Ha'aretz (Israel) : "Olmert: Focus on settlements hinders Mideast peace"

Olmert: Focus on settlements hinders Mideast peace



Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called the United States' focus on freezing construction in the West Bank an impediment to the Middle East peace process, in an article published in The Washington Post on Friday.

Olmert's article details his own steps toward advancing the peace process during his tenure and that of his predecessor, Ariel Sharon.

He describes Israel's partnership with the United States as "one of its greatest strategic assets" and writes that both he and Sharon were successful in boosting this relationship "on all levels? based on deep and candid understandings, both written and oral."

The former prime minister cites the 2007 U.S.-hosted peace summit in Annapolis as having "provided the framework for direct negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians toward bringing an end to the conflict and to all claims."

"Yet today, instead of a political process, the issue of settlement construction commands the agenda between the United States and Israel," writes Olmert.

"This is a mistake that serves neither the process with the Palestinians nor relations between Israel and the Arab world. Moreover, it has the potential to greatly shake U.S.-Israeli relations."

In his article, the former prime minister urges both Israel and the U.S. to abide by the understandings reached under..............................



http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1100949.html