Israeli occupation government rejects French demands to stop illegal settlement construction on Palestinian lands

Israel rejects French demands over settlement construction

Published yesterday (updated) 26/07/2009 12:48 [Ma'anImages] Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies -

Following a grilling by the French Foreign Ministry Israel reiterated its refusal to halt illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian areas and reopen border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

"A solution to the settlements can only be reached through a comprehensive and final peace agreement," AFP quoted the Israeli occupation government foreign ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor as saying on Friday.

Palmor urged France to press the Palestinian Authority into resuming direct peace talks, despite the PA’s position following Israel’s war on Gaza that no talks would be held until the country showed serious intentions for peace. This demand was articulated in the demand for a halt to settlement building, seen by many as one of the central obstacles to the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

Addressing the issue of Gaza crossings Palmor blamed the lack of a ceasefire deal with the de facto Hamas government in the Strip, as well as the continued detention of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israel's Ambassador to Paris Daniel Shek was summoned Tuesday and met the ministry's political director on Thursday, Ministry Spokesman Eric Chevallier confirmed.

The spokesman said "an immediate freeze in settlements, including in East Jerusalem, is indispensable for preserving the two-state solution and allowing the resumption of negotiations."

Israel's ambassador in Washington, Michael Oren, was similarly summoned to the US State Department at the end of last week and was told to stop a project to build a settlement on the site of a historic pre-Israel hotel.

Israel has rejected growing international calls to halt illegal settlement construction on Palestinian lands.

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