Russia calls on Israel to halt settlements

Russia has called on Israel to halt the building of settlements on Palestinian territories and not to hamper the resumption of the Middle East peace talks. In a statement issued today the Israeli foreign ministry said information about the Israeli interior ministry's decision to approve the construction of 900 new housing units in Har Homa (Jabal Abu Ghneim) settlement in east Jerusalem, has caused much concern to Moscow. The statement added that also causing concern were the new measures taken by Israel to lay hands on the Palestinian territories coincided with the efforts made by the International Quartet and the international community to resume the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue. The statement underlined the need for Israel''s complete halt of settlement building in the Palestinian territories so that possibilities of the return to the negotiating table and restart of the Middle East peace process according to the recognized basis, would not be undermined. The statement stressed that the Russian Foreign reiterated that Moscow''s position on this issue is the "condemnation of Israeli settlement activity on the occupied Palestinian territories, which Moscow sees as an attempt to impose new realities on the ground and pre-empt the outcome of negotiations on the Palestinian-Israeli final status."