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            France Calls for Halt to Israeli Settlement Construction

   by VOA News

   French President Francois Hollande is calling on Israel to stop
   building settlements in occupied territory, saying the construction
   complicates ongoing negotiations with the Palestinians.
   Hollande said Monday at a joint news conference with Palestinian
   President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah that the settlements make it
   difficult for the two sides to achieve a two-state solution.
   Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began a fresh round of peace talks
   in July, committing to carry out the talks for nine months. The
   negotiations are taking place in private, but both sides have signaled
   that little progress has been made.
   However, Abbas said Monday the process will continue for the full nine
   months.
   More than one-half million Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank
   and East Jerusalem - territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war
   that Palestinians envision as part of a future independent state. The
   international community rejects those settlements as illegal.
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   lement-construction/1792164.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/france-calls-for-halt-to-israeli-settlement-construction/1792164.html