A senior Israeli Cabinet minister acknowledged yesterday that there are serious differences between Israel and the US over Jewish settlement expansion.
Housing Minister Tsipi Livni spoke a day after US President George W. Bush affirmed his support for the "road map" peace plan, which calls for a freeze on settlement construction. The issue was raised after Israeli officials last month confirmed plans to build 3,650 homes in the largest West Bank settlement, Maaleh Adumim.
Livni told Israel Army Radio that there is agreement between Israel and the US on continued construction within the built-up areas of the settlements.
"It seems that the debate is more over whether Israel can expand the perimeters of these communities, and certainly from an American viewpoint, as well, Israel can build within them," she said. "Not that this makes it easy for us; let there be no misunderstanding. There apparently will be disputes with the Americans over this."
The planned Maaleh Adumim expansion is especially contentious because it would link the settlement to east Jerusalem, separating Arab neighborhoods of the city from the rest of the West Bank. The Palestinians hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state.
A year ago, after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Bush issued a letter to Israel stating his support for Israel's retention of major Israeli population centers in the West Bank under a final peace deal with the Palestinians.
But the US has steadily opposed expansion of settlements.
"Our position is very clear that the `road map' is important and the `road map' calls for no expansion of the settlements," Bush said ahead of Sharon's visit at his Texas ranch next week.
Last month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israel's plan to expand Maaleh Adumim was "at odds with American policy" and could threaten peace with the Palestinians.
An Israeli defense official recently acknowledged that the expansion plan was liable to be bogged down for years by legal challenges. He also said, without elaborating, that six months ago, the US halted joint work with Israel on demarcation of existing settlements' lines.
Livni said she doesn't expect sparks at the Bush-Sharon meeting over Maaleh Adumim because the US president understands the significance of the Gaza pullout.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS