Germany wants Mideast peace talks, settlement ban too

European Union pressure on Israel to stop building settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is ramping up after a visit by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who said while his country has a “special responsibility” toward Israel, that Jewish expansion is threatening any resolution and peace. Westerwelle, in Jerusalem, toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to the six million Jews murdered in Europe by the Nazis during World War II where he laid a wreath at the memorial.
Prior to leaving Germany, Westerwelle reiterated his government’s support for a two-state solution in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, telling a news conference in Berlin that while Israel has the “right to secure borders,” the Palestinians “also have the right to have their own state.” The new German foreign minister reiterated his country’s support for Israel, but also for a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians. “Our goal is a real two-state solution with a state of Israel respected by all its neighbors, and a viable Palestinian state,” he said.
Germany has also insisted that Israel freeze construction in its settlements, including in East Jerusalem, with government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm telling journalists that Berlin “deeply” regretted an Israeli decision to build apartments on land occupied in the 1967 war and incorporated into the Jerusalem municipal boundaries. “The building of settlements in East Jerusalem is a huge stumbling block on the road to sustainable advances in the peace process,” Wilhelm said.
The decision by Israel to expand a settlement in Gilo near Jerusalem on the West Bank will damage the peace process, the Swedish presidency of the European Union said. The move was counter to “repeated calls by the international community,” the presidency statement said. “If there is to be genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states,” the statement added. Israel considers Gilo as part of its “eternal capital,” and has opposed international demands to stop construction in areas of the city which are built within the municipal boundaries it has set for itself, but on occupied West Bank land. At the same time, Westerwelle wrapped up his first visit to Israel and the West Bank in his new post, urging Israelis and Palestinians to revive peace talks “as soon as possible.” He expressed support for both Palestinian statehood and Israel’s security. But he would not give details on the German- mediated indirect negotiations on a prisoner exchange between Israel and the radical Islamist Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip, saying only he hoped they would lead to a “good result” from a humanitarian point of view. Israel was hoping a deal will lead to the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shallit, held by Hamas since 2006.
Westerwelle, who held talks with Israeli leaders soon after arriving in the region, made a two-hour stopover in Ramallah to meet acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who said after the meeting that the German minister backed the Palestinian demand for a total freeze of Israeli construction in all of the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. “We discussed the requirements of the roadmap, which says Israel should stop all settlement activities in all areas, and there was an agreement on this with the foreign minister,” he told a joint news conference.
Westerwelle, who said his visit to Ramallah was his second and the first since he became foreign minister, said he had come to observe the situation on the ground first hand and form his own impressions. He also praised Fayyad’s plan to build state institutions within two years. He did not meet President Mahmoud Abbas, who was in South America, where he got support for the freezing of the settlement building by Israel, which is increasingly finding itself isolated and losing the public relations battle with Palestinians.
A previous visit, seven years ago, when he was still an opposition politician, was overshadowed by remarks from his Free Democratic Party colleague Jurgen Mollemann which were seen as anti- Semitic, and by his refusal to immediately distance himself from them. Westerwelle’s trip came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to go to Berlin this week to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Israeli and German ministers will hold a joint cabinet session.
Adressing a joint news conference with Lieberman, Westerwelle did not rule out sharper sanctions against Iran over its nuclear aspirations, which Israel regards as its biggest threat. Westerwelle expressed similar sentiments when he met President Shimon Peres, saying that “nuclear weapons in the hands of the government of Iran is not an acceptable option.” Regarding a possible escalation of sanctions against Iran, Westerwelle, who spoke in German, told the news conference with Lieberman that “not everyone will play along, but we know what needs to be done.” Israeli Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman, a hardliner who wants more Jewish settlements in Palestine, said Germany - still Iran’s second-largest trade partner - should take a clear stance.
The UN joined the growing chorus of criticism against Israeli expansion and said that it is an impasse to the Middle East peace process that must be overcome, a UN official told the Security Council. Israel decided to add 900 housing units to Gilo settlement on the outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem, a decision n met with protests from the UN as well as world capitals. In the past month, Israel has demolished 17 houses and displaced 99 Palestinians, half of them children, said UN Undersecretary General Haile Menkerios for political affairs. Menkerios said the Israeli government has switched to restraining expansion of the settlements while it is under pressure to freeze them to allow progress in the roadmap to settle its conflict with the Palestinians. He said in a monthly report to the 15-nation council that tensions between Israel and the Palestinians continued in the past month with fresh security incidents. A total of 73 Palestinians were injured and 300 others arrested in clashes with the Israelis in the West Bank recently. Clashes in East Jerusalem resulted in injuries to 24 Palestinians and nine Israeli security personnel. Israel then closed Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, which is contrary to the roadmap for peace worked out by the UN, the EU, the US, and Russia.
The roadmap called for a new Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace. Several political and security steps have to be fulfilled before such a state can be formed. Israeli government officials reported to the UN that arms smuggling has continued into Gaza Strip and rockets with increased power have been fired into Israel from Gaza. “We remain worried about the longer-term consequences of the blockade of the Gaza Strip, particularly in terms of deteriorating public infrastructure, environmental degradation, and the destruction of livelihoods,” Menkerios said. Israel’s blockade of Gaza has drastically reduced the flow of imported humanitarian goods and daily essentials for Gazans, a situation that can worsen in winter, the UN said.