PM to Abbas: We'll continue building in settlements
During talks in Jerusalem, Netanyahu tells Palestinian president his stance on West Bank construction has not changed. PA official says Abbas threatened to quit talks.
Attila Somfalvi
Latest Update: 09.16.10, 00:03 / Israel News
During their meeting in Jerusalem Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel plans to resume construction in the West Bank settlements once the moratorium expires on September 26.
A senior Palestinian official reported that following the meeting Abbas threatened to quit the direct peace talks if building is resumed in the settlements
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special Mideast envoy George Mitchell also took part in the two-hour meeting at the PM's official residence, where Israeli, Palestinian, and American flags were displayed.
"The prime minister is hosting Abu Mazen (Abbas) in his home in friendship and benevolence, but during the talks themselves, he will insist adamantly on Israel's security needs. There are no compromises on this matter," a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said.
A Palestinian source told Ynet after the meeting that no breakthrough has been made that would allow the negotiations to continue without the "threat of renewed settlement construction."
The Palestinians told Netanyahu and Clinton that the resumption of settlement construction would make it difficult for them to continue negotiating with Israel.
However, one official said the Palestinians were under heavy pressure not to quit the talks and that the Americans have suggested that construction be resumed only in the major settlement blocs.
Mitchell said Wednesday night that Israel and the Palestinians are addressing the core disputes.
"They are tackling up front ... the issues that are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Mitchell told reporters after Netanyahu and Abbas met
"I will say that the two leaders are not leaving the tough issues to the end of their discussions ... We take this as a strong indicator of their belief that peace is possible."
Mitchell added that the US was working to renew the negotiations between Israel and Syria.
The US envoy is expected to travel to Damascus on Thursday and then head to Lebanon.
At the opening of the meeting, a smiling Netanyahu said he was happy to host Abbas, adding that "we have much work to do." Abbas, also smiling, humorously responded by saying the two leaders "haven't met in a while."
The Palestinian leader signed the guestbook at the PM's residence, writing that he is back at the site after a long absence to continue the negotiations, in the hopes of securing eternal peace in the entire region.
Abbas wrote that he especially wishes to secure peace "between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people."
The two leaders are expected to hold more talks after dinner.
source:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3954938,00.html
Showing posts with label Netanyahu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netanyahu. Show all posts
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Netanyahu says settlement freeze will end, sort of
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau on Sunday reiterated that he will not extend a self-imposed 10-month building Jewish building freeze in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") beyond its September 26 expiration date.
But Netanyahu also said Israel would not rush ahead with construction once the freeze ends.
"We will not build all of the tens of thousands of residential units that are in the planning stages," Netanyahu told visiting international peace envoy Tony Blair. "But we will not freeze the lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria and we will not freeze construction."
Netanyahu imposed the freeze last November as a means of enticing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas waiting until the very last minute to accept the gesture, and now insists extending the freeze is a precondition to continuing the renewed peace negotiations.
Netanyahu said he rejects any Palestinian preconditions, just as Abbas has rejected Israel's precondition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as "the Jewish state."
Abbas has repeatedly threatened to end negotiations if any Jewish construction takes place in Judea and Samaria after September 26.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=79
But Netanyahu also said Israel would not rush ahead with construction once the freeze ends.
"We will not build all of the tens of thousands of residential units that are in the planning stages," Netanyahu told visiting international peace envoy Tony Blair. "But we will not freeze the lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria and we will not freeze construction."
Netanyahu imposed the freeze last November as a means of enticing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas waiting until the very last minute to accept the gesture, and now insists extending the freeze is a precondition to continuing the renewed peace negotiations.
Netanyahu said he rejects any Palestinian preconditions, just as Abbas has rejected Israel's precondition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as "the Jewish state."
Abbas has repeatedly threatened to end negotiations if any Jewish construction takes place in Judea and Samaria after September 26.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=79
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Palestinians say unwilling to compromise for peace
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas clarified for his people on Monday that he intends to make not even one concession or compromise in direct peace negotiations with Israel, and that for a final status peace to be achieved, Israel will have to fully meet all Arab demands and abandon its own conditions.
First and foremost, Abbas told Palestinian newspapers that if the Jewish building freeze in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") is not extended indefinitely, the negotiations will come to an immediate halt. But Abbas also said he would walk out of the talks if he is pressured at all to alter the Palestinians' more hardline positions.
"If they demand concessions on the rights of the refugees or the 1967 borders, I will quit. I can’t allow myself to make even one concession," Abbas told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam.
Abbas was referring to the Palestinian demand that Israel solve the purported "Palestinian refugee" issue by opening its border to millions of new Arab citizens. Abbas has long championed that demand, despite the fact that it would mean the demographic destruction of the Jewish state. Even Israel's most liberal politicians reject the so-called "right of return."
The Palestinian leader's position on the issue was two-faced, as he then turned around and insisted that an independent Palestinian state created by the current peace process must not have a single Jew living in it. "We clarified that [the Palestinian Authority] would not agree to continued Israeli presence, military or civil, within a future Palestinian state," Abbas said.
In speaking of the 1967 borders, Abbas made it clear that he will not allow Israel to maintain control over a united Jerusalem as part of any peace deal. Up until 1967, the eastern half of Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Jordan. The Palestinians now claim it as their rightful capital.
Abbas reiterated his position in an interview with Jerusalem-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds when he rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talk of a historic compromise between the two sides in order to reach a durable peace agreement.
Abbas also addressed Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as "the Jewish state."
"We're not talking about a Jewish state and we won't talk about one," Abbas said. "For us, there is the state of Israel and we won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state."
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21833
First and foremost, Abbas told Palestinian newspapers that if the Jewish building freeze in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") is not extended indefinitely, the negotiations will come to an immediate halt. But Abbas also said he would walk out of the talks if he is pressured at all to alter the Palestinians' more hardline positions.
"If they demand concessions on the rights of the refugees or the 1967 borders, I will quit. I can’t allow myself to make even one concession," Abbas told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam.
Abbas was referring to the Palestinian demand that Israel solve the purported "Palestinian refugee" issue by opening its border to millions of new Arab citizens. Abbas has long championed that demand, despite the fact that it would mean the demographic destruction of the Jewish state. Even Israel's most liberal politicians reject the so-called "right of return."
The Palestinian leader's position on the issue was two-faced, as he then turned around and insisted that an independent Palestinian state created by the current peace process must not have a single Jew living in it. "We clarified that [the Palestinian Authority] would not agree to continued Israeli presence, military or civil, within a future Palestinian state," Abbas said.
In speaking of the 1967 borders, Abbas made it clear that he will not allow Israel to maintain control over a united Jerusalem as part of any peace deal. Up until 1967, the eastern half of Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Jordan. The Palestinians now claim it as their rightful capital.
Abbas reiterated his position in an interview with Jerusalem-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds when he rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talk of a historic compromise between the two sides in order to reach a durable peace agreement.
Abbas also addressed Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as "the Jewish state."
"We're not talking about a Jewish state and we won't talk about one," Abbas said. "For us, there is the state of Israel and we won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state."
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21833
Monday, July 12, 2010
Israel wants peace talks, Palestinians say 'not yet'
In interviews with the American media on the weekend following his visit to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his message that he is ready to immediately sit down with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and negotiate a final status peace agreement.
"You cannot resolve a conflict, you cannot successfully complete a peace negotiation if you don't start it. And I say let's start it right now, today, tomorrow, in Jerusalem, in Ramallah or anywhere else," Netanyahu told CNN interviewer Larry King.
But Netanyahu insisted this time around the Israelis and Palestinians must stop bickering over small points and look forward to a comprehensive and general peace so that the region can move on from conflict.
"Going at it piecemeal, piece by piece, is just to have a thousand cuts without seeing where this thing leads," he told the Council on Foreign Relations.
Netanyahu said he impressed these points upon US President Barack Obama when they met in the Oval Office last week, and the White House confirmed that Obama had followed up by phoning Abbas and insisting that direct Israeli-Palestinian talks begin by September.
But on Saturday Abbas said he was happy to continue indirect US-hosted peace talks, at least until the American pressure results in more Israeli concessions.
"We said that if there is progress we will go to direct talks. If no progress happens, what is the benefit of negotiations that will be futile and useless?" Abbas asked reporters in Ramallah.
Abbas then appeared to throw a wrench in plans to resume peace negotiations when he set the precondition that under any final status peace deal, all Jewish communities deemed to be built on "Palestinian land" must be fully dismantled, including the large Jewish neighborhoods on the eastern side of Jerusalem.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21494
"You cannot resolve a conflict, you cannot successfully complete a peace negotiation if you don't start it. And I say let's start it right now, today, tomorrow, in Jerusalem, in Ramallah or anywhere else," Netanyahu told CNN interviewer Larry King.
But Netanyahu insisted this time around the Israelis and Palestinians must stop bickering over small points and look forward to a comprehensive and general peace so that the region can move on from conflict.
"Going at it piecemeal, piece by piece, is just to have a thousand cuts without seeing where this thing leads," he told the Council on Foreign Relations.
Netanyahu said he impressed these points upon US President Barack Obama when they met in the Oval Office last week, and the White House confirmed that Obama had followed up by phoning Abbas and insisting that direct Israeli-Palestinian talks begin by September.
But on Saturday Abbas said he was happy to continue indirect US-hosted peace talks, at least until the American pressure results in more Israeli concessions.
"We said that if there is progress we will go to direct talks. If no progress happens, what is the benefit of negotiations that will be futile and useless?" Abbas asked reporters in Ramallah.
Abbas then appeared to throw a wrench in plans to resume peace negotiations when he set the precondition that under any final status peace deal, all Jewish communities deemed to be built on "Palestinian land" must be fully dismantled, including the large Jewish neighborhoods on the eastern side of Jerusalem.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21494
Thursday, June 3, 2010
‘We face international hypocrisy’
By JPOST.COM STAFF
06/02/2010 20:20
PM: "This was not a 'Love Boat', it was a hate boat."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night, made his first public statement to the nation after the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine activists dead and has wreaked havoc in the international media.
Speaking live to the nation, Netanyahu said, "The State of Israel faces an attack of international hypocrisy. This is not the first time we have faced this, two years ago we faced a massive attack of missiles fired by Hamas who hid behind civilians. Israel went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties but who did the UN condemn? It condemned Israel."
"Hamas continues to arm. Iran continues to send weapons to Gaza. Iran's rockets are intended to hit Israeli communities, not just in the vicinity of Gaza, but in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."
"It is our right according to International law to prevent arms smuggling to Gaza and that is why the naval blockade was put in place. The flotilla intended to break the blockade, not to bring in emergency supplies which we allow to reach Gaza"
"If the blockade had been broken, hundreds of ships would have followed, with a scale of smuggling far greater than that possible in the tunnels. Two ships stopped in the last years -Francop and Karine-A - had hundreds of tons of weapons."
"It is our duty to examine any ship going to Gaza - If we don't do this, the result would be an Iranian port in Gaza, only a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv, which would also threaten other countries in the region. We offered to take the cargo to Ashdod and examine it, an offer which Egypt seconded. The flotilla leaders rejected this."
"The takeover of five of the ships passed quietly. In the sixth ship, our soldiers encountered an extreme group that supports Hamas terror. This wasn't the "love boat" this was a flotilla of terror supporters."
"I talked to our soldiers, they were shot at. There was an attempt to lynch them.
These are pacifists? The soldiers defended their lives with incomparable restraint.
What would any other country do? At best, they would act in the same way, or much worse."
"Of course we regret the loss of life, but I ask the international community what would you do instead? We'll continue to defend our citizens and assert our right for self defense, which is my first duty as Prime Minister."
"It is important that we stay united on this issue, which is a matter of life and death."
The Karine-A was an Iranian ship carrying arms to Gaza which Israeli troops boarded eight years ago in the Red Sea. The MV Francop was an Iranian arms ship that was boarded off the coast of Cyprus. and was carrying arms to Hizbullah. Another Iranian ship, the Monchegorsk was seized by Cypriot authorities in 2009.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided on Tuesday that Israel would not prosecute or continue to hold the participants it captured from the Gaza protest flotilla, despite earlier plans to put on trial those who had attacked the soldiers boarding the ships.
06/02/2010 20:20
PM: "This was not a 'Love Boat', it was a hate boat."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night, made his first public statement to the nation after the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine activists dead and has wreaked havoc in the international media.
Speaking live to the nation, Netanyahu said, "The State of Israel faces an attack of international hypocrisy. This is not the first time we have faced this, two years ago we faced a massive attack of missiles fired by Hamas who hid behind civilians. Israel went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties but who did the UN condemn? It condemned Israel."
"Hamas continues to arm. Iran continues to send weapons to Gaza. Iran's rockets are intended to hit Israeli communities, not just in the vicinity of Gaza, but in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."
"It is our right according to International law to prevent arms smuggling to Gaza and that is why the naval blockade was put in place. The flotilla intended to break the blockade, not to bring in emergency supplies which we allow to reach Gaza"
"If the blockade had been broken, hundreds of ships would have followed, with a scale of smuggling far greater than that possible in the tunnels. Two ships stopped in the last years -Francop and Karine-A - had hundreds of tons of weapons."
"It is our duty to examine any ship going to Gaza - If we don't do this, the result would be an Iranian port in Gaza, only a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv, which would also threaten other countries in the region. We offered to take the cargo to Ashdod and examine it, an offer which Egypt seconded. The flotilla leaders rejected this."
"The takeover of five of the ships passed quietly. In the sixth ship, our soldiers encountered an extreme group that supports Hamas terror. This wasn't the "love boat" this was a flotilla of terror supporters."
"I talked to our soldiers, they were shot at. There was an attempt to lynch them.
These are pacifists? The soldiers defended their lives with incomparable restraint.
What would any other country do? At best, they would act in the same way, or much worse."
"Of course we regret the loss of life, but I ask the international community what would you do instead? We'll continue to defend our citizens and assert our right for self defense, which is my first duty as Prime Minister."
"It is important that we stay united on this issue, which is a matter of life and death."
The Karine-A was an Iranian ship carrying arms to Gaza which Israeli troops boarded eight years ago in the Red Sea. The MV Francop was an Iranian arms ship that was boarded off the coast of Cyprus. and was carrying arms to Hizbullah. Another Iranian ship, the Monchegorsk was seized by Cypriot authorities in 2009.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided on Tuesday that Israel would not prosecute or continue to hold the participants it captured from the Gaza protest flotilla, despite earlier plans to put on trial those who had attacked the soldiers boarding the ships.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
'Iran can build nuclear bomb today'
The international community's efforts to head off Iran before it could build a nuclear weapon have failed, said Gen. Yossi Baidatz, head of the research division of Israel's Military Intelligence.
In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, Baidatz said that Iran now has all the technical capability to build a nuclear warhead, and has enriched over 1,800 kilograms of uranium, enough for at least one bomb.
Baidatz suggested that he believes the only reason Iran hasn't built a bomb yet is because it is focusing on upgrading its missile delivery systems. The Islamic Republic recently tested a new locally-produced ballistic missile that can reach all of Israel and much of Europe.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the committee and said that over the past year, "two things have happened: Iran has advanced its military nuclear program, and the international community has lost its legitimacy."
source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20128
In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, Baidatz said that Iran now has all the technical capability to build a nuclear warhead, and has enriched over 1,800 kilograms of uranium, enough for at least one bomb.
Baidatz suggested that he believes the only reason Iran hasn't built a bomb yet is because it is focusing on upgrading its missile delivery systems. The Islamic Republic recently tested a new locally-produced ballistic missile that can reach all of Israel and much of Europe.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the committee and said that over the past year, "two things have happened: Iran has advanced its military nuclear program, and the international community has lost its legitimacy."
source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20128
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Netanyahu: We won't freeze settlements again
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday tried to drum up international pressure on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table by warning that Israel's current settlement freeze is only temporary and won't be repeated.
Government inspectors began handing out stop-work orders at construction sites in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria on Monday in line with Netanyahu's decision last week to comply with international demands that Israel stop building homes for Jews in areas claimed by the Palestinians.
But while addressing an economics conference near Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu insisted that the 10-month time limit on the freeze is firm, and that he will never make such a gesture again if the Palestinians do not respond in a positive manner.
"This is a one-time and temporary decision," Netanyahu said. "Just as was written in the security cabinet decision, and just as I have made clear in both public and private meetings, we will go back to building at the end of the suspension."
But as most observers of the Middle East conflict know, once Israel makes a concession, international pressure makes it very hard to go back on it. Israel's current settlement freeze is likely to become a new red line for the Palestinians, and most Palestinian red lines have been happily accepted by the world.
Government inspectors began handing out stop-work orders at construction sites in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria on Monday in line with Netanyahu's decision last week to comply with international demands that Israel stop building homes for Jews in areas claimed by the Palestinians.
But while addressing an economics conference near Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu insisted that the 10-month time limit on the freeze is firm, and that he will never make such a gesture again if the Palestinians do not respond in a positive manner.
"This is a one-time and temporary decision," Netanyahu said. "Just as was written in the security cabinet decision, and just as I have made clear in both public and private meetings, we will go back to building at the end of the suspension."
But as most observers of the Middle East conflict know, once Israel makes a concession, international pressure makes it very hard to go back on it. Israel's current settlement freeze is likely to become a new red line for the Palestinians, and most Palestinian red lines have been happily accepted by the world.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Israel rebuffs Obama demand to surrender before negotiations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a demand by US President Barack Obama that he commit to a major expulsion of Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria prior to a renewal of peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
According to Israeli media reports on Wednesday, Obama wanted to organize a major peace summit one month from now based on such an Israeli commitment. Even before the sides had a chance to sit down at the negotiating table, Israel was to surrender to all Arab demands to allow the creation of a Palestinian Arab state on every inch of land they claim.
A report in an Arabic-language newspaper indicated that the Palestinian Authority had informed Obama the peace process would not move forward until Israel was strong-armed into accepting those conditions.
At the same time, visiting US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told Netanyahu that the White House expects more than just "lip service" from Israel regarding restarting the peace process.
Netanyahu has repeatedly stated his willingness to immediately restart talks with the Palestinians. He has issued only one precondition of his own, that the Palestinians finally honor their previous.
Source: Israel today - http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=79
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