Rabbis slam Jewish construction freeze

By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM – A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis here today slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to freeze Jewish West Bank construction as an "irresponsible move that will only cause bloodshed in the region."

"This move not only jeopardizes the residents of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) but will ultimately endanger every Jew in every part of Israel," read a statement from by the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 300 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, including some of the most respected rabbis in Israel.

The leaders of the Congress asked for an immediate meeting with Netanyahu to "point out his suicidal actions and present to him Jewish law rulings regarding a true and durable peace for the Jewish nation and stability in the region as well."

"There is a clear ruling in the Jewish Code of Law [Orach Chaim Chapter 329] that warns against giving up land to foreigners," the rabbis statement read.

Netanyahu last week announced in a national address that his government had approved a 10-month halt to the construction of new Jewish homes in the West Bank as a bid to restart talks with the Palestinians. He said Israel would not stop construction in eastern Jerusalem and would still allow the building of West Bank synagogues, kindergartens and necessary municipal structures.

Describing the decision as a "painful step," Netanyahu said he was "taking the issue out of broad national security considerations with the goal of renewing negotiations to achieve peace with our neighbors, the Palestinians."

The Palestinian Authority, however, immediately rejected the freeze and demanded more.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a top aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters the Palestinians "reject returning to peace talks without the complete cessation of settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat urged the U.S. to pressure Israel to freeze all construction activity completely in both Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Fatah's strongman Mohammed Dahlan stated Netanyahu's offer "proves once again that Israel is interested not in peace, but in creating facts on the ground" and stated that "overlooking ongoing construction in Jerusalem will put the peace process in jeopardy."

Never in the history of regional talks here did restarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations depend on any freeze of Jewish construction. The issue largely began after President Obama demanded Jewish construction be halted in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, leading to a hardening of the PA's bargaining position.

WND

Palestinians Seek EU Support for Independence Bid

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinians have asked the European Union to support their plan to ask the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestinian state without Israeli consent.

The plan appears to be largely symbolic, given that the U.S., Israel's chief ally, would likely veto such an initiative at the United Nations. The move, however, reflects growing Palestinian frustration with the deadlock in peace efforts.

That state would be made up of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and have east Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel captured those territories in 1967. It pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but has annexed east Jerusalem and maintains a military occupation in the West Bank.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat says the request to the EU was made Monday.

Source: Foxnews

Obama green-lights Arab land grab

By Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV – A top Palestinian Authority negotiator told WND that the Obama administration won't stand in the way of a Palestinian threat to unilaterally ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state outside of negotiations with Israel.

Despite widespread assumptions the U.S. would veto any such U.N. Security Council resolution, the PA negotiator said that in initial discussions, the Obama administration did not threaten to veto their conceptual unilateral resolution.

"The U.S. told us that they prefer a negotiated settlement with Israel, but if we (Palestinians) insist on a resolution, the Americans will not necessarily reject it," the PA negotiator said.

"The U.S. has a history of never before vetoing any UN move to create a new state," the negotiator pointed out.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said yesterday the Palestinians had decided to turn to the U.N. Security Council to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

Separately, the negotiator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the Obama administration is "totally on board" with a plan by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to create a state on the pre-1967 borders within two years.

WND first reported in September that according to a top PA official, the Obama administration has largely adopted the positions of the Palestinian West Bank leadership to create a Palestinian state within two years based on the pre-1967 borders, meaning Israel would retreat from most of the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.

The PA negotiator WND spoke with yesterday said that his authority's primary goal now is to secure a letter of support from the Obama administration affirming the U.S. commitment to a pre-1967 Palestinian state within two years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday hit back at the PA plan to unilaterally declare a state, warning such a move will be met by "one-sided Israeli measures." He did not elaborate.

"There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and any unilateral attempts outside that framework will unravel the existing agreements between us and could entail unilateral steps by Israel," Netanyahu told a high-level gathering of Israeli and American policy makers at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu stressed that in order to achieve peace, "negotiations must resume immediately." He affirmed Israel was prepared to begin talks "with a generous spirit."

"I want to stress that we are willing to take steps that will help in advancing the peace process, but it must begin, there is no reason to waste time," said the Israeli leader.

While negotiations were not easy, Netanyahu said, "there is no other way to bring about change."

In September, a senior PA official told WND that aside from supporting a Palestinian state in the pre-1967 borders, the Obama administration also had accepted the PA position that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations begin where they left off under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who went further than previous Israeli leaders in his concessions to the Palestinians.

Olmert reportedly offered the PA not only 95 percent of the West Bank and peripheral eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods but also other territories never before offered by any Israeli leader, including parts of the Israeli Negev desert bordering Gaza as well as sections of the Jordan Valley.

"We understand from the U.S. that the Netanyahu government is not in a position to go against creating a state within two years," the PA official said.

The official claimed the Obama administration was ready to ultimately consider "sanctions" against Israel if the Netanyahu government rejected negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. The official refused to clarify which sanctions he was referring to or whether he was specifically told by the U.S. government it would consider sanctions.

The PA official claimed Obama can make a "headache" for Netanyahu if the Israeli leader does not conduct negotiations leading within two years to a Palestinian state.

WND

PM: No Palestinian state without talks

Palestinian plans to possibly unilaterally declare a state continues to yield reactions in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to reject the increasingly strengthening Palestinian imitative during his speech at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem on Sunday.

He will warn the Palestinians against moving forward with the initiative, emphasizing Israel's objection, and will stress that the solution for the establishment of a Palestinian state can be found in negotiations with Israel.

Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres, who is currently visiting South America, told reporters accompanying him in Brazil that "a Palestinian state cannot be established without a peace agreement. It's impossible and it will no work. It's unacceptable that they change their minds every day. Bitterness is not a policy."

Peres is scheduled to travel to Argentina on Sunday under tight security, amid fear of a mass anti-Israeli protest. Ynet has also learned that one of the main events the president is meant to attend was relocated due to security concerns.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned in a speech at the Saban Forum on Saturday that a withdrawal to the 1967 borders will not end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"A return to 1967 borders and the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria will not end the conflict, but rather, shift it into Israel's borders," he said, adding that such circumstances would prompt Arab-Israeli demands for autonomy in the Galilee and the Negev.

Lieberman took part in a session with US deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and journalist David Ignatius at the forum.

Former US President Bill Clinton is scheduled to take part in the forum Sunday. In a speech earlier, Clinton said that he is convinced that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement would have been finalized within three years had Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin not been assassinated.

Lieberman's comments came hours after chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told al-Ayyam newspaper that the PA was garnering international support to declare a state. "All Arab states support the idea, and a date has been selected to raise the matter at the Security Council," he said.

Erekat said he had discussed the matter a number of times with American and European sources, and that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also raised the issue in talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian sources, and that they all responded positively.

Abbas, according to Erekat, will continue to seek support of the idea during his visits to South America and Europe this week. "Talks with the Europeans and the UN in the matter are ongoing," he added.

YNet

Netanyahu not extreme on Jewish construction

By Aaron Klein

NEW YORK – Despite screaming headlines that the Israeli government's approval of hundreds of new Jewish homes in the strategic West Bank is defying U.S. and Palestinian demands, Arab countries and even the Palestinian Authority quietly recognize that there have been far fewer settlements built since Prime Minister Benjamin Netantanyahu came to office.

"These new homes are just meat to be thrown to Netanyahu's right wing base," said a Jordanian government official, speaking to WND from the Middle East.

"Even the Palestinian Authority knows that since Netanyahu came to power, there have been less settlements constructed than during any other recent time period," the Jordanian official said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday signed permits needed to construct 455 new houses in West Bank Jewish communities. The new housing was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The construction will take place in the settlement blocs that Israel wants to keep under any peace agreement with the Palestinians.

President Obama has demanded a total halt to Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Clearly the approval of any construction in those areas defied Obama's demand for a total settlement freeze.

White House officials the past few days have labeled Jewish housing in the West Bank and Jerusalem as impediments to peace, while not calling for reciprocal demands from the PA, which last month held a major conference at which it refused to recognize Israel's existence.

Netanyahu told ministers of his Likud party yesterday an agreement with the Obama administration on a partial settlement freeze likely will be finalized later this week.

Contrary to public claims by the Palestinian Authority that Israel's reported approval of some 455 new Jewish homes in the West Bank is a major escalation, there has actually been a decrease in Jewish construction in those areas under Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government allowed thousands of homes per year to be built in the West Bank. Even Barak, whose tenure was marked by extreme concessions to the Palestinians, oversaw large expansion of Jewish communities in the West Bank.

Meanwhile Saeb Erekat, a chief Palestinian negotiator, told WND Israel's latest approval of Jewish construction was an "escalation that undermines efforts to reach a peaceful settlement."

Source: WND