Erekat: PM's pledge to remove outposts falls short of Israel's commitments

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement to the cabinet that he would remove all unauthorized West Bank outposts, falls far short of Israel's commitments. He noted that a string of Israeli leaders have maintained that Israel should be allowed to build in existing settlements to account for "natural growth." "He omitted from the Israeli obligation in the road map that the Israeli government must freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth," Erekat said. "Either it's a 100 percent settlement freeze or no settlement freeze. There is nothing in the middle."