This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7455231.stm
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Rice warns on Israel settlements | |
(about 19 hours later) | |
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Jewish settlement building was having a "negative effect" on efforts to forge a Middle East peace deal. | |
Ms Rice was referring to Israeli plans to build 1,300 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, an area of the West Bank that Israel considers part of Jerusalem. | |
She also said militants must stop firing rockets at Israel from Gaza. | |
She spoke after meeting Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. | |
The Palestinians have called the settlement plans a systematic policy to destroy the peace process. | |
Israel has described the new homes as the natural growth of existing communities. | Israel has described the new homes as the natural growth of existing communities. |
Scholarship concerns | |
After meeting Palestinian Authority President Mr Abbas in Ramallah, Ms Rice said: "It's important to have an atmosphere of trust and confidence. | |
"Unfortunately, I do believe, and the United States believes, that the actions and the announcements that are taking place are indeed having a negative effect on the atmosphere for negotiations." | |
Asked if she expected Israel to take action to rein in settlement activity, the secretary of state said: "I don't expect, frankly, any blinding breakthroughs." | |
The Israeli prime minister's spokesman told reporters: "It's clear to everyone the Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem will remain part of Israel in any possible final status agreement." | |
Dr Rice is on her sixth peace-finding mission to the Middle East this year | |
Ms Rice also said she saw no reason why Israel had not yet approved travel papers for Palestinian students from Gaza who won scholarships to study in the US. | |
The students had been told by US diplomats that they could not use their fellowships this year because Israel did not approve visas - until the US secretary of state intervened. | |
"I consider it extremely important for these young people to be able to take up their fellowships," she said. | |
Israel has been accused of violating a commitment to halt all settlement activity under a 2003 US-backed "road map" peace plan, which also called on the Palestinians to clamp down on militants. | |
On Monday, Ms Rice is expected to discuss road map compliance at talks with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. | |
She is on her sixth trip to the region this year to try to prod both sides toward a peace deal by the end of 2008, before President George W Bush leaves office. | |
The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital. | |
But Israel considers all of Jerusalem - including the eastern part which it captured in a 1967 war - to be its "eternal and indivisible" capital. |
Previous version
1
Next version