Ramallah - The Palestinian Authority (PA) has set its hopes on the US administration to force Israel to stop expanding settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Saturday. In an interview with Voice of Palestine radio, Erekat said the US administration can urge Israel to meet its obligations under the road map peace plan which envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The peace plan was formulated in 2003 by the international Mideast quartet of the UN, the European Union, Russia and the US.
Erekat mentioned stopping the building of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, removing the settlements that were built since 2001, reopening the PA offices in east Jerusalem, stopping military escalation, releasing prisoners and lifting closures and roadblocks.
"All of these were Israel's obligations under the road map and it did not carry out any single article of the requirements," Erekat said.
"For our obligations, we are committed in building the institutions and committed in the security file though I cannot say we have completed this issue," the Palestinian negotiator said.
Israel announced plans to expand more settlements in the disputed city of Jerusalem despite the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The negotiations were resumed in December following a US- hosted peace conference in Annapolis.
The PA considers the settlement expansion a clear violation of the road map and another obstacle to the negotiation process.
On Friday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admonished both Israel and the Palestinians, saying the peace process was unsustainable without improvements from both sides.
"Frankly, not nearly enough has happened to demonstrate that the Israelis and the Palestinians fully understand" what is needed, Rice told reporters during a Latin American trip.
"There is a lot of room for improvement on both sides concerning road map obligations. Without improvement on the ground, it's very hard to sustain this process," Rice said.
