Jul. 21, 2009
jerusalem post staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Intensifying the bitter diplomatic dispute with the Obama administration over the issue of a settlement freeze, Intelligence Affairs Minister Dan Meridor (Likud) insisted on Tuesday that Israel and the United States had a clear agreement dating back six years permitting Israel to build within the construction lines of existing settlements. He said Israel had honored its road map commitment to a settlement freeze within the parameters agreed with the US, and that the Obama administration's refusal to acknowledge and abide by those understandings was deeply problematic.
"It is of great importance to us that what the [previous] US administration agreed to is not overlooked," Meridor said, at a press briefing in Jerusalem organized by The Israel Project organization, adding that the credibility of future agreements and understandings was at stake.
"This is how countries take upon themselves obligations," he said, stressing that what he called the "oral understandings" regarding what construction would and would not be permitted under the terms of the freeze were reached "by America and Israel," and did not lapse because of the change of administration. "The agreement is binding on us and them."
Meridor said Israel was anxious to resume substantive negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, and that the status quo was not in Israel's interest. But he said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had yet to take positions that would enable a solution to the Palestinian conflict. He quoted PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, who said recently that the Palestinians had no incentive to compromise, since so long as they remained obdurate Israel offered increasingly generous terms. So long as the Palestinians believed that to be the case, said Meridor, there would unfortunately be no permanent accord.
Noting that former prime minister Olmert had offered exceptionally generous terms to Abbas, and was still rebuffed, he also indicated that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would be less forthcoming. "Does anybody think Netanyahu will give more than Olmert gave? Is that realistic?" Abbas, he said, needed to understand "that there's more that he has to give."
Asked whether he believed this government could reach an accord, and whether it could be done without a Palestinian capital in at least part of east Jerusalem, Meridor said a deal was possible - if the Palestinians accepted the legitimacy of Israel. He said "Jerusalem has never been the capital of a 'Palestine' or an Arab country," and made clear that he hoped it would not become one, although the issue would have to be discussed.
Meridor also expressed, for the first time, the government's specific endorsement of the "road map" formula for Palestinian statehood. He noted that Netanyahu had committed Israel to honoring all previous international agreements, and stressed that the road map was one of those agreements binding on the government.
Asked by The Jerusalem Post whether the Palestinians had met their commitments under phase one of the road map, including anti-terror obligations, he said there had been a reduction in incitement against Israel and said the Palestinian Authority troops trained under the supervision of US Gen. Keith Dayton had made progress in imposing law and order in the West Bank. But far from collecting illegal weaponry, as required by the road map, he went on, Palestinian weaponry had now fallen into the hands of Hamas, which had taken over the Gaza Strip.
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