Livni: “Settlements issue, over exaggerated”

Tuesday November 18, 2008 00:29 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

During her meeting with the British Foreign Minister, David Miliband, Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, claimed that the issue of settlements in the occupied territories is “an over exaggerated thing”  and demanded the UK to lift the restrictions on importing products manufactured in Israeli settlements, in addition to voiding arrest warrants against a number of Israeli military officials.

Image by Reuters

Livni rejected the British intentions to impose restrictions on settlement products and the intentions to place an identification mark of these products in UK stores.

The UK decision was met with anger by Israel but Miliband stated that the British government is under internal pressures to cease importing goods and products manufactured in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

Livni told Miliband that “she realizes the amount of pressure” but added that stating that settlements are obstructing peace “is over exaggeration”.

She also claimed that the Israeli government does not intend to construct new settlements.

Several reports in Britain stated that a number of supermarkets have already pulled settlement products. Critics expressed concern that some settlement products label the items as “produce of the West Bank”.

The Israeli position is that there is no legal mechanism to label the products by their “geographical origin”.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, also met with Miliband and demanded him to solve the issue of the arrests warrants against a number of Israeli military officials for committing war crimes against the Palestinians.

Miliband said that efforts are being conducted to resolve this issue “but there are still some complications”.

Miliband intends to visit Syria for talks with the Syrian leadership, an issue which was criticized by Israel.

Livni said that the international community must place conditions on Syria “before embracing the country”.

She added that Syria must be obliged to bar the transfer for weapons to the Lebanon-based Hezbollah part, and “must choose between relations with the West and the continued support to arms smuggling and terrorism”.

international | israeli settlement | news report saed at imemc dot org