Dr. Erakat: “Netanyahu has made his choice: settlements over peace”

Chief Palestinian Negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erakat, declared this morning, “it seems to me that Netanyahu has made his choice: settlements over peace,” after the Israeli government announced its decision to approve tenders for 240 housing units in settlements in the occupied East Jerusalem.

“This decision shows that the position of the Israeli Prime Minister has not changed. Instead, he continues to take every possible step to prevent the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. By tendering in the occupied Palestinian territory Netanyahu has once again demonstrated why there are no negotiations today.”

The Chief Palestinian negotiator called on the international community to take responsibility for the issue: “the common goal of the international community and the Palestinian people is the achievement of a Palestinian State within the 1967 border. The Israeli government continues to boycott every possibility to achieve peace. The international community, and particularly the Quartet, must turn statements into actions and stop Israel from destroying the two-state solution.”