BICOM

Israel’s Army Radio reported yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Housing Minister and Jewish Home MK Uri Ariel to put on hold a number of government tenders for construction projects in the West Bank.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office, nor Ariel would comment on the report. Ariel would only confirm that he held a private conversation with Netanyahu, saying “I am not commenting. A minister sits with his prime minister. If they want to go public, they have ways to go public. If they want it stay between them, it will stay between them.” Although declining to call it a “settlement freeze,” anti-settlement pressure group Peace Now said that since President Obama’s visit in March, Israel’s government had not approved any new plans or tenders for settlement construction.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has demanded that all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem must be halted as a condition to re-entering direct peace talks with Israel. However, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said “We have not been notified of any changes” to Israel’s building plans, while Nabil Abu Rdaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas commented that if there is “A freeze in settlement construction” then “We must hear Israel state this policy officially.” Netanyahu did institute a ten-month moratorium on settlement construction in 2010, but the PA agreed to short-lived talks only during the final month of the freeze.

The Army Radio report comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet today in Rome with Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who will also head any future Israeli delegation in peace talks with the Palestinians. It will be the second time that the two have met during the last week. Since taking office, Kerry has made a concerted effort to kick-start direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.