Netanyahu may stop building in West Bank

Sri Lankan News.Net
Monday 23rd November, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is hoping to relaunch stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by convincing his cabinet to freeze West Bank settlement construction for ten months.

Israeli officials in Jerusalem have said the move would not halt construction in East Jerusalem but would commit to some limitations and restrictions on settlement building.

The Palestinian Authority, which has refused to engage in peace talks until Israel stops its building push, has not yet responded, but it is believed the Obama administration has been updated on the plans.

The United States has been demanding a settlement freeze for over twelve months.

But the US may not agree to the Israeli position on the exclusion from the freeze of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians had hoped to make the capital of a future state

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