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Palestinian Authority rejects Israeli proposal on economy, security

Business Materials 5 February 2011 15:56 (UTC +04:00)

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday rebuffed an Israeli proposal to ease economic and security restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank, reported dpa.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a press statement the proposal "is just only tricks and procrastination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

In a meeting with Middle East envoy Tony Blair on Friday, Netanyahu presented a series of measures aimed at easing economic and security limits imposed on the West Bank.

The proposal reportedly includes expanding Palestinian construction in east Jerusalem and giving the Palestinian Authority security powers in seven West Bank cities.

The text was presented as the committee of the so-called Middle East Quartet, made up of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia, prepared to meet in Munich, Germany.

The committee is scheduled to discuss the Middle East peace process and the continuation of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

"What is needed from Netanyahu, if he really wants to build up mutual confidence and peace with us, is to immediately stop settlement in the West Bank and east Jerusalem," said Erekat.

He went on saying that Netanyahu should also recognize the international references for peace, mainly the borders of the Palestinian state on the territories Israel occupied in 1967.

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were suspended a month after they were launched in Washington on September 2, after Israel refused to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians had then warned that if Israel keeps building they would use other diplomatic options as filing a demand to the Security Council of the UN for the recognition of a Palestinian state.

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