By Xinhua
Ramallah : Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Wednesday expressed its hopes that the U.S. administration will force Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank asa U.S.-backed peace plan calls for.
As a judge and a member of the Middle East Quartet, “Washingtonis the only side which can oblige Israel,” senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
Erekat added he hopes the U.S. stance towards Israeli plans of building new settlements would be clarified at a three-way meetingon Thursday between the U.S., the PNA and Israel.
U.S. envoy Gen. William Fraser, who oversees road map implementation, is expected to convene the first meeting of a U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian committee amid mounting tension between Israeland the Palestinians.
Israel announced plans to build some 700 houses in a settlementnear Jerusalem a few days before the scheduled arrival of William Fraser.
Other members of the Quartet — the EU, Russia and the UN, “should immediately intervene to force Israel to withdraw the recent decisions in order to make peace in the 2008,” Erekat said,underlining that “All the Israeli measures to keep on the settlement activities are non-binding.”