Erakat: settlement freeze must include Jerusalem

Chief Palestinian negotiator: 37% of illegal Jewish settlement activity takes place in Jerusalem.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on Wednesday said east Jerusalem must be included in a complete Israeli settlement freeze in order for Middle East peace talks to resume.

"If (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu continues building 3,000 housing units, excluding Jerusalem and public buildings, this is a non-starter," Erakat told reporters at a briefing in the West Bank.

He was referring to a set of limits Netanyahu agreed to following months of American pressure on Israel to freeze all settlements.

Netanyahu's proposals exclude Palestinian East Jerusalem, where Erakat said 37 percent of all settlement activity was taking place.

The Palestinians have said the proposals are insufficient, but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed them as "unprecedented" during a visit to occupied Jerusalem on Saturday.

She later backtracked, however, and in Cairo on Wednesday said that Washington still viewed settlements as "illegitimate" and that Jerusalem would have to be part of any peace negotiations.

The Palestinians did not require a freeze of settlements during the last round of direct peace talks lasting from November 2007 until the December-January Gaza war, but Erakat insisted this time was different.

"Negotiations will not continue for the sake of negotiations," he said. "Israel has the choice, settlements or peace. I hope and pray they choose peace."

Israel occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem in 1967.

Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognized as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.

East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.

In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.

Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.

All Jewish settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on Arab land (mainly Palestinian), illegally occupied by Israel.

Around illegal 200,000 Jewish settlers are estimated to have moved into the dozen or so Israeli settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem.

There are about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers currently living in settlements the Palestinian West Bank.

The settlers adhere to radical ideologies and are extremely violent to almost-defenceless Palestinians.