Israel is the obstacle to Mideast peace

Israel said yesterday it would continue to build its colonies in occupied East Jerusalem, defying international law, United Nations resolutions and threatening all efforts to revive the peace process.

Ironically, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the announcement in the presence of visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who claimed, like other world leaders who visited the region recently, that her trip would boost the stalled peace negotiations.

Israel's pursuit of construction of colonies in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has been one of the major reasons for the peace talks making little progress since they were renewed at the Annapolis peace conference in November. At the conference, US President George W. Bush promised that a final peace settlement would be reached by the end of this year.

This is unlikely as long as the US and other sponsors of the peace process allow Israel to starve and massacre Gazans, assassinate Palestinian leaders, arrest dozens of civilians daily and confiscate occupied land to build homes for Jewish colonists.

Instead, most Western pressure is being applied on Syria, for example. The US and the European Union are claiming Damascus is hindering the Middle East peace efforts by supporting groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. They are even asking Arab countries to boycott the Arab Summit in Damascus later this month.

But these two powers know exactly where the problem lies. As a member of the Arab League, Syria endorsed the Saudi-proposed Arab peace initiative, which offers Israel full peace in return of full withdrawal from occupied Arab lands.

Israel is the one that rejects peace offers, continues to attack its neighbours, commits war crimes and defies international law by confiscating occupied land.

Israel is the obstacle to peace. Bush, Tony Blair and Merkel know that. The problem is they are doing nothing.