JERUSALEM, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the United States is wrong in making West Bank settlement-building a key issue in the Mideast peace talks.
"In my opinion, the issue of the building freeze at the settlements is marginal," Olmert said in an opinion piece published Friday in The Jerusalem Post.
"The U.S. administration made it a central issue and the Palestinian leadership had to follow suit. As a result, the entire region and the U.S. – as a central player in shaping the political arena of the Middle East – have been preoccupied with an issue whose success or failure will not really influence the diplomatic process in our region," Olmert wrote.
In the current situation, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians can give in he said.
"If the prime minister of Israel announces the extension of the building freeze, he might jeopardize his government's stability when negotiations have still not reached a substantial level. If the Palestinian president capitulates, and agrees to negotiate even if the freeze is canceled, he will be vulnerable to insufferable pressure from extreme factors in the Palestinian community," Olmert wrote.
UPI
