The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Jerusalem

Israel came under fire for its continued Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank at high-level talks on Friday with the Palestinians, hosted by a senior US envoy. A construction freeze means "not one more brick", Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said, voicing anger at Israel's failure to abide by its obligation to halt settlement activity in the West Bank.

The US delegation also complained about the Jewish settlement activity as well as Israel's failure to sufficiently reduce the number of roadblocks in the West Bank, according to an Israeli official who asked not to be named. The meeting, to discuss implementation of the stalled 2003 peace roadmap, was the first at senior level since March 2 when Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas suspended talks to protest an Israeli blitz on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. "Israel is eroding the very possibility of the two-state solution," Fayyad said after the three-hour meeting hosted by US US Lieutenant General William Fraser, who was appointed in January to oversee compliance with the roadmap. "Numerous construction projects in many settlements are continuing every day. This is not a freeze by any standard," said Fayyad. The Israeli side responded that construction was only conducted in existing settlement blocs Israel plans to keep as part of a permanent agreement, an official said. Israel's delegation, led by an aide to Defence Minister Ehud Barak, charged that the Palestinian Authority was "not doing enough to fight against terrorism", the official said. "It does not make any arrests and does not give information" on militants, he said. The US embassy described the talks held at a Jerusalem hotel as "cordial but frank".