Olmert’s office denies Israel agreed to cede East Jerusalem to the Palestinians

Friday September 12, 2008 04:27 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, was angered by the statements of the US Consul General, Jacob Walles, who said that Israel had agreed to withdraw from East Jerusalem in the current peace talks. Israeli officials in Jerusalem and US officials in Washington said that Jerusalem is not being negotiated.

Jacob Walles - US Consul General

Walles said that Israel had agreed to withdrew from East Jerusalem and hand it to the Palestinians in the current peace talks. Israeli officials were angered by theses statements and said that they are astonished at the remarks of Walles especially since all parties decided not to make any publish statements on the issue.

The statements of Walles came in an interview with the Al Ayyam Arabic daily newspaper. The interview was conducted as the US Secretary Of State, Condoleezza Rice, conducted her most recent visit to the Middle East.

Rice said that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are being held on the basis of an Israeli withdrawal from all the Palestinian territories it captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem.

Walles said that both Israel and the Palestinians had concurred on this statement and that they agreed to make some boundary modifications that would be accepted by both sides.   

The US official also criticized Israel for increasing its illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and said that since the Antipolice Peace Summit of November 2007, Israel has significantly increased settlement construction and expanded illegal settlement outposts.

He added that these actions clearly violate the Israeli commitments to the Road Map Peace Plan.

Walles also said that the United States expects Israel to ease the restrictions imposed on the Palestinians in the occupied territories, and added that easing restrictions would be beneficial for the Palestinian economy and is in Israel’s interest.

 Meanwhile, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the White House in Washington, issued a statement voiding the statements of Walles regarding Jerusalem.

They said that currently there are not talks over the issue of Jerusalem, and that Olmert’s office offered forming a separate forum to discuss the issue in order to be included in a future peace agreement. Both the US and Israel added that this forum is separate from the current peace talks.

 They also said that Jerusalem will be resolved during future negotiations and not during the current talks.

 Yet, both the US and Israel said that the agreement between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States is that peace talks should not be made public as the issue could harm the negotiations process.

 The US department of State issued a statement negating the statements of Walles and said that a senior American official who participated in the talks denied that the Israeli negotiators are willing to hold talks over Jerusalem.

international | peace process | news report saed at imemc dot org