Israel Matzav

France calls in Israeli ambassador but is unlikely to act

France has called in Israel's ambassador, Yossi Gal, but appears unlikely to take any further action with respect to Friday's announcements about Israeli building in and around Jerusalem.

France called Ambassador Yossi Gal to a meeting, but played down reports it could recall its ambassador. "There are other ways in which we can express our disapproval," an official told Reuters. "The ambassador has been summoned in order to express our disapproval," foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.

A later report adds:

French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday he did not want to start imposing sanctions on Israel after it announced plans to expand settlement building in occupied territories.

"We don't want to shift into sanctions mode," Hollande said at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. "We are more focused on convincing."

Sweden also called in Israel's ambassador, but given the state of Israel's relations with Sweden, I doubt anyone here really cares.

Of course, the 'Palestinians' - both Fatah and Hamas - are thrilled with the goings-on. This is from the very first link.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped Britain and France were considering the step.

He said building in E1 "destroys the two-state solution, (establishing) East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and practically ends the peace process and any opportunity to talk about negotiations in the future."

Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for the Hamas Islamist movement that governs the Gaza Strip, said the settlement plans were "an insult to the international community, which should bear responsibility for Israeli violations and attacks on Palestinians".

Recalling the envoys would be a powerful diplomatic rebuke to Netanyahu, three weeks after he won strong European and US support for an offensive in the Hamas Islamist-run Gaza Strip, which Israel said was aimed at curbing cross-border rocket fire.

What a load of crap. The Clinton parameters and the last proposal on the table at Annapolis both included Israel building in E-1. And as part of the negotiations between 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and Ehud K. Olmert, Abu Mazen had accepted that Israel would annex E-1 as well.

Labels: E-1, East Jerusalem, France, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:37 PM