Israel, US row clouds Netanyahu’s France trip

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Paris Wednesday for talks on Iran with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as differences with the United States over settlements emerged as a key issue.

In Paris for two days, Netanyahu had been due to meet U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell but the talks were called off amid reports of a clash over its refusal to freeze West Bank settlements.

Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying Washington issued a "stern" message to Netanyahu concerning its demands that Israel halt all growth in settlements on occupied Palestinian land, according to an account by Agence France-Presse.

Netanyahu has vowed not to build new settlements, but said he would allow for "natural growth" within existing settlements, including the main settlement blocs Israel expects to keep in any future peace deal.

Israelis deny reports

Officials close to Netanyahu denied the report, saying government postponed the because it wanted more time to straighten out the diverging views on settlements. Netanyahu aides said Defense Minister Ehud Barak would instead meet Mitchell next week in Washington, according to an account by The Associated Press.

A senior official traveling with Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel sought "more professional work" before the meeting. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential, said settlement construction was one of those issues. Israel insists "natural growth" of existing Jewish communities in the West Bank must be allowed.

Opponents say the government invokes "natural growth" as a cover to build thousands of houses across the West Bank, including hundreds that Palestinian laborers are building in Maaleh Adumim, a major settlement outside Jerusalem.

"The Israelis are playing a game of deception by what they call natural growth," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics supports that argument, showing that in 2007, 36 percent of all new settlers had moved from Israel or abroad. More recent data, including for the period since Netanyahu's government took office in March, is not yet available, but there are few reasons to think Israel has reversed the trend, said Hagit Ofran, a settlement expert for Peace Now, a settlement watchdog group.

The Palestinians have said they will not meet Netanyahu until Israel halts all settlement activity. The presence of 280,000 Israelis in more than 100 settlements across the territory has been a major obstacle to peace efforts.

The international community considers all settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six Day war, to be illegal.

Netanyahu arrived from Rome, where he had been warmly and supportively welcomed by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who endorsed Netanyahu's plan for a future demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes Israel as a "Jewish state." That means that Palestinians must give up any notion of refugees who left what is now Israel - or their millions of descendants - resettling in their former homes.

"It was a very warm welcome," an upbeat Netanyahu briefed Israel-based journalists traveling with him after the Berlusconi meeting. "It would be hard to find a better friend."

Making his first European tour since taking office, Netanyahu was to meet later Wednesday with Sarkozy, who is likely to be less effusive, needing to balance France's improving relations with the United States and his country's traditionally good relations with much of the Muslim world as Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press.

Sarkozy says he is a firm supporter of Israel but nevertheless has also called for "an immediate and complete halt to settlement." In addition, Sarkozy insists that Israel must cede sovereignty over parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinians, something that is anathema to Netanyahu and his right-wing political partners at home. Wednesday's talks in Paris were also set to focus on the question of Iran, with Netanyahu expected to press the Security Council member to back harder sanctions against Iran over its nuclear drive. Sarkozy has denounced the violent crackdown on opposition demonstrations in Iran by protesters who believe that the June 12 presidential elections were fraudulent.