Netanyahu faces calls to halt settlement-building

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to face renewed demands to halt the building of settlements on land the Palestinians want for a future state when he visits Britain today.

Netanyahu faces a firm international front demanding a full halt to his country’s four-decade-old settlement enterprise during a trip to London and Berlin.

He has heard that demand before and will almost certainly hear it again from all three of the key people he is due to meet in Europe this week: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the representative of Israel’s closest ally, US Mideast envoy George Mitchell.

Flouting the international community will demand a diplomatic cost Israel can ill afford to pay.

But at home, Netanyahu’s partners in an unruly governing coalition are pulling him in the opposite direction and are suspicious of any sign of compromise. Crossing them could unravel his hold on power.

In recent weeks, some of Netanyahu’s allies have been doing their best to draw him to the right. A group of his Cabinet ministers paid a supportive visit to an unauthorised settlement outpost in the West Bank – even though Netanyahu has promised to remove such wildcat settlements – and called on the prime minister to ignore President Barack Obama’s call to stop building homes for Jews on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Netanyahu’s four-day visit to London and Berlin is likely to showcase the tricky balancing act on which his political survival depends.

Israeli government officials say that one compromise being discussed would see Israel freeze building except for 2,500 units currently under construction.

The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank – home to some 2.5 million Palestinians – has more than doubled since the mid-1990s and now stands at around 300,000.

Netanyahu took office in March, after winning an election on a hardline platform and putting together a government in which he is one of the more moderate voices.

He first endorsed the formation of a Palestinian state, a major reversal after years of opposing the idea, though it came with strict conditions. And last week, Netanyahu’s housing minister said Israel had temporarily stopped granting approval for new building projects in the West Bank.

After that announcement, Obama said he was “encouraged by some of the things I am seeing on the ground” - an indication, perhaps, that the sides are getting close to a compromise. Netanyahu’s meeting with Mitchell on Wednesday, the key encounter of his trip, is meant to bring such an agreement even closer.

Netanyahu has also taken steps to improve life for Palestinians in the West Bank. With the territory enjoying a period of calm, some military checkpoints have been lifted, permits for importing raw materials are being granted, and there are other signs that life there is gradually assuming a semblance of normalcy.

The Palestinians say that is no replacement for political independence and have refused to renew peace talks until the Israelis freeze settlement construction.