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Israel's move to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank has threatened to sabotage newly agreed indirect talks with the Palestinian Authority before they can even begin.
George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, announced on Monday that the two sides had agreed a day earlier to begin indirect negotiations that have been stalled since the December 2008 Gaza war.
He said he hoped the indirect talks would "lead to direct negotiations as soon as possible" and appealed to the two sides not do to anything that could jeopardize the talks.
But news that Israel's defense ministry had approved the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit drew a sharp response from the Palestinians.
'Big question mark'
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, reportedly told Mitchell when they met in Ramallah on Monday that if Israel continued to embarrass the Palestinian Authority with more settlement construction, the talks would go back into deep freeze.
Saeb Erekat, the leading Palestinian negotiator, accused Israel of trying to undermine the talks even before they begin.
"If the price that we will pay for saying 'yes' to Mitchell will be more settlements and more incursions and more dictations, that's a big question mark about the possibility of continuing," he said.
Abbas had demanded for months that Israel freeze all building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before Palestinians return to the negotiating table.
But on Sunday Palestinian leaders agreed to take part in indirect talks with Israel, brokered by the US, for a four-month trail period.
Some Palestinian groups such as Hamas, which governs Gaza criticized the decision to renew talks as caving in to pressure from the US and Israel.
Israel said in November that it would restrict – for 10 months - West Bank construction to 3,000 housing units already under way, but said then that there would be "exceptions".
On Monday, the defense ministry said such an exception - the biggest since the 10-month restriction went into effect - was made in the case of the ultra-Orthodox Beitar Illit because of what it termed safety and infrastructure issues.
PHOTO CAPTION
An Ultra Orthodox Jewish man stands at the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank.
Agencies
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