Palestinians threaten to sue Israel over settlements
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki on Thursday
denounced Israeli plans to build hundreds of new settler homes in east
Jerusalem, threatening to pursue international legal action in response.
Israel announced on Wednesday it would build 1,500 new
settler homes in the mostly Arab sector of Jerusalem, immediately after the
Jewish state released 26 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in line with its
commitments to United States-backed peace talks.
"The foreign ministry is seriously looking at turning
immediately to international courts and organisations, and filing the necessary
complaints in order to stop settlement building," Malki said.
He condemned "plans approved by Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu for settlement building, and Netanyahu's attempts to link the
settlement issue with the prisoners issue."
PLO chiefs convened later on Thursday in Ramallah, in a
session chaired by president Mahmud Abbas.
"The Palestinian leadership will take a number of steps
in the next few days to face the settlement offensive," the Palestine
Liberation Organisation's executive said after the meeting.
Plans to build another new settler homes in east Jerusalem
came to light almost immediately after Israel began freeing 21 prisoners to the
West Bank and another five to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The sequence was almost a mirror image of August 13, when a
first tranche of 26 prisoners were freed and Israel announced construction of
more than 2,000 new settler homes, mostly in east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians agreed to refrain from pursuing legal
action against Israel during ongoing peace talks, but have repeatedly warned
that continued settlement building would force them to recourse to the
International Criminal Court and other international bodies.
The settlement issue derailed the last round of peace talks
in 2010.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who nudged the sides back
to the negotiation table in July, is heading back to Israel and the West Bank
next week in a bid to bring fresh impetus to the talks, amid accusations from
the Palestinians that Israel is working "to wreck" peace attempts
with its settlement plans.
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