WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- The Bush administration sought clarification from Israel about 3,500 new homes in the largest Jewish settlement and was told no decision had been made on the issue, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
The answers were delivered to Elliot Abrams, the deputy national security adviser, and David Welch, assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Wednesday, a day before the two met with top Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Ahmed Queria, in Ramallah, deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. The issue of settlements was discussed.
Earlier this week, Israel said it had approved 3,500 new housing units for the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim. The plans were approved in January by Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. The proposed expansion would, according to critics, cut off residents of East Jerusalem from the West Bank. The Palestinians claim the West Bank in its entirety and also want a united Jerusalem as a capital of a future state.
The "roadmap" to peace in the region does not allow any settlement activity in the occupied territories lest their construction predetermine final-status issues, including the size of a viable Palestinian state. This "roadmap" put forward by the Quartet -- European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- calls for mutual confidence-building measures between Israel and the Palestinians, culminating in an independent Palestinian state and peace and security for Israel.
Talks between the two sides resumed last year following the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom Israel and the United States regarded as an obstacle to peace and refused to negotiate with. Following elections which saw the rise of new President Mahmoud Abbas, the "roadmap" saw new beginnings and both sides have taken a number of key steps to reduce tensions.
Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, has managed to persuade Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas, which are on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations, to agree to a cease-fire against Israel while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced a plan, due to be implemented in the summer, of withdrawing from almost all of the Gaza Strip, home to approximately 2 million Palestinians. Israel has also begun to hand over security in major West Bank towns such as Tulkarem to the Palestinian Authority.
The news of the 3,500 settlement units, first reported Monday by the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, was criticized by Palestinian officials who raised it with Abrams and Welch Thursday.
"They've had, I think, a good, full discussion of all the issues that are before us as together we try to move toward peace, we try to move toward a fulfillment of the president's vision of two states living side by side; talked about reform; talked about the need for security; talked about Gaza withdrawal; talked about support for the economic/social needs of the Palestinian people," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. "They did talk about settlement activity, obviously."
Israeli media quoted Queria as telling the two officials: "The United States knows the details, and the dangers of such plans for the 'roadmap' and President Bush's vision of the peace process."
Washington had been initially reluctant to comment on the new units, saying merely its policy on settlement activity, which it is against, was well-known. Abrams and Welch took up the issue with Israeli officials, however.
"Assistant Secretary Welch and Deputy National Security Adviser Abrams raised the issue with Israeli officials during the visit," Ereli said. "They did ask for additional information. We've been told that no final decisions have been made."
He said Washington expected U.S. concerns that any unilateral action could prejudice the rights of the Palestinians or the outcome of final status negotiations to be taken seriously.
