Israel opposition leader pledges to curtail settlement in West Bank

Israel's opposition leader promised on Tuesday to revive peace talks with the Palestinians and curtail Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, should he win the upcoming March 17 elections.

Speaking at a press briefing in Jerusalem, Isaac Herzog, head of the centre-left Zionist Union coalition, said he would stop Jewish construction outside major settlement blocs.

However, he supports expansion of settlements within the blocs, such as Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion, which he considers "very important for Israel's welfare and security."

Herzog and his political partner, Tzipi Livni, former Justice Minister and peace negotiator, are in a tight race against Benjamin Netanyahu, who is campaigning for a fourth term as Israel' s prime minister.

"We are in the midst of an election campaign and I intend to win the elections and shape the coming Israeli government," he said.

Herzog said that as prime minister, he plans to restart negotiations with the Palestinians, when the last round of talks collapsed the previous year amid Israeli settlement expansion in Palestinian territory.

"I will renew the process with our Palestinian neighbors based on a regional platform, primarily Jordan and Egypt," he said.

However, he clarified he will not negotiate with Palestinians under any circumstances.

"I don't know what type of Palestinian leadership I will find," he said. "It could be a leadership style in love with unilateral steps, including threatening our offspring in the International Court of Justice, something totally unacceptable to me," he added.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast War and has controlled it ever since.

Palestinians oppose Israeli construction on their lands, and international law considers the settlements, either within or out of the clusters, a legal violation.

According to a report released on Monday by the the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now, Israel set a 10-year record last year for the number of settlement construction tenders issued on occupied land in Palestinian territories. Enditem