Palestinians snub US request

RAMALLAH (AFP) - The Palestinians on Saturday insisted on a full Israeli settlement freeze before renewing peace efforts, putting a damper on a US call to revive talks with no preconditions.
A resumption of peace talks requires the complete halt of settlements in the occupied West Bank, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.
Erakat also demanded that Israel comply with its commitment under the 2003 international roadmap for peace that calls for a halt to all settlement activity including natural growth and Jerusalem.
Negotiations should be picked up from the point they were left when they broke down in December 2008, he said.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume the peace talks without preconditions, in Washingtons latest bid to return the sides to the negotiations table.
Hillary backed the key Palestinian aim of creating a state along the borders that existed before the 1967 Israeli-Arab war, but said the lines would be modified through mutually agreed land swaps, presumably to account for some Israeli settlements that would remain.
The Palestinian stand was backed by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Germany who met in Riyadh on Saturday.
The illegal settlements... constitute a major obstacle to peace talks, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in a joint news conference with Germanys Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
A freeze on settlements is one of the main commitments of the peace process. It is not a Palestinian condition to resuming negotiations as Israel is trying to promote, he said.
Westerwelle said a settlement freeze was part of the 2003 roadmap set out for peace by the West.
The roadmap conditions constitute an important building block for reviving the peace process, he told reporters. This also includes freezing of settlement activities.
The two diplomats said that they agreed in their talks that resolving Afghanistans problems required more money and work to help the country develop.
Westerwelle and Prince Saud also said their talks addressed Irans nuclear programme and Yemen, where domestic political strife and the growing influence of Al-Qaeda have weakened the government.
We support all international efforts to stabilise the country. We are open to discussing the issue in London at the Afghanistan conference in the British capital on January 28, Westerwelle said.
What is decisive is to strengthen state institutions in such a way so that they can ensure security, he said.
Stability (in Yemen) is a priority for us, added Prince Saud, whose countrys armed forces have since November joined the Yemeni military in battling Shiite Huthi rebels in rugged northwest Yemen.
Resolving borders resolves settlements. Resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements, the chief US diplomat told reporters after meeting Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Washington.
We are working with the Israelis, the (Palestinian Authority), and the Arab states to take the steps needed to relaunch the negotiations as soon as possible and without preconditions, Hillary said.
The parties can reach a solution that reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognised borders, she said.