Israel's holy site plans threaten peace talks

Netanyahu said he hoped to include Rachel´s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in a national restoration plan.

RAMALLAH, February 24, 2010 (AFP) - Israel's intention to renovate two contested West Bank holy sites could make it "difficult, if not impossible" to launch even indirect peace talks, a senior Palestinian official said Wednesday.

His remarks came as Palestinians scuffled with Israeli troops near one of the sites in Hebron for a third day, and as Israel's President Shimon Peres sought to defuse the controversy, which he called an "artificial conflict."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked outrage among Palestinians earlier this week when he said he hoped to include Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in a national heritage restoration plan.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the decision was part of "a deliberate poisoning of the atmosphere by an extreme rightwing government that does not want peace or serious negotiations."

"In these circumstances it will be difficult if not impossible to launch serious negotiations, either direct or indirect," he told reporters in Ramallah, referring to US-led efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.

The two sites are revered by Jews and Muslims, and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where the biblical figure Abraham is believed buried, has been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades.

A few hundred hardline Jewish settlers live near the site under heavy military protection and use part of the Ibrahimi mosque above the tomb as a synagogue. More than 160,000 Palestinians live in the city.

Peres insisted there would be no change in the status of the site.

"We are going to tell our children that this is a historic and holy place for the Jewish people. That does not mean that the Muslims don't have any rights there," Peres told reporters ahead of a meeting with UN envoy Robert Serry, who has expressed concern about the decision.

"We don't need artificial conflicts. It is not a conflict at all," he added.

Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz meanwhile accused the Palestinians of "exaggerating a bit, taking it to extremes."

"What do they want, that Jews won't have freedom of worship in the land of Israel?" he told public radio, referring to the biblical borders of the Jewish state. "This is not meant to create political facts, it is about preservation."

Israel has not yet finalised the list of some 150 sites to be included in the 100-million-dollar restoration project and there are no concrete plans for either site, a government spokesman said.

Netanyahu's remarks have nevertheless proved incendiary, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas saying they could unleash a "holy war" and the Islamist Hamas calling on West Bank residents to "rise up" against Israel.

A few dozen Palestinian youths hurled stones at Israeli troops patrolling Hebron for a third day and the army fired tear gas, according to the army and witnesses. There were no reports of any injuries.

The Palestinians have refused to return to peace talks suspended during last winter's Gaza war without a complete halt to Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank including east Jerusalem.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has agreed in principle to indirect talks with US mediation, but has demanded a number of guarantees from Washington.