Israel Matzav

Is this guy pro or anti-revenant?

Did Netanyahu do it himself or did he do it because America forced him to do it? Either way, Netanyahu doesn't look like much of a nationalist after cutting off 'development town' benefits from 70 Jewish cities and towns in Judea and Samaria.

On Sunday, the government voted to approve an updated version of the list, which included the 70 settlements. A day later, it was proposed to remove towns that are located beyond the Green Line from the priority map; the initiative was put up to a telephone vote, and was passed by a 15-10 margin. Several ministers abstained from the vote.

Government sources estimate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was concerned that including the settlements in the list will hurt the latest efforts to restart the peace talks with the Palestinians. Due to this fear, the West Bank communities were deemed ineligible for automatic aid.

The settlements can still apply for incentives, but the decision to grant them these benefits is left up to the government.

Settlers and officials leveled criticism at the government for passing the measure.

"It was a behind-the-scenes trick," one official said. "This story was covered up."

Some officials claimed that the exclusion was tied to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's visit to Israel, saying that it was Netanyahu's attempt to uphold his commitment to the US and Europe that the government won't do anything that might encourage settlement construction.

"The Americans must have exerted pressure to reverse the decision," one minister said.

The Prime Minister's Office refused to release the names of the ministers who votes for or against the measure.

Does that last line raise your suspicions? It sure raised mine. And apparently with good reason. If the initiative didn't come from Netanyahu, he certainly didn't do a whole lot to fight it.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu said in a joint press conference with the visiting UN chief that the government's approval of the initial, inclusive list was a mistake.

"When we realized what happened, we fixed it with a telephone vote," he said.

Netanyahu denied caving to international pressure on the matter.

Sounds two-faced to me.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Judea and Samaria

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:25 PM