Palestinians: U.S. offers no compromise on Jewish settlement

The United States did not offer any formula of compromise to the Palestinians and Israel about the construction of Jewish settlements in occupied land, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.

"The Palestinian side did not hear any solutions by the U.S. administration to their demands of complete stopping of settlement, " said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the negotiation team.

He said the Palestinian position agrees with the U.S. and European stance that Israel should renew a moratorium on settlement constructions due to expire on September 26.

Abed Rabbo stressed that the Palestinian leadership "will not accept middle-ground solutions" for settlements in the West Bank. "Any such compromises would destroy the peace negotiations and will keep settlement activities on going."

Media reports said that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered the compromise as she is in the region. On Tuesday, Clinton participated in a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Egypt, the second in two weeks since Washington brokered the resumption of negotiations on September 2.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at keeping some sort of restrictions on settlement building though he ruled out extending the moratorium.

Source: Xinhua