Israel offers settlement suspension, Palestinians reject - Summary

Jerusalem/Ramallah - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday announced a 10-month moratorium of Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank, urging Palestinians to accept the offer and renew long-stalled peace negotiations. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quickly rejected the offer, with his spokesman saying the Palestinians insisted on a total freeze, including East Jerusalem.

Washington welcomed the announcement as a "positive" step that could help move peace negotiations forward, although it noted the move fell far short of a full settlement freeze.

Abbas has made such a total freeze a precondition for resuming the talks that were broken off late last year as Israel headed into new elections, which brought the hardline Netanyahu to power.

Netanyahu said the moratorium meant Israel would build no new settlements, nor expropriate more land for the expansion of existing settlements.

Nor would he allow any new constructions to start within existing Jewish settlements for a period of 10 months - excluding "public buildings that are essential for the continuation of a normal life."

The construction of under 3,000 homes that had already begun within existing settlements would also be allowed to be completed.

Most importantly, Israel would not stop building in East Jerusalem - or Jewish neighborhoods built within the city limits but on occupied land, beyond the "green line" separating Israel from the West Bank.

"We will not stop the existing construction of homes. We will continue to build synagogues, schools and kindergartens ... Regarding Jerusalem, our sovereign capital, my position is well know. I won't put any limitation whatsoever on building in our capital," Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem, speaking first in Hebrew, then in English.

"It falls short of a full settlement freeze but it is more than any Israeli government has done before and can help move to an agreement between the parties," the special US envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, told reporters Wednesday.

Eleven ministers of Netanyanu's inner security cabinet earlier voted in favor of the move, and only one against.

Those who voted in favor included ultra-right Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, of the Israel Beiteinu party, Netanyahu's largest coalition party. Lieberman lives himself in a settlement near Jerusalem, but he said he wanted to avoid giving the Palestinians an "pretext" to avoid peace peace negotiations.