The visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
said that Israel’s
ongoing settlement construction is going to damage efforts to reach a
negotiated peace agreement.
Mr. Steinmeier is on a day’s visit to Israel to discuss the peace process which has
been put to the rest over the death of Israel’s former Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon.
The German top diplomat met chief negotiator of Israel, Tzipi Livini early on Monday and then
attended the state memorial service of Sharon’s
funeral.
He then traveled to Ramallah in the evening to discuss peace
with the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.
Later he told reporters that, “It is clear that the
continued building of settlements really hurts the process. Berlin also expects that Palestinians also
will do their part as well.”
Mr. Steimeier hoped that the peace talks, which were launched
in last July should not be disrupted by these new settlement announcements by Israel.
This has come to the response after Israel declared plans to build more 1, 800 new
settler homes in the West Bank and annexed to
east Jerusalem. This has attracted sharp criticism from USA and Germany.
Although the German Foreign Minister chose not to commit on
any possibility of European Union sanctions against Israel.
