As news surfaces of Israel lifting the ban on settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is taking his time to decide whether peace talks with Israel will continue in light of the ban being lifted.
A 10-month moratorium on new settlements reached an end on Sunday at midnight, at which time bulldozers began leveling ground for the construction of around 50 new homes in the settlement of Ariel in the north of the West Bank. Similar activity was also reported by Israeli news agents in the settlements of Adam and Oranit.
Abbas warned on Sunday that peace talks would be a “waste of time” if the ban were not reinstated and the moratorium continued, however the Palestinians are under immense pressure from the US to continue with peace talks with Israel.
The US has called for Israel to continue the ban on settlement construction amid fears that anything short of a total freeze on construction will push the Palestinians off the negotiation table.
It is estimated there are around 2000 new homes planned in the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since the war of 1967; approximately 1 million settlers live in the occupied territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in contradiction to international law. Israel contends that the settlements are legal.
A spokesman for Abbas has said that Abbas will consult with other Arab nations and consider what is right for the Palestinian people, but in the meantime all settlement activity should cease.
