CAIRO, April 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia called on Israel to give up plans of building new settlements and expanding existing Jewish settlements in West Bank, news agencies reported.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement Saturday expressed great anxiety towards the Israeli cabinet's approval of plans to expand the Maale Adoumim and Alfe Menashe settlements in the West Bank region by 700 units.
"Such unilateral actions, which run counter to the norms of international law, only fan the flame of Palestinian-Israeli conflict and make it harder to overcome the crisis, normalize the situation and resume the peace process in the Middle East," the statement said.
Russia, "which has consistently opposed to building new and expanding the existing Jewish settlements, calls on the Israeli government to stop this practice," it said.
Meanwhile, Egypt warned Sunday during a visit by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that the Palestinians cannot be "blamed for the violence expected" in response to the killing of their leaders.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa told journalists here that Israeli assassinations of prominent Palestinians was an "extremely dangerous issue," days after a Palestinian Islamic leader died when the phone booth he was in blew up.
Iyyad Hardan, the military leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, was blown up while standing in a public telephone booth; a killing the Palestinians said was an Israeli "assassination."
Hardan was the second Islamic Jihad activist to be slain in four days following warnings by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government that it would go on the offensive against those its suspects of "terrorism".
"It's a series that once started will not end. It is an action and reaction. The Palestinians cannot be blamed for the violence that is expected to result," Mussa said.
