Majority of Likud MK's sign letter opposing 'settlement freeze' extension
Fourteen of the Likud's 27 Knesset members, including three cabinet ministers, have signed a petition urging the rejection of the 'settlement freeze' extension sold by Secretary of State Clinton to Prime Minister Netanyahu last Thursday. More Knesset members are expected to sign in the coming days. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon, Vice Premier and Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom and Minister-without-Portfolio Bennie Begin added their signatures to a letter by the Judea and Samaria regional council which calls on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to renew the moratorium. The letter has been signed by 14 Likud members so far.Meanwhile, a survey shows that a plurality of the Israeli public is also opposed to the 'settlement freeze' extension.
As a result, a majority of Likud ministers are opposed to a renewal of the freeze. Of the remaining 12 ministers, three are expected to be in favor.
"We, Likud faction members, are expressing our opposition to the settlement construction freeze in Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria," said the letter. "The decision of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet from November 25, 2009 should be implemented, in which it was decided that 'with the end of the suspension [freeze], the previous government's policy on construction in Judea and Samaria will be implemented.'"
In an interview with Israel Radio on Wednesday, Ya'alon harshly criticized the US proposal to extend the freeze by three months.
If Israel accepts the requested moratorium extension, it will be a surrender to the Palestinian position and a declaration of Israel's inability to stand by it principles during negotiations, said Ya'alon.
He added that he found it hard to believe that the US would provide firm guarantees that building could continue in the neighborhoods of east Jerusalem and that the new freeze extension would be the last one, and, therefore, whether there would be an agreement with the US.
Ya'alon also stated in the Israel Radio interview his unqualified opposition to a continuation of the building freeze.
A telephone poll conducted by Geocartography has found that only 40% of Israeli Jews support another freeze on Jewish construction.These kinds of results did not stop Ariel Sharon five years ago. Will they stop Binyamin Netanyahu? Maybe. He's not as stubborn as Sharon was.
When asked, "Should Israel accept the American offer in exchange for the three month freeze?" 40% said “Yes”, 42% said “No”, and 18% said “Don’t know”.
When asked, "What is your confidence in PM Netanyahu if he accepts the American proposal?" 32% said “Down”, 20% said “Up”, and 48% said “No change/Don’t know”.
The picture at the top is Likud MK Danny Danon.
Labels: Benny Begin, Binyamin Netanyahu, Danny Danon, Moshe Yaalon, settlement freeze extension
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:23 PM
2 Comments:
Netanyahu needs American guarantees in writing to win a vote in the Cabinet. And Shas has now revealed it may come off the fence to vote against a revanant freeze extension.
My guess is he won't receive that letter and if he does, he will find the terms have changed from what Hillary Clinton told him last week.
In other words, don't look for the freeze to be re-imposed in the near future.
Even in writing I wouldn't trust it. The Bush letter was also in writing. And the Eisenhower letter promising to keep international waterways open (from 1957) was in writing. By May 1967 it had disappeared.
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