America should fund Israeli settlers to leave - Financial Times

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By Diana Buttu

Published: October 10 2010 19:28 | Last updated: October 10 2010 19:28

The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is already on shaky ground. At issue, once again, is Israel’s insistence that it can build and expand settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Its 10-month moratorium expired on September 26, and while Barack Obama, US president, said Israel should extend it – and according to some reports offered incentives including upgrades to Israel’s advanced weapons systems and an increase in the $3bn in annual aid for nothing beyond a 60-day extension – he, like his predecessors, has refused to insist on a total halt.

As a former adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team, I witnessed numerous failures in the peace process because of this issue. Now it threatens to derail the process again. A statement from the Arab League on Friday supported the right of the Palestinians to withdraw from talks, while even a temporary extension of the moratorium will only delay briefly the moment at which this problem returns. So a longer-term solution is needed; one in which the US provides much stronger incentives to encourage settlers to leave.

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