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Netanyahu Continuing Settlements



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Netanyahu Continuing Settlements


The Israeli coalition will stay the same following the end of the settlement freeze.

Sofer 10 (Roni, Israeli News writer, Ynetnews, June 22, 2010, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3909157,00.html) EH

Counting the days until the end of the freezeIsrael's governing coalition will not be changing after the end of the settlement freeze in September, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says. Lieberman, who spoke during a meeting with political correspondents in Jerusalem, added that "The real test for the country will take place in September, upon the end of the temporary construction freeze in the settlements. "However, there is no alternative to the coalition in my view. This coalition won't be changing," he said. Also in September, Turkey will become the rotating president of the Security Council, during which the General Assembly of the UN will meet to discuss the Secretary-General's interim report over the Goldstone Report, which he will submit during the second half of July. "Everything is happening in September, it won't be boring over here," said a senior government source. The source added that he does not see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a viable partner: "He does not represent Judea and Samaria, or the residents of Gaza. The presidential campaign is still taking place and as of today there are 110 streets named after Palestinian 'martyrs' – from Dalal Mughrabi to Yahya Ayyash. This whole song of praise for terror is unreasonable," he said.
Lieberman confirmed the end of the settlement freeze.

Ackerman July 6 (Gwen, writer, Bloomberg Business Week, July 6, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-06/lieberman-says-israel-won-t-extend-settlement-freeze.html) EH

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said there was “no chance” Israel will extend a partial freeze on West Bank construction. “It is important that direct talks resume and the government supports this but will not agree to pay for this,” Lieberman said in comments sent from Helsinki by text message. His remarks came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for talks in Washington with President Barack Obama later today. Netanyahu announced the 10-month halt in West Bank settlement construction in November. Palestinians, the U.S. and the European Union say the communities are an obstacle to a peace agreement that would establish an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The U.S. is mediating indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and Netanyahu has called on Palestinians to agree to face-to-face meetings. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has linked participation in such talks to a freeze on construction in the settlements. Speaking on Army Radio earlier today, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, also said that West Bank construction will resume when the freeze expires. About 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, and the population growth rate in those communities in 2008 was almost three times faster than in Israel as a whole, the Jerusalem-based human rights group B’Tselem said.


Netanyahu won’t extend the settlement freeze.

Amayreh 10 (Khaled, Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper writer, Al-Ahram, June 8-14, 2010, Issue No. 1006, http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1006/fr1.htm) EH

Abbas is reported to have refused to move from indirect to direct talks with Israel unless three conditions are met: an Israeli undertaking to restart talks from the point where they were left off during the term of the previous Israeli government; a recognition by Israel that a Palestinian state would have to encompass an area equal in size to the territories occupied in 1967, and a general freeze of settlement expansion. It is unlikely that Netanyahu will accept these conditions, especially the settlement freeze. His coalition partners, supported by some Likud cabinet ministers, are already demanding that the half-hearted settlement expansion moratorium, due to expire in September, not be extended under any circumstances. The Hebrew press reported this week that at least 2,700 settler units are scheduled to be built in the West Bank as soon as the freeze ends. Haaretz newspaper also reports that settler councils throughout the West Bank are making preparations to step up settlement construction ahead of 27 September, when the current partial freeze is due to end.

Settlement Freeze Fail


Netanyahu said that the settlement freeze didn’t encourage peace talks with the Palestinians.

Weizman July 8 (Steve, AFP staff writer, AFP, July 8, 2010, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iT-ciIuyrKrOoJdlJ4mBrfnWNTaw) EH

NEW YORK — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank had so far failed in its objective of spurring Palestinians to enter direct peace talks. But he did not say specifically that there would be no restraints on building after the moratorium expires in September. "I decided, unlike any previous government, to freeze the construction in new settlements for a 10-month period to encourage the Palestinians to enter peace talks," he told foreign policy experts in New York. "So far seven months have passed and they haven't come in," Netanyahu said in an address to the Council on Foreign Relations. "They should have come in 12 months ago, seven months ago," he said. "We should not waste any more time." Netanyahu was speaking on the final day of a three-day US visit, during which he had a publicly upbeat meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington and gave a slew of media interviews in which he constantly emphasized his willingness to meet the Palestinian leader immediately. "I don't think we should wait any longer," he said in his speech on Thursday. "I think we should seize the moment." While the Palestinians and the United States describe Israeli settlements as obstacles to peace, the freeze is deeply resented among members of Netanyahu's Likud and other hawkish parties on which his coalition government leans. Netanyahu indicated that he could be willing to make concessions to the Palestinians that could cause a political backlash in Israel. I'm prepared to take risks," he said. "I'm not prepared to take security risks but I'm prepared to take political risks.





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