EU ambassador: Israel to be responsible for failure of peace negotiations

Palestinian negotiators insist that Israeli settlement construction must stop before a comprehensive final-status agreement can be reached European Union ambassador to Israel Lars Anderson has warned Israel of the failure of peace talks with the Palestinians over its settlement building. In an interview with Israeli Walla news site, Anderson said he explained to Israeli officials that any announcement of building new settlements will strongly harm the ongoing peace negotiation with the Palestinians. Israel will be fully responsible for the failure of negotiations in such case, he warned. The European diplomat went on to say that ambassadors of major countries share the same point of view. Palestinian-Israeli talks hit a snag following the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s announcement in November that it planned to build a host of new Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian negotiators insist that Israeli settlement construction must stop before a comprehensive final-status agreement can be reached.