All the day they trouble mine affairs; all their thoughts are against me for evil. (Psalms 56:6)
United States National Security Adviser Susan Rice blamed the growing discord between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which has all but ended the latest round of peace negotiations brokered by the US, on Israeli settlement building on Thursday, according to The Times of Israel.
“We have seen increased tensions on the ground. Some of this is a result of recent settlement announcements. So let me reiterate: The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,” The former US ambassador to the United Nations and current high-ranking White House adviser told the Middle East Institute.
However, she said the US was still committed to pushing forward with peace talks and reiterated the US position that a “negotiated solution was the only path to peace.”
Her charges came one day after Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat resigned from the talks citing a lack of Israeli integrity, as ostensibly demonstrated by continued building activity in Judea and Samaria.
Israel’s Housing Ministry had announced on Tuesday that it had issued tenders for some 20,000 new Jewish homes to be built in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, a move that came under heavy criticism by both the PA and the US. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon caved to the international pressure, ordering a freeze of the newly announced plans.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Rice insisted that US opposition to settlement activity was “not new” and had been US policy for decades, Rice said, “The only way to resolve these kinds of critical issues is at the negotiating table.”
She praised Netanyahu and Abbas for some “important steps” to spur the peace process, but acknowledged, “It won’t be easy.”
Netanyahu has accused the Palestinians of creating “artificial crises” over the settlement issue and has said that most of Israel’s building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is in areas it intends to keep in any future peace deal.
