Ha'aretz today

Clinton: Israel to agree to temporary settlement freeze

By Barak Ravid and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies Israel will agree to temporarily freeze construction in settlements in the framework of new understandings that Jerusalem will reach with Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told European foreign ministers last week. Commenting on Clinton's statements, Israeli and American sources confirmed that the parties were close to reaching an agreement. But they said the deal was not expected to be mentioned publicly in the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. Mitchell: U.S. wants Syria help in Israel-Palestinian talks The United States wants Syria's help in forging a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. envoy George Mitchell said Sunday. Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, said after meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad that restarting talks between Syria, which backs the Palestinian group Hamas, and Israel was a "near-term goal" for Washington. Rahat residents: We won't let rightists defile our pure soil Hundreds of Rahat residents demonstrated on Sunday ahead of a planned rightist march in their town, to be headed by far-right activists MK Michael Ben-Ari, Itamar Ben Gvir and Baruch Marzel, in protest of illegal construction in the southern Israeli town.