Tel Aviv, November 25: Tel Aviv has agreed to freeze all settlement activities, except in Jerusalem Al-Quds, for 10 months in a bid to re-launch the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Israeli officials hope that the official declaration of a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank will enable the renewal of the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, which has refused to engage in peace talks until Israel implements such a measure.
Tel Aviv is currently under intense pressure from the international community to halt the illegal settlement construction in the West Bank. Israeli settlements are widely regarded as the main hurdle in the way of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Under the 2002 Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activities.'
There are currently 121 Israeli settlements and approximately 102 Israeli outposts built illegally on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967. All of these settlements and outposts are illegal under international law and have been condemned by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions.
These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of 462,000 Israeli settlers. Some 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around Jerusalem Al-Quds and an additional 271,400 are spread throughout the West Bank.
-----Agencies
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