Haaretz
Adar 2 14, 5765
Senior Palestinian
officials on Thursday asked visiting United States envoys to help block
the expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim, warning that the planned construction
would cut off East Jerusalem - the Palestinians' intended capital - from
territory they seek for a future state.
The envoys, National
Security Council official Elliott Abrams and David Welch, the assistant
secretary of state for the Near East, asked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on
Wednesday about the planned expansion of the settlement, located five
kilometers east of Jerusalem.
Haaretz quoted security sources last
Tuesday as saying that the statutory procedures relating to the plan to
establish two new neighborhoods between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem will
be completed within a few weeks.
In January, Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz approved an initiative to establish two new neighborhoods,
comprising some 3,500 housing units, between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told Abrams and Welch he
expected Washington to take a clear position against Israeli settlement
expansion plans.
"The United States knows the details, and the
dangers of such plans for the road map and President Bush's vision of the
peace process," Qureia's office quoted him as saying, referring to the
internationally-backed road map peace plan that envisions the creation of
a Palestinian state.
Qureia added that a Palestinian ministerial
committee had been formed to ensure a smooth takeover when Israel pulls
out the Gaza Strip this summer.
But he called the withdrawal itself
a unilateral Israeli decision that did not require coordination with the
Palestinians. It was not immediately clear if Qureia was ruling out such
coordination, which Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said
he favors.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the envoys
expressed U.S. opposition to the plan to build the housing units, "but we
told him that is not enough," calling for U.S. pressure on Israel to halt
all construction in settlements and the Israeli separation barrier along
and in the West Bank.
U.S. State Department officials have said the
two envoys were seeking clarifications from Israel on the expansion plans
- language that implies criticism.
Last year, however, during talks
with U.S. President George W. Bush, Sharon won support for keeping some
large West Bank settlement blocs in an eventual peace
deal.
Meanwhile, a senior United Nations official warned the
Security Council on Thursday that the expansion of settlements could
undermine "a viable future for Palestinians."
The road map "states
clearly that Israel should dismantle outposts and freeze settlement
activity," said Kieran Prendergast, the UN undersecretary-general for
political affairs.
Labor MK Yuli Tamir said she first began hearing
of the revival of the plan a few weeks ago.
"There is a feeling in
the government that while the world is focused on Gaza, it is possible to
build in the West Bank," she said.