Israeli opposition chief for partial settlement freeze

The leader of Israel's main opposition Kadima party came out in favour of an extension of the freeze on settlement building in an interview on Saturday. Tzipi Livni spoke out after maintaining several weeks of silence on the issue, which is threatening recently restarted peace talks with the Palestinians. "For as long as I thought that it was possible to negotiate a peace agreement without paying the price of a freeze, I stayed silent," she told Israeli television. "But today I think that the time has come to criticise the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this point," she added. The government should accept the US proposal to extend the moratorium on settlement building that ended on September 26, she added. Israel's security cabinet met on Wednesday but, despite requests by several ministers, the renewal of a freeze on Jewish settlement building was not discussed. Israel has been silent on the moratorium, while the Palestinians are adamant they will not talk as settlers resume building on land they want as a future state. On Friday, Arab League foreign ministers gave the United States a month to save the peace talks by getting Israel to change its position on settlement building, a decision welcomed by several European governments. The Arab League Follow-up Committee said it "supports the position of the Palestinian president calling for a total cessation of settlement to allow the resumption of direct negotiations." US President Barack Obama has repeatedly urged Israel to extend the 10-month moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank to save the peace talks that were launched in Washington on September 2.