turbowicz, and his political advisor, Shalom Turjeman; Foreign Ministry Director General Aharon Abramowitz; and Major General Ido Nehushtan, head of the Israel Defense Forces' Plans and Policy Directorate.


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      1.   About Damn Time 03:55  |  Slibovitz 14/11/07
      2.   Israel has adopted the strategy of a Jewish mom 04:01  |  Steve 14/11/07
      3.   So what? 04:07  |  Israle has announced 14/11/07
      4.   What makes this announcement special? 04:08  |  Pablo B 14/11/07
      5.   Glaring typo - please fix it! 04:11  |  Omran 14/11/07
      6.   Israel to Advance UNSC 242 and to Oppose Road Map Mischief 04:43  |  Joseph E . 14/11/07
      7.   and what does Israel get in return? NOTHING! good job idiots 04:49  |  amir 14/11/07
      8.   AND OLMERT CALLS IT A "JEWISH STATE"? JUDENRHEIN))) 05:07  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 14/11/07
      9.   Israel To Get Where It Want To Be,Stay There & Intensify The Heat 05:08  |  Joseph E . 14/11/07
      10.   I`ll believe it only when I see it. 05:26  |  Maki 14/11/07
      11.   Put a twist to the Pirate Saying 05:39  |  Nephtaly 14/11/07
      12.   steve from minneapolis what is wrong with you. are 06:23  |  Steve-NYC 14/11/07
      13.   STOP BUILDING IN THE TERRITORIES IN THE NAME OF PEACE 06:30  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 14/11/07
      14.   IRRESPOSIBLE GOVERNMENT 06:42  |  BOB KING THE ZIONIST 14/11/07
      15.   Israeli Standard Operating Procedure 07:46  |  Johnboy 14/11/07
      16.   Israel`s 100th announced settlement freeze 07:55  |  Jason Bandy 14/11/07
      17.   Pardon me! 08:29  |  Zion Watchman 14/11/07
      18.   Which is th eduperpower 08:30  |  Refugee 14/11/07
      19.   Johnboy, Jason, et al ... you expect too much 08:36  |  Theodor 14/11/07
      20.   21 day settlement freeze 08:37  |  Avi 14/11/07
      21.   More appeasement for the Jew haters 08:38  |  SLAVO 14/11/07
      22.   Will the Israeli freezer remain "frozen" forever...... 09:09  |  Swiss (Dino) 14/11/07
      23.   Construction 09:09  |  Happysettler 14/11/07
      24.   Why stop? Are Pals going to "freeze" attacks on civilians? Nope. 09:10  |  Joe Sittizen 14/11/07
      25.   ISRAEL SHOULD DECLARE NEW ELECTIONS AND NOTHING ELSE ! 09:20  |  S.Windlers 14/11/07
      26.   Well, it`s at least a beginning..... 09:23  |  Esther 14/11/07
      27.   Omran #5....hilarious typo !! 09:27  |  Esther 14/11/07
      28.   Johnboy #15 09:30  |  TonyL 14/11/07
      29.   This is indeed the first genuine Israeli step to peace 10:11  |  Ivar 14/11/07
      30.   We Will Keep Building Here In OUR Land 10:14  |  Yishai Kohen 14/11/07
      31.   There is something to stereotypes after all 10:20  |  Natallie Durson 14/11/07
      32.   FREEZE AFTER FREEZ AFTER FREEZE... 10:21  |  indrajaya 14/11/07
      33.   Empty, cynical, goodwill-free grandstanding by the Israelis 10:21  |  Clickfool 14/11/07
      34.   JIOHNBOY because your clowns have happily broken their agreements 10:22  |  PETER S.M. 14/11/07
      35.   Rice demands Israel make gesture on settlements 10:27  |  peacenik 14/11/07
      36.   crap this means nothing 10:27  |  yirmiyahu 14/11/07
      37.   PABLO Each side is independently obligated,regardless? 10:27  |  PETER S .M. 14/11/07
      38.   Freudian slip from Nephtaly # 11 10:28  |  Clickfool 14/11/07
      39.   STEVE mixed metaphors are some kind of argument? 10:29  |  PETER S.M. 14/11/07
      40.   freezing settlements really means "get out" 10:30  |  yirmiyahu 14/11/07
      41.   senior palestinian leaders tell israel 10:32  |  moshe moshe 14/11/07
      42.   Maki 10:33  |  Albert Seligman 14/11/07
      43.   Joseph E. 10:41  |  Mordecai 14/11/07
      44.   Palestinians have no intention of stopping violence 10:43  |  Sam 14/11/07
      45.   Indeed, the "settlement-problem" has become a "world-problem".... 10:45  |  Swiss (Dino) 14/11/07
      46.   Natallie #31 = Evil bigotry... 11:02  |  Esther 14/11/07
      47.   Swiss Dino 11:04  |  Albert Seligman 14/11/07
      48.   Israeli is liar, murderer and thief 11:17  |  John 14/11/07
      49.   # 47 Albert Seligman 11:20  |  Swiss (Dino) 14/11/07
      50.   #45 is dinos world in dr whos police box? 11:22  |  victor hardman 14/11/07
      51.   Yishai Kohen 11:22  |  Axel 14/11/07
      52.   AP: Freeze wont include settlement "blocs" 11:24  |  ted 14/11/07
      53.   Do NOT deJudize Judea Sumeria... 11:30  |  Jeff 14/11/07
      54.   NOT A FREEZE... BUT A PERMANENT CESSATION OF SETTLEMENT BUILDING 11:36  |  Eric 14/11/07
      55.   ALL SETTLEMENTS AFTER 1967 MUST BE DISMANTLED... ALL 11:37  |  TrippleJump 14/11/07
      56.   Esther #46 and selective morality 11:38  |  Natallie Durson 14/11/07
      57.   Enough time-buying: genuine peace = dismantle all settlements 11:40  |  Brian 14/11/07
      58.   Clickfool and the lie of "illegal squats" 11:40  |  Joe Sittizen 14/11/07
      59.   john"israel is deceitful and a liar" 11:47  |  meir 14/11/07
      60.   # 50 "victor hardman" alias "Harris-Paul"..... 11:49  |  Swiss (Dino) 14/11/07
      61.   axel "whistling in the dark" 11:50  |  verdun 14/11/07
      62.   So settlement construction will be frozen for a few weeks 11:53  |  www.kibush.co.il 14/11/07
      63.   Axel 11:53  |  Yishai Kohen 14/11/07
      64.   Dino # 45 12:07  |  ChanahS 14/11/07
      65.   Wow! 12:07  |  Murray 14/11/07
      66.   #56, Durson, don`t be shy 12:09  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/11/07
      67.   moshiach/kohen&friends,fear not at all 12:11  |  trust me 14/11/07
      68.   # 63 yishai 12:16  |  Axel 14/11/07
      69.   Freeze Now, Expand Later 12:20  |  El-Birawi 14/11/07
      70.   A freeze is not enough 12:21  |  The Arab Hammer 14/11/07
      71.   Capitulation even before the great slaughter at Annapolis 12:23  |  Jonathan S 14/11/07
      72.   some problems with this ploy 12:23  |  Raymond Deane 14/11/07
      73.   Rice wants to uproot 100,000 Jews from the land of Israel 12:24  |  Jonathan S 14/11/07
      74.   Esther the Bigot calls others bigots-Funny 12:26  |  Gabe1 14/11/07
      75.   # 64 Chanah, 2 days ago, I was willing to grant you the excuse... 12:29  |  Swiss (Dino) 14/11/07
      76.   # 68 Axel 12:48  |  Yishai Kohen 14/11/07
      77.   swiss dino "the settlement problem has become a world problem." 12:49  |  toblerone 14/11/07
      78.   What does it mean: "willingness to dismantle outposts"? 12:51  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 14/11/07
      79.