Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the new housing units represented "1,100 'noes' to the Quartet statement" urging a resumption of frozen peace talks.
"Israel is challenging the will of the international community with the continued settlement policy," Nabil Abu Rdainah, an Abbas spokesman, said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the settlement plan was counter-productive to reviving peace talks.
Richard Miron, spokesman for U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry, called Israel's decision "very concerning." He said settlement activity "undermines the prospect of resuming negotiations and reaching a two-state solution to the conflict."{...}
In London, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said settlement expansion was illegal and "corrodes trust and undermines the basic principle of land for peace. We call on the Government of Israel to revoke this decision."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said "we are deeply disappointed" and that Washington has "long urged both parties to avoid actions that could undermine trust, including in Jerusalem."
Funny, these people have such a huge objection to Jews building homes in an area that's going to remain part of Israel no matter what, but none of them has ever said anything about a 'Palestinian' moratorium on rocket attacks, on the constant hateful incitement in 'Palestine's' mosques, schools and media or on the salaries the 'Palestinian Authority' pay terrorists convicted of murder and serving sentences in Israeli prisons.
Netanyahu's response to this was "“We already gave at the office,” referring to the unilateral 10- month settlement freeze he initiated in November 2008 at President Obama's request as a concession to get the 'Palestinians' back to peace negotiations. It failed miserably, and Netanyahu just let the world know that he's not going to play sucker again.
“We plan in Jerusalem. We build in Jerusalem. Period. The same way Israeli governments have been doing for years – since the end of the 1967 war".
“We build in Jewish neighborhoods, the Arabs build in Arab neighborhoods – that is the way the life of this city goes on and develops for its Jewish and non- Jewish residents alike.”
Netanyahu said Americans “know this; they have followed this a long time. There is really nothing new.”
"You can’t build hope on the foundation of lies,” he continued, adding that the Palestinians’ inability to utter the words “the Jewish people” or “the Jewish state” is not something that can be glossed over.
“There is a problem there, and you can’t build hope by shutting your eyes and saying it doesn’t matter,” Netanyahu said.
“Of course it matters – this is what this conflict is all about. It is not about the settlements; it is about the Jewish state. And it must be said over and over again.”
A word about Gilo, by the way. Like all the other so-called 'settlements, it was built on land that was either vacant, Jewish owned originally or Jordanian government land seized in Jordan's occupation of Judea and Samaria in 1948. There was no Arab town or private property that was cleared and no Arab residents dispossesed to make room for it.
Terrorism and incitement or building homes for people...which do you think is more damaging to peace?
Kudos to PM Netanyahu for making the distinction clear.
1 comment:
“We already gave at the office"
And far too much at that. Gilo is part of Israel, and it's going to stay that way as Hashem wills.
Post a Comment