In the middle of Egyptian efforts to resume the Mideast peace talks, Israel announced plans to build 1,300 settlement units. Doaa El-Bey reports Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and General Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman met US State Secretary Hillary Clinton in Washington yesterday to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. The two officials also discussed with Clinton what the US could do to steer the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks onto the right track. They also carried an alternative plan to the US should Israel refuse to stop settlement building. That plan stated that negotiations could start without a halt in settlement building but with Israeli security concessions. That could include the redeployment of Israeli troops in certain areas in the West Bank and giving the security responsibilities in these areas to the Palestinian Authority. Mohamed Bassiouni, head of the Shura Council Committee for External and Arab Affairs, said that while Egypt still relies on US efforts to press Israel to stop settlement construction, it tries all possible ways to reach a formula that all parties would agree on. "We tackle all what we can to put the peace negotiations back on track," Bassiouni added. The visit by coincided with a five-day visit by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who is scheduled to meet Clinton today. During Netanyahu's visit, the Israeli government declared a plan to build some 1,300 settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem. The US and the UN criticised the move, while Palestinian officials said it was an attempt to sabotage the talks. US State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley said Washington was "deeply disappointed", calling the move "counterproductive" to US efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed concern at the resumption of settlement activity, telling Netanyahu in New York that it was vital to break the current diplomatic stalemate, resume negotiations and produce results. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereikat was quoted by news agencies as saying that he thought Netanyahu was going to the United States to stop settlement activity and restart negotiations, but it was clear that he was determined to destroy the talks. East Jerusalem is regarded as occupied Palestinian territory by the international community but Israel says it is part of its territory. Palestinians want to regain it through negotiations together with other areas occupied after the 1967 war. But Israel repeatedly says the whole of Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. In spite of the fact that the visit coincided with the declaration of more settlement building and after the mid-term US Congressional elections that could weaken the Obama administration, Bassiouni, who was the Egyptian ambassador to Israel, emphasised that the visit was very important because it came in line with Egypt's continuous efforts to resume negotiations and because every minute that passes without talks gives Netanyahu a chance to usurp more Palestinian land. Bassiouni ruled out that the results of the US elections would have an effect on the negotiations. "That election does not usually have an effect on external policies. The US president still has the upper hand and the right to veto in the House of Representatives," he said. The US visit was the latest Egyptian effort to bring the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table. Suleiman paid a visit to Israel late last week during which he met Israeli President Shimon Peres and Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss the possibility of renewing negotiations with the Palestinian side. He told the Israeli officials they all still had a golden opportunity that should not be missed. Last month, Suleiman and Abul-Gheit visited Ramallah and Amman and held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan on the same issue. Abul-Gheit also held a meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK as well as EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton during a visit to the Belgium capital Brussels last month. The meeting aimed at exchanging points of view with the European side on the latest developments in the Middle East, especially efforts to save the Palestinian- Israeli peace talks. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were relaunched in Washington on 2 September but broke down after three weeks with the expiry of an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in late September. Netanyahu has stubbornly refused to re-impose the restrictions despite a range of US incentives to do so, and the Palestinians have said they will not return to the negotiating table while Israel builds on land they want for a future state. In early October, Arab League foreign ministers said they would give Washington a one month grace period to break the impasse. There has hardly been any new developments since but last week the Arab League extended the deadline until the end of this month. In a separate development, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that "the window is closing" on the possibility of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. During a visit to Israel this week Hague expressed concern that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians had stalled over the issue of renewed building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. He added that both sides had obligations, but that it was largely up to Israel to break the impasse.
