Dr. Erakat: “Israeli unilateralism is a call for immediate international recognition of the Palestinian State’’

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erakat said today that “Israel’s latest announcement of more settlement construction further threatens the already stagnated negotiations process. This latest unilateral Israeli act necessitates dramatic international action for immediate recognition of the Palestinian State on the June 4, 1967 borders.”

Yesterday, on November 8, 2010, the Israeli government announced a plan for 1,300 new housing units in the settlements of Har Homa and Ramot, to be illegally built on occupied lands in Beit Sahour and East Jerusalem. That announcement was quickly followed this morning by news reports of private construction starts of approximately 800 units in Ariel settlement in the northern West Bank.

“Once more, at the moment when we expected Prime Minister Netanyahu to announce a full settlement freeze from Washington DC, he has sent Palestinians and the US administration a clear message that Israel chooses settlements, not peace. Netanyahu sent the same message during US Vice-President Biden’s visit last March by announcing a plan to build 1,600 units in Ramat Shlomo settlement,” Dr. Erakat said.

“Israel’s settlement enterprise which comprises not only of the actual settlements, but also the Wall, settler-only roads, and movement restrictions on Palestinians, is nothing but a premeditated process to kill the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.”

Calling on the international community to immediately and boldly intervene to save the two-state solution and the possibility of lasting peace, Dr. Erakat continued, “Israel is acting as a state above the law, and the international community must react. If, by building settlements, Israel wants to boycott the creation of a sovereign Palestinian State, the world must respond by recognizing the Palestinian State on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem its capital.” Dr. Erakat, added that “it is time for tough decisions. Unfortunately, the international community continues to support a peace process that has nothing of peace and a lot of process. We will not accept the status quo anymore that has only allowed Israel to consolidate its occupation of our land.”