国际英语新闻：Arabs wave to close normalizing ties door with Israel

CAIRO, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- As a response to Israeli continued evasion to the settlements issue, Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa said Sunday Arabs should not normalize relations with Israel as long as it is planning to build more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

    "It is impossible to speak of normalization while Israel rejects to take any significant measure," Moussa told a joint press conference with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, adding that the Israeli position would not lead to any progress towards the peace process.

    Moussa's remarks came after the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to approve next week plans for hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank before considering a moratorium "for a few months" on further construction.

    Moussa ruled out any steps taken by Arabs to normalize relations with Israel, calling for closing the issue of normalization.

    "I don't believe that any Arab government can offer Israel the gift of normalization on a silver plate," he said, adding "this issue must be closed."

    He warned that "if we know that someone normalized ties with Israel, I believe that there would be a very violent reaction across the Arab world."

    Meshaal echoed Moussa's statements, saying that he is against giving Israel the reward of normalization.

    The Hamas politburo chief warned Arab countries against normalizing relations with Israel, expressing his worry about temporary suspension of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in exchange for resuming peace negotiations and Arab'sties normalization with Israel.

    Meshaal called on Arab countries not to offer free concessions to the Israeli side, adding that U.S. President Barack Obama's administration needs to push Palestinian-Israeli file forward to return to peace negotiations.

    He stressed that any normalization of ties with Israel would be a "reward to Israelis" in return to an "artificial step," referring to Israel's freezing of settlements for nine months.

    He also called on the Arab countries to save their papers until the Palestinian people get their national rights.

    Meanwhile, Egypt on Sunday called for the full freezing of Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

    Spokesman of Egyptian Foreign Ministry Hossam Zaki said in a statement that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit emphasized "the necessity of the full freeze of Israeli settlements so as to create the appropriate atmosphere to resume peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis."

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday slammed the Israeli settlement plan, saying the Israeli's remarks about accelerating building settlements are "unacceptable" and "useless."

    He called for a full freeze of these settlements as a condition for his meeting with Netanyahu.

    The Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, also urged Abbas on Sunday to resist international pressures to meet Netanyahu.

    Abbas should know from previous experiences that "negotiations and meetings with leaders of Israel are useless," said Yousef Rizka, an aide to Hamas' deposed premier Ismail Haneya.

    Abbas has not met with Netanyahu since the latter took office in early April. But earlier reports said the two leaders are likely to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.

    For months, Washington has pushed Israel to freeze all settlement activity so as to revive peace talks in the Middle East, which has stopped since the Israeli war on the Gaza that ended in January.

    Earlier on Friday, Obama's administration said it regrets the reports of Israel's plans to approve additional Jewish settlement construction, adding that continued settlement activity is "inconsistent" with Israel's commitment under the Roadmap peace initiative.

    "The United State does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop. We are working to create a climate in which negotiations can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate," said the White House in a statement.

    Some 450,000 Israelis are now living in more than 100 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.