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No Agreement with U.S. on Jerusalem Construction

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon and Khaled Abu Toameh - According to a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah, the U.S. administration on Thursday informed the PA that the Netanyahu meetings in Washington did not produce any agreement on the issue of construction in east Jerusalem. The official said that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas met in Amman with David Hale, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, who briefed him on the outcome of Netanyahu's talks with Obama. "On the issue of Jerusalem," one source in Netanyahu's office said, "the truth is that this is a city of 750,000 people, and every couple of days there is going to be some kind of building, or zoning, or buying or planning....The whole idea that every time this happens dialogue will stop is a recipe for no peace process." Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who accompanied Netanyahu to Washington, told the Americans he was "disappointed" by the reaction to Israel's West Bank moratorium decision. He said he thought this would bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table. Instead, the move made the Palestinians believe that if they held out, they could get even more.
2010-03-26 09:18:30
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