TEL AVIV - Hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unwilling to sufficiently act on illegal Jewish settlement building to stop the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, one of the Israeli architects of the deal that created it said on Wednesday.
"Netanyahu is set to announce in the coming days that he will accept a construction freeze in the West Bank settlements for 10 months but will exclude (Palestinian East) Jerusalem," said Yossi Beilin, who now leads the left-wing Meretz party.
"The Palestinians will reject the offer and this move will in effect mark a backwards step that will lead to a political vacuum and the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority," he said.
Beilin, who was one of the prime movers behind the Oslo accords of 1993 that created the Palestinian Authority, was receiving one of France's highest accolades, the Legion of Honour, from visiting Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner at the French embassy in Tel Aviv.
The opposition politician called for a complete freeze on all settlement construction in the entire West Bank, including annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem, for the next three months to build the necessary confidence for a relaunch of peace talks with the Palestinians.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has said he will not return to the talks, which he suspended at the onset of Israel's devastating offensive against Gaza last December, unless Israel accepts a total freeze.
But despite strong pressure from the United States, the Israeli premier has agreed to only limited restrictions and none whatsoever in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
All Jewish settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on Arab land (mainly Palestinian), illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.
Around 200,000 illegal Jewish settlers are estimated to have moved into the dozen or so Israeli settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
There are about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers currently living in settlements the Palestinian West Bank.
The settlers adhere to radical ideologies and are extremely violent to almost-defenceless Palestinians.
Israel occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem in 1967.
Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognised as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.
Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.
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