Brown condemns Israeli settlements
Gordon Brown has issued a condemnation of Israeli settlement-building in the Middle East ahead of a visit by prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Mr Olmert’s trip come one day after that of his Palestinian counterpart Salam Fayyad.
Speaking at a press conference with Mr Fayyad yesterday, Mr Brown described the settlements in the West Bank as an obstacle to progress.
“I hope in the next few weeks and months this will be recognised as a barrier that has got to be overcome,” he said.
Mr Brown called for an economically viable Palestinian state to co-exist alongside a secure Israel.
As well as the Middle East peace process, the two leaders discussed responses to Iran nuclear ambitions.
Mr Brown is also understood to have pressed Mr Olmert to lift constraints on the Palistinian economy.
Those calls echoe statements by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to end the Israeli policy of restricting cash shipments to Gaza banks. The policy is desgined to starve Hamas of funds.
Mr Brown has called on US president-elect Barack Obama to make the Middle East one of his central priorities once he is in office.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank contravene international law and are almost universally opposed overseas, not least by the US.
But the forced dismantling of settlements makes for disastrous TV images in Israel, and governments have a tendency to quietly allow the settlements to continue.
