Netanyahu promised Kerry to ‘rein in’ settlement construction until mid-June
” The fact is that since the Obama visit there are no new announcements and everything is quiet on the ground when it comes to settlement construction,” he said. “Everyone are on their best behavior and don’t want to be blamed for preventing the peace talks from being re-launched.”
Abbas also gave the same time frame for not making new international moves.
Today in China it was reported;
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting China, said in closed talks that there was no change in the Judea and Samaria construction plan. Netanyahu confirmed that there were delays in issuing bids due to errors, but said they would be issued soon.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ordered a freeze in tenders for West Bank settlement construction amid a US push to renew the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Army Radio reported Tuesday.
Netanyahu reportedly gave the order in a meeting with Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi).
The reported freeze came as the country is under international pressure not to advance West Bank settlement projects, including those that were direct responses to unilateral Palestinian statehood efforts at the United Nations, such as the unbuilt area of Ma’aleh Adumim known as E1.
Army Radio quoted a government clerk as saying “most of the tenders are prepared and ready to be issued at any minute.”
While neither Netanyahu nor Ariel immediately responded to the report, Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked was quoted by Army Radio as saying that “the Housing and Construction Ministry has prepared tenders that it is interested in issuing in the West Bank settlement blocs. They require the prime minister’s signature, and for some reason that is not happening. It’s a shame, there are many housing units ready to be tendered.”
Last week, Ariel warned that Bayit Yehudi would not support the 2013 budget in the Knesset unless construction projects in West Bank settlements are fully funded.
“I turned to the prime minister today and warned him that if the 2013 budget doesn’t include full funding for building projects in Judea and Samaria, including those decided upon in reaction to the Palestinians’ unilateral statehood bid at the United Nations [this past fall] and additional projects, Bayit Yehudi will consider its coalition agreement as having been violated, and it won’t support the budget unless a solution is found for the promised funds,” Ariel said.
International pressure to freeze settlement building has only grown stronger now that the Arab League has modified its 2002 peace plan to include minor land swaps – a move that is seen as a possible prelude to renewed negotiations.
Palestinians have also told the US that they won’t attempt to pursue Israel at the International Criminal Court as long as Israel refrains from moving forward on the E1 project of 3,500 new Jewish homes.
Coalition chairman Yariv Levin (Likud) said last week that “Likud Beytenu is obligated to the settlement enterprise. We will insist that the new budget strengthens the settlements and ensures their development.”
Ariel’s spokesman said in response that the minister would not have made such a threat unless he had reason to believe that funding for West Bank settlement-building was in danger.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.
Arab League plan B is a deception.
Unacceptable to Israel since it will undermine IL security.
UNRWA must be dismantled ASAP.
The Arab Muslims CANNOT be trusted.
yamit82 Said:
The conclusion does not follow. I think it is more the insult of the loss of face and diplomatic bad manners that they exhibited as follows:
yamit82 Said:
The more the pals are recalcitrant to talk, the better. Perhaps everyone likes the status quo. We assume that what is said is what is going on, but I doubt that. I get the feeling that no one wants a solution at this time except the foreigners.
OOOOPS Looks like BB got ahead of himself and the Palsis stuck it to him in the groin. ShyGuy was correct BB is a schmuck.
Kerry Betting On The Wrong Horses
by Khaled Abu Toameh
May 6, 2013 at 5:00 am
It has once again become clear that the Arab countries, including the wealthiest and most influential, have no influence on the Palestinians. The Arab League is an incompetent and ineffectual body that has long been ridiculed by most Arabs. It has never played an influential role in solving Arab crises such as the Lebanese Civil War, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait or the ongoing bloodshed in Syria.
Palestinian reactions to the land swap proposal seem to have angered Qatar and other Arab countries.
Any Settlement freeze of any nature in the land of Israel by Jews is wrong!
@ Bernard Ross:
This may well be true but the message it sends the world is that J&S are not our land. Why? Because we are prepared to compromise on it whereas the Arabs are not, therefore it must truly belong to them. In which case we are occupiers and have no right to the land.
We tried the freeze and we know what that got us. If you want to bring the Arabs to the table and fast, start a building blitz. We don’t have to demonstrate that Jews living anywhere is irreversible. we’ve already done that in Gaza and parts of Samaria. If the Arabs are really concerned about Jews living in J&S, they will rush to the table. If they are not, they won’t. And of course they won’t because our conflict has nothing to do with Jews living in J&S and everything to do with Jews living anywhere. Why play this game when it can and does only hurt us?
I think this has more to do with payment for coordination and cooperation of the various players in the Iran destabilization and/or war. The US and GCC condition for coordination/cooperation on Iran which includes the defanging, weakiening or leashing of those who can bring blowback to Israel(hamas, hebullah, syria). Turkey and the Kurds also appear to have their parts to play in this war, and their quid pro quos. Everything is put on hold to maintain a “coalition”. The pals get the freeze and appearance of progress and dont create trouble in the buidup to war.
Everybody gets something and everyone pays something.
just a thought.
@ retired:
That’s all very nice, but games have consequences! Michael Freund’s article at Jpost neatly sums them up: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-lies-we-tell-ourselves-about-modern-Islam-312266.
It’s this Oslo game we’ve been playing since 1993 that is at the root cause of world-wide Israeli delegitimization and demonization.
Through our “game” play we have created the “Palestinian People”, crowned ourselves occupiers and have alienated ourselves from our heritage and our ancestral homeland.
Antisemitism doesn’t need very fertile soil to flourish and we have not only provided the soil, but continue to fertilize it with our game playing to our detriment.
Netanyahu is doing the best he can for Israel,
The problem is that Israel has to live in a world ruled by liars,cheats & double dealing sociopaths.This is all a game of international intrigue,you play the game the way it is set up if you want to survive.Many posters who comment take the simplistic,one dimensional idea that that what you hear is what you get.The truth is that anyone who speaks the language can understand what is being said by Obama,Putin,Ashton (old goat face)& the other power=brokers.Netanyahu & his associates need to understand what they really mean,what the facts really are.For most of the international Jew haters involved in this business of building in Judea/Samaria these are just talking points,political cover.They cannot enforce their political nonsense & they know it,but they feel the need to keep up the farce for their own political purposes.Netanyahu understands this & plays the game with them!The EU is going down the economic toilet & cannot enforce restrictions on it’s own member states,much less Jewish building.Obama is sinking fast,doing nothing much good,into an economic & political quagmire beyond his control.Washington,like the EU,can talk big talk but they can’t enforce anything in Israel.Netanyahu knows that if he so desires he could give them all the middle index finger,but why bother.If these outside parties want theatre he will give them a Punch & Judy show.He knows that the local Arabs(not Palestinians)cannot & will not produce anything even near acceptable to Israel,anything that could be the basis for a peace treaty.He will send that despicable women,Livni,to add to the babble & nonsense at the negotiating table.They will go in circles,Livni & Abbas truly deserve each other!In the meantime,a month or two,building will resume!While this circus show goes on Israel will continue to grow stronger.Gas & oil will start to flow,new Israeli inventions will be invented,new Israeli ideas will be thought,& new friends in the east will be made!
Perhaps,sometime in the not too distant future,Israel will have the luxury of telling Europe & Washington to f@#k off & go away!
Netanyahu has no good reason to be appreciative of Yesha, which voted against him in the past election. With a settlement freeze move pending he sends two messages:
To Yesha, what you see is what you get from me. And to Bayit Yehudi, he avoids being held hostage and knows that if he wants to implement a settlement freeze, he can obtain Labor Party backing for the move.
Above all, Netanyahu ensures he gets to stay in power as long as possible without having to keep promises to his friends and his enemies alike.