Israel Matzav

Netanyahu: 'The hell [I'll admit that] we'll freeze settlement construction'

An 'official source' in the Prime Minister's office says that Israel will not agree to freeze 'settlement construction.'

An official source in Jerusalem told The Israel Post that "Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] received this opportunity once. This will not happen again."

"If the Palestinians want to talk they know we are waiting for them at the table," the source said.

Well, yeah. Except that there already is a de facto freeze. At least for now.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has quietly curbed new building projects in Jewish settlements, an Israeli watchdog group and media reports said on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to help U.S. efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.

"We see there have been no new construction tenders issued for the West Bank since President Barack Obama visited (in March)," Yariv Oppenheimer, head of Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, told Reuters after assessing the group's data.

Israeli Army Radio reported that Netanyahu had met Housing Minister Uri Ariel to order a freeze in tenders for new housing projects in settlements in the West Bank, effectively delaying the construction of hundreds of homes.

The Haaretz newspaper, quoting unidentified senior officials, said Netanyahu had promised U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he would refrain until mid-June from publishing new tenders in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, settlement freeze

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:45 AM