Israel's plans to build homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem "endanger" indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the EU foreign policy chief said on Monday.
Israel announced last week it would build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, shortly after the Palestinian authorities agreed to hold U.S.-mediated indirect peace talks with Israel after a 14-month break.
Addressing an Arab League meeting in Cairo on Monday, Catherine Ashton said that Israel's decision "endangered and undermined the tentative agreement to begin proximity talks."
"The EU position on settlements is clear. Settlements are illegal, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible," Ashton said.
The Arab League has threatened to review its support for Israeli-Palestinian talks shortly after the Israeli government made the announcement on the new housing project, while the Palestinian Authority on Monday ruled out peace negotiations with Israel while it continues settlement activity in the occupied territories.
Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving peace talks, stalled since an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.
The announcement of new construction plans drew cutting criticism from many other countries and international bodies, including the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, who comprise the Quartet of international mediators in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The Quartet will convene in Moscow on March 19.
CAIRO, March 15 (RIA Novosti)
