Tweet
Netanyahu: No extension to settlement freeze
TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would not extend restrictions on settlement construction, due to expire later this month, Israeli press reported.
Netanyahu's refusal comes despite widespread international pressure, from the US and UN amongst others, to extend the partial 10-month moratorium. President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to walk out of peace talks if full-scale settlement construction resumes on land which would be a Palestinian state under a peace agreement.
Linking settlement expansion to security, the prime minister pointed to attacks launched from Gaza after Israel removed its settlements from the coastal enclave in 2006. Netanyahu told ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting "I stand firmly behind Israel's security needs, to prevent a repetition of the rocket fire on Israel's citizens from Gaza," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Over the weekend, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told his British counterpart William Hague that Israel would not extend the moratorium on settlement building past its late-September deadline, Haaretz said Saturday. The demand that Israel limited construction on Palestinian land, Lieberman continued, was "just a Palestinian excuse to undermine peace talks," the daily said.
Regarding the future of peace talks, Lieberman said "Israel would be happy to continue on the track of direct peace negotiations without preconditions, including no conditions regarding the future of the settlement construction freeze."
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are scheduled to meet in the US on Sunday to discuss the next meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316117
Looks like this is the deal...
TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would not extend restrictions on settlement construction, due to expire later this month, Israeli press reported.
Netanyahu's refusal comes despite widespread international pressure, from the US and UN amongst others, to extend the partial 10-month moratorium. President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to walk out of peace talks if full-scale settlement construction resumes on land which would be a Palestinian state under a peace agreement.
Linking settlement expansion to security, the prime minister pointed to attacks launched from Gaza after Israel removed its settlements from the coastal enclave in 2006. Netanyahu told ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting "I stand firmly behind Israel's security needs, to prevent a repetition of the rocket fire on Israel's citizens from Gaza," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Over the weekend, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told his British counterpart William Hague that Israel would not extend the moratorium on settlement building past its late-September deadline, Haaretz said Saturday. The demand that Israel limited construction on Palestinian land, Lieberman continued, was "just a Palestinian excuse to undermine peace talks," the daily said.
Regarding the future of peace talks, Lieberman said "Israel would be happy to continue on the track of direct peace negotiations without preconditions, including no conditions regarding the future of the settlement construction freeze."
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are scheduled to meet in the US on Sunday to discuss the next meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316117
Looks like this is the deal...
Comment