Shaath criticizes Ashton’s failure to call for halt to settlements

Fatah Central Committee member, Nabil Shaath, Tuesday criticized European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s failure to call on Israel to stop settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He told Voice of Palestine radio that Ashton did not address the only problem that hinders bilateral negotiations, which is Israel's growing intransigence after approving the construction of 1100 new housing units in a settlement near East Jerusalem. “The Palestinian Authority will resume negotiations if Israel freezes settlement activities and the international community shows willingness to stand up to the Israeli occupation,” he said. He said that Ashton is not willing to address the setlement activities issue and Palestinian Authority is neither ready to change its position particularly after its successes in gaining support in the international arena. Ashton had said that the international Quartet – the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations -- is going to meet with the Palestinian and Israeli sides in order to find a way to resume negotiations. Shaath also criticized attempts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to legalize settlement outposts in the West Bank. He said it was not Israel’s right, as an occupying power, to legalize the settlements. The Palestinians, as the rest of the world, consider all Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal under international law.