According to Galei Tsahal, Israel’a army radio, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a freeze in tenders for West Bank settlement construction amid an American push to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Netanyahu reportedly gave the order in a meeting with Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel, a member of the Bayit Yehudi party.
According to daily newspaper Haaretz, Netanyahu promised US Secretary of State John Kerry to “rein in” settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem until June.
Last year, the Prime Minister announced a series of housing projects in the West Bank – including in the E1 area near Maale Adumim- in response to the Palestinian Authority’s successful unilateral bid to upgrade its status to non-member observer state in the United Nations last year.
While neither Netanyahu nor Ariel immediately responded to the report, Bayit Yehudi Member of the Knesset K Ayelet Shaked was quoted by Army Radio as saying that "the Housing and Construction Ministry has prepared tenders that it is interested in issuing in the West Bank settlement blocs. They require the Prime Minister's signature, and for some reason that is not happening. It's a shame, there are many housing units ready to be tendered."
In November 2009, facing mounting pressure from US President Barack Obama, Netanyahu implemented a settlement freeze that lasted 10 months. Talks between Israel and the Palestinians briefly restarted at the end of that period, but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas then aborted them, and Netanyahu did not extend the freeze.
Last week, Ariel warned that Bayit Yehudi would not support the 2013 budget in the Knesset unless construction projects in West Bank settlements are fully funded.
“I turned to the Prime Minister today and warned him that if the 2013 budget doesn’t include full funding for building projects in Judea and Samaria, including those decided upon in reaction to the Palestinians’ unilateral statehood bid at the United Nations and additional projects, Bayit Yehudi will consider its coalition agreement as having been violated, and it won’t support the budget unless a solution is found for the promised funds,” he added.
The freeze report came as The Jerusalem Post wrote Tuesday that China is involved in trying to restart the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
According to the paper, China has presented its own peace plan as both Netanyahu and Abbas are in Beijing at the moment.
China has also offered to set up a meeting between the two leaders.
The Chinese plan calls for “an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital which is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people”.
The plan also stresses “Israel’s right to exist and that its legitimate security concerns should be fully respected”.
The Chinese proposal furthermore calls for “negotiations as the only way to peace and stresses that the two sides should follow the trend of times, pursue peace talks, show mutual understanding and accommodation and meet each other half way”.