By Xinhua
Ramallah : A Palestinian negotiator on Thursday called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to halt peace negotiations with Israel in protest of the Jewish state’s settlement expansion plans in West Bank and Jerusalem.
The Israeli tenders to build new settlements are “a big crisis that should be faced with a big crisis as well,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is also a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) executive committee.
“We can’t continue the negotiations or the political process under the big deception Israel conducts,” Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio.
An Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday that Israel plans to build about 1,900 new apartments in several settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank this year.
The Israeli announcement violates the Road Map peace plan, the basic reference for the peace talks revived between Israel and the PA at a U.S.-hosted peace conference in November, which requires Israel to stop settlement-building activities and the Palestinians to stop rocket attacks.
“Israel wants to fulfill big settlement plans that lead to annexing large parts of the West Bank and turning the territory into isolated blocks,” Abed Rabbo said.
He criticized the U.S. administration for not being able to force Israel to stop the settlement activities.