Barghouthi: Israeli settlement activity around Jerusalem make peace talks futile

Barghouthi: Israeli settlement activity around Jerusalem make peace talks futile

MP Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, the secretary-general of the Palestinian national initiative, said that the construction works near the Ma”aleh Adumim settlement and the building of a new settlement east of occupied Jerusalem to divide the West Bank into two parts and cantons confirmed the futility of the peace negotiations.


MP Barghouthi underlined that any talk about peace can never be without an Israeli commitment to stop its settlement activities and remove the apartheid wall, calling for pooling the efforts to stop settlement expansion.


He noted that the last report of the Israeli peace now movement which said that the settlement activities rose during 2008 by 60 percent as well as the report published on Sunday in the Haaretz newspaper which proved that Israel aims to impose a fait accompli and separate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank are further confirmation that Israel uses negotiations to cover up for its settlement activities.


The lawmaker called on the EU and US president Barack Obama to pressure Israel to stop its settlement activities in the Palestinian lands if there were real intentions to end the occupation and achieve just peace.


The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported Sunday that Israel spent around 50 million dollars over the past two years on settlement infrastructure in the area between Ma”aleh Adumim and east Jerusalem in preparation for the construction of a new neighborhood in the area known as Mevaseret Adumim.


The newspaper added that the Ma”aleh Adumim municipality plans to build 3,500 settlement units in this area in order create a contiguous block between Ma”aleh Adumim and east Jerusalem.


This plan would prevent the division of Jerusalem and the separation of Ma”aleh Adumim and Gush Adumim from Jerusalem, the newspaper quoted the municipality as saying.