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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090723/wl_mideast_afp/mideastdiplomacyfranceisraelgaza_20090723164543
Israel Rejects French Call to Freeze Settlements
[AFP] Israel on Thursday rejected calls by France to freeze Jewish settlement building and to reopen border crossings into Hamas-ruled Gaza. "A solution to the settlements can only be reached through a comprehensive and final peace agreement," said Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. "In order to promote peace, France would do well to persuade the Palestinian Authority to resume negotiations" with Israel, he added. Palmor said Israel's blockade of Gaza was the result of "the state of war imposed by Hamas" as well as the "detention for more than three years of (Israeli-French) soldier Gilad Shalit."