Israel-US battle over settlement freeze
* Hillary says Washington wants stop to settlements, Liberman says Tel Aviv does not have ‘any intention to change the demographic balance’
* ElBaradei, Israel clash over Syria probe ‘bias’
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman clashed over US demands for a freeze on settlements in Palestinian territory.
At a press conference after talks in Washington on Wednesday, Hillary reaffirmed US demands for an end to settlement building but her Israeli counterpart rejected the call.
The focus now moves to a meeting in Paris next week between a US envoy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about his plans for peace with the Palestinians.
Hillary and Lieberman highlighted the discord after their first meeting since the right wing Netanyahu government came to office in March.
“We want to see a stop to the settlements,” Hillary told reporters as she stood next to Lieberman.
“We think that is an important and essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive agreement and the creation of a Palestinian next to an Israeli Jewish state that is secure in its borders and future,” she said.
On May 27, the chief US diplomat said President Barack Obama had made it clear during Netanyahu's earlier visit to Washington that he wants no “natural growth exceptions” to his call for a settlement freeze.
Lieberman insisted that would not be possible.
Israel did not have “any intention to change the demographic balance” of the West Bank, said Lieberman, head of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, which is part of Netanyahu's Likud-led coalition government. “But we think that as in any place, babies are born, people get married, some pass away and we cannot accept this vision about an absolutely complete freezing of settlements,” said Lieberman. “I think that we must keep the natural growth,” he said.
“This approach is very clear and also we had some understandings with the previous administration (of George W Bush) and we try to keep this direction,” he said.
Hillary disagreed.
“In looking at the history of the Bush administration, there were no informal or oral enforceable agreements,” she said, repeating earlier statements.
Lieberman reiterated calls for immediate, direct talks with the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas, which has rejected the Netanyahu government's policy toward them.
After months of US pressure, Netanyahu on Sunday endorsed a two-state solution for the first time. Separate Israeli and Palestinian states have been cornerstone of international Middle East peacemaking efforts for years.
But he set a slew of conditions: Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state; any Palestinian state must be demilitarised and will not control its air space or be able to forge military pacts. Netanyahu demanded “ironclad” security guarantees for Israel.
The Obama administration announced meanwhile that George Mitchell, the special envoy for Middle East peace, will travel on June 25 to Paris for talks with Netanyahu.
“It would be the first opportunity for Senator Mitchell to follow up with the prime minister in the aftermath of his speech,” Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley told reporters.
ElBaradei, Israel clash: Meanwhile, the UN nuclear watchdog chief on Thursday angrily rejected Israeli accusations of bias in a probe by his agency into allegations of a secret Syrian atomic site, calling Israel's position “totally distorted”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has been examining US intelligence reports saying Syria almost completed a reactor that could have yielded plutonium for atom bombs, before Israel bombed it to pieces in 2007. IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei has chided Syria for withholding documentation and access for inspectors seeking to clarify the allegations. But he has also rebuked Israel for not alerting the UN watchdog before destroying the site, complicating the search to establish the truth. Tensions boiled at a meeting of the IAEA's governing body in Vienna when Israel's envoy accused ElBaradei of making “redundant” demands and showing bias by making repeated calls on Israel to provide more evidence.
“… Israel calls on (ElBaradei) to avoid political bias in dealing with the Syrian file,” Ambassador Israel Michaeli told the 35-nation governing board during a debate on the Syria issue.
ElBaradei, in a caustic rebuttal unusual in the diplomatic body, called Michaeli's statement “totally distorted”. agencies
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