Israel Matzav

'I froze 'settlement construction' but Obama made me do it'

Prime Minister Netanyahu admitted on Thursday that he froze all 'settlement construction' in Judea and Samaria, but claimed that the Obama administration forced him to do it.

In the night-time meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, whose details were reported on Friday by journalist Ariel Kahane of Makor Rishon, nearly all the leaders of the regional councils were present, as well as Dani Dayan, Chief Foreign Envoy of the Council of Judea and Samaria, and Ze'ev Haver, the chaiman of the Amana housing organization.

Netanyahu acknowledged that American demands led to the cancellation of high planning council meetings of the IDF's civil administration that manages the Judea and Samaria region.
The prime minister reportedly requested that the Housing Ministry freeze new construction projects in Judea and Samaria earlier in the month, despite the collapse of peace talks, and despite the fact that he chose to release jailed terrorists instead of freezing building as a condition of the talks.

In the meeting the prime minister did not deny having giving the order to freeze construction, but claimed to the representatives of Judea and Samaria residents that he wasn't aware of the results of his actions on the region.

On the way out of the meeting, the representatives looked for Prime Minister Netanyahu's backbone. No word yet on whether they found it.

But in all fairness, if Netanyahu had accepted the 'settlement freeze' and not released the terrorists, the 'Palestinians' would have said that releasing terrorists is crucial to the 'peace process' and they cannot go ahead without it.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, John Kerry, Judea and Samaria, Middle East peace process, settlement freeze

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:50 PM