by Shlomo Cesana, Gideon Allon and Israel Hayom Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alludes to comments by Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, who last week said the government does not support the two-state solution • Netanyahu says construction over Green Line "has no bearing on peace deal."
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, Monday
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Photo credit: Contact |
While not coming out directly against his
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon -- who said last week in an
interview that the government does not support the two-state solution
and will not allow a Palestinian state to be established inside the
pre-1967 borders [sic] -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that
he would seek, together with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, "to
find an opening to negotiations in which a demilitarized Palestinian
state emerges which recognizes the Jewish state. And for this to occur,
the government needs to act as one."
Without mentioning Danon by name, Netanyahu
said, "Building in Judea and Samaria will continue. It is continuing
even today, but we have to understand what is happening around us. We
have to be smart, not only right. Settlement in the main blocs do not
fundamentally change our ability to reach an agreement, and the real
question is whether or not there is a willingness on the other side to
accept the Jewish state."
Netanyahu spoke behind closed doors at the
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and officials released
some of his remarks in a statement issued later to reporters. In those
remarks, Netanyahu said that if negotiations with the Palestinians were
entered into, they were expected to "be long and tough, but that the
alternative Israel faces is a binational state, which Israel does not
want."
During a separate Likud faction meeting on
Monday, Netanyahu said, "The construction in Jerusalem will continue
regardless of the negotiations with the Palestinians."
The prime minister was commenting on an Army
Radio report quoting Housing Ministry sources as saying there was a de
facto building moratorium in east Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu told the Knesset members that "construction in Judea and
Samaria has no bearing on the peace deal."
However, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee Chairman Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beytenu) told the
committee there was a "delay" in approving construction projects in east
Jerusalem as part of Israel's efforts not to hamper Kerry's attempt to
reignite the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
"This is a temporary measure. We want to see [Kerry] succeed," he said.
Netanyahu also reassured the Likud faction that the U.S. had made no demand to freeze construction beyond the Green Line.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
has repeatedly stated that a complete settlement freeze, including all
construction projects in east Jerusalem, is a prerequisite for resuming
the stalled peace talks.
Kerry was scheduled to arrive in Israel on
Tuesday, but has decided to postpone the trip by one week to give Abbas
more time to decide whether to drop his preconditions.
"Setting preconditions is an insurmountable obstacle," Netanyahu said at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Minister MK Danny
Danon (Likud-Beytenu), who stirred controversy over the weekend with his
remarks to The Times of Israel, has been receiving support from members
of the coalition and the opposition alike.
The Land of Israel Lobby, which aims to
prevent the government from ceding land in Judea and Samaria and to
increase the settlement movement's budget, is expected to hold its first
meeting since the induction of the 19th Knesset on Tuesday.
The lobby is headed by Coalition Chairman MK
Yariv Levin (Likud) and MK Orit Strook (Habayit Hayehudi) and, according
to its own data, its work has the support of over 40 MKs. Knesset
Speaker Yuli Edelstein, as well as MKs from various Knesset factions,
are expected to attend the meeting as well. According to Levin, the
lobby's meeting was called "in coordination with Prime Minister
Netanyahu."
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations alongside Netanyahu's special envoy Yitzhak Molcho, reacted on Monday to Danon's comments, saying, "Netanyahu will have to decide whether he wants 'Danonism' -- a group of extremists who do not want a peace deal -- to take over the government, or to support a group that believes a peace deal is in Israel's vital interest. It is important that there is a clear [government] line on this matter."
Meanwhile, the Bemuna company, which heads housing projects for the religious public and has submitted bids for various Housing Ministry tenders, issued a press release Tuesday saying that the ministry and the Israel Land Authority were holding up several bids for the construction of 294 housing units in east Jerusalem on the government's orders.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations alongside Netanyahu's special envoy Yitzhak Molcho, reacted on Monday to Danon's comments, saying, "Netanyahu will have to decide whether he wants 'Danonism' -- a group of extremists who do not want a peace deal -- to take over the government, or to support a group that believes a peace deal is in Israel's vital interest. It is important that there is a clear [government] line on this matter."
Meanwhile, the Bemuna company, which heads housing projects for the religious public and has submitted bids for various Housing Ministry tenders, issued a press release Tuesday saying that the ministry and the Israel Land Authority were holding up several bids for the construction of 294 housing units in east Jerusalem on the government's orders.
The company, which cited "American pressure"
as the cause of the delay, urged the government "not to cave in to the
American pressure and make the results of the tenders public
immediately."
"Since the new government was sworn in no new tenders have been issued for projects beyond the Green Line and the [Jerusalem] zoning committee has been dragging its feet on the plans before it," Bemuna CEO Yisrael Zair said.
"Since the new government was sworn in no new tenders have been issued for projects beyond the Green Line and the [Jerusalem] zoning committee has been dragging its feet on the plans before it," Bemuna CEO Yisrael Zair said.
Shlomo Cesana, Gideon Allon and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=9905
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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