Tell Kerry to lean on Israel, Palestinian PM urges US lawmakers

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has asked a visiting delegation of US lawmakers to pressure Washington into blocking Israeli settlement construction, claiming that building ramped up every time efforts toward peace talks came forward.

Hamdallah met with a group led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons in Ramallah on Monday to review the latest developments in John Kerry’s efforts to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the table.

The outgoing prime minister, who resigned his position last month just two weeks after taking office, stressed that the US secretary of state needed to exert more pressure to end settlement construction in the West Bank.

In the last month, Israel has approved over 1,000 new units across the Green Line, including over 500 each in the far-flung settlements of Itamar and Bruchin and 69 homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa.

The government is also expected to approve this week a deal subsidizing some 930 new homes in Har Homa.

“Why does Israel approve new settlement projects each time US officials visit the region and US efforts are resumed to achieve peace?” Hamdallah asked the delegation, according to the state-run WAFA Palestinian news agency.

The meeting came shortly after a four-day visit last week by Kerry during which he held intensive meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a continuing quest to restart peace talks.

Netanyahu and Abbas have been at an impasse since 2010, with Abbas demanding an end to settlement construction, a commitment to a state based on the pre-1967 lines, and the release of Palestinian prisoners as preconditions to starting talks, while Netanyahu rejects any preconditions to negotiations.

Although Kerry’s round of meetings ended without a breakthrough in the stand-off between the two sides, unofficial reports said that progress was made toward reaching an agreement to resume negotiations, including the Palestinians softening their demand for a building freeze and Netanyahu agreeing to put a moratorium on construction in some areas of the West Bank.

During the Monday meeting Hamdallah asked the US delegation to convey his desire to restart talks to the Obama administration.