UK to pledge $500m if progress in Mideast

JERUSALEM (Agencies): Israel’s parliament on Wednesday passed the first phase of a bill requiring a two-thirds majority for any change in the status of Jerusalem in a future peace deal with the Palestinians. The new bill requires a majority of 80 MPs in order “to give up sovereignity over any part of east Jerusalem.” Submitted by right-wing Likud party MP Gideon Sa’ar, it was adopted by 54 votes to 24. Israel captured Arab east Jerusalem, including the Old City with its sites holy to Christianity, Islam and Judaism, during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it. In 1980, parliament passed a law proclaiming it the “reunified and eternal capital of Israel,” a claim not recognised by the international community and the Palestinians, who wish to make it the capital of their future state. Under the same law, any amendment to the status of Jerusalem required a majority of at least 61 MPs.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas have been locked in intensive talks to hammer out a document outlining understandings on the core issues of the conflict, including Jerusalem. The sides wish to present the joint document during an international peace meeting planned to take place in Annapolis, Maryland later this year. Following the vote, Sa’ar said that the bill sends a strong message ahead of the international peace meeting. “The adoption of the new bill, two weeks before the Annapolis meeting, is a strong and clear sign to the entire international community that there is a broad consensus in Israel against concessions on Jerusalem.” Israeli-Arab MP Mohamad Barakeh accused Olmert’s centrist government of “plotting” with the opposition in a bid to hamper renewed peace talks with the Palestinians.

“Their collusion is obvious. Not only did the government not announce its position on this bill, but it also allowed members of the coalition to vote freely,” he said in a statement. “Olmert pretends he wants to advance negotiations but on the internal political scene he makes sure to place obstacles for an agreement,” Barakeh said. Last month, Olmert hinted he would be willing to give up annexed east Jerusalem neighbourhoods in a future peace deal. Following the initial reading of the bill, three further votes are required for it to become law. Meanwhile, Britain would pledge 500 million dollars in aid for Palestinian reconstruction if there is tangible progress on improving security in the region, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday.

Voicing hope for the upcoming US-sponsored Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, he called on other European countries and the United States to join Britain in committing financial help for Gaza and the West Bank. “If we can see tangible progress on security, then we, the United Kingdom, would be prepared to put a $500 million package of aid into this area so that economic reconstruction can take place,” he told the House of Commons. “We will call on the rest of the European Union and America to join us in making it possible for us to show that prosperity can result from abandoning the violence of the past.” He was speaking ahead of the Annapolis summit in the eastern US state of Maryland, seeking to revive the stalled Middle East peace process before the end of US President George W. Bush’s term of office.

“I hope that out of these meetings... we will find a framework document that can be moved forward over the next year with a view to settling all the outstanding issues,” Brown said, noting the talks are expected on Nov 22. Spokesmen for the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development (DfID) confirmed to AFP it was the first time Brown had announced a specific figure. He has previously outlined his economic “roadmap” for the Middle East, which said boosting growth and giving moderates a stake in the Palestinian economy was vital to establishing peace. Israel will announce a freeze in West Bank settlement construction prior to a US-hosted peace meeting with the Palestinians, the Haaretz newspaper reported Wednesday.

But the freeze would probably not encompass large settlement blocs that Israel wants to keep in a final peace agreement, the daily said. The Palestinians want to include all of the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, in a future state. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent on Tuesday top officials to Washington to work out exactly what the settlement freeze would entail, Haaretz said. The United States has prodded Israel to make the declaration as a gesture to the Palestinians, to make up for Israel’s refusal to discuss the core issues of a final peace agreement before the conference, Haaretz said. Israel has said it is willing to discuss the core issues, which include the fate of West Bank settlements, after the conference.