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Israel Still Waiting for Palestinian Response on Start of Negotiations
[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon said Wednesday that Israel is still "waiting for the response of the Palestinians to our call to sit with us directly, and without any preconditions....We would like to sit with them in order to solve many of the issues." "Irrespective of that, we are moving forward on the other two tracks that Israel believes are major pillars to establish peaceful coexistence and, hopefully, peaceful relations and a treaty with the Palestinians." "We support and applaud the good work of General Dayton, the Europeans, and anyone who can help build the Palestinians' capacity to govern themselves in a responsible way, to do away with terror....This capacity building is continuing with the help and facilitation of the Israeli government." "Israel has taken major steps to help spur the Palestinian West Bank economy....We have removed two-thirds of the checkpoints: out of 41, only 14 remain in operation....All checkpoints surrounding major cities in the West Bank are now removed." "The growth that we see in the Palestinian economy in 2008...according to the World Bank, is 8% and according to the forecast of the World Bank we have 8% growth for the next two years for the Palestinians. We see decreasing unemployment in the West Bank."