[ 26/11/2009 - 07:59 AM ]
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- MP Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, the secretary general of the national initiative party, has described the Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu's temporary settlement freeze as "malicious" and aimed at excluding Jerusalem from the Palestinian occupied lands.
He said in a press release on Wednesday that excluding Jerusalem and 3,000 under construction housing units along with natural growth, government centers, schools, public utilities and synagogues from the temporary freeze affirmed that the step was "deceptive". He described the step as completely unacceptable.
The party leader said that Netanyahu did not conceal his intention to issue new building orders in the settlements in the West Bank after end of that period.
Barghouthi also charged Netanyahu with lying regarding removal of military barriers while 600 roadblocks are still existent all over the West Bank, and regarding freedom of worship while 96% of the Palestinians are deprived from reaching Jerusalem to offer their prayers.
Settlement Leaders, Likud MKs Blast Netanyahu for Betraying Voters
Posted by realistic bird under Caricature, Pictures Tags: Politics, news, cartoon, palestine, Caricature, Israeli crimes, Israeli policies, Palestinians, ethnic cleansing, land theft, fake peace process
Seriously the ones who talk about peace with the Israelis and a two state solution do they listen to what the Israelis say? They don’t even want to stop stealing the land, they are deluded into thinking it is their right. We are dealing with psychotic thieves. Where is this imaginary second state supposed to be? Apparently nowhere. The Israelis continue to ethnic cleanse the Palestinians and take more lands and the world just watches and whine “this doesn’t help peace”, what peace?!
26/11/2009 Settlement leaders and a number of young Likud parliamentarians on Wednesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of betraying his party’s principles by caving into the Americans and Palestinians by imposing a ten-month moratorium on new construction permits in West Bank settlements.
In an emergency meeting, they called upon everyone who supported the settlement enterprise to oppose the measure.
Likud MK Danny Dannon called on Netanyahu to seek approval for the measure at Monday’s Likud faction meeting. “If Netanyahu does not do so, I will personally convene an urgent meeting of the Likud Central Committee to correct this betrayal of commitments we made to our voters,” said Dannon.
“We were elected to advance a certain platform, we promised that we would build in Judea and Samaria,” said Dannon, who added that a freeze goes against the Likud Party’s principles.
“This is not the party that I grew up in or on whose behalf we were voted into office. I called to all those in the party who clearly support the settlements: we cannot be silent.”
He warned Netanyahu, “If you chose to follow the Left and to become [Ehud] Barak’s subcontractor, we will oppose you.”
MK Tzipi Hotovely said, “Judea and Samaria are supposed to be on the same level as Jerusalem.”
It was a strategic mistake to differentiate between occupied east Jerusalem and settlements in Judea and Samaria, as if one was legitimate and the other was not, she added.
“Netanyahu has betrayed the very principles for which he stood for all his life,” said Danny Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. He said that Netanyahu was the person who, under former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, said that freezing settlement construction was a code for territorial concessions and would destroy the settlement enterprise.
All his life Netanyahu has spoken against unilateral steps, and almost immediately upon entering office he has taken unilateral steps, even when the Palestinians have warned that they are worthless, said Dayan.
In protest, settlers refused to meet on Thursday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, insisting they would only meet with Netanyahu
Shas, meanwhile, released a statement explaining why its ministers absented themselves from the vote. Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai said while he wanted to be loyal to the prime minister, he could not agree to freezing construction even for a single day. He warned that the move would make Israel look weak.
Science Minister Daniel Herschkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi), who has observer status in the security cabinet, called on Netanyahu to now bring the freeze to a vote by the entire cabinet. “A right-wing government must encourage settlements, not strangle them,” Herschkowitz said. “Any gesture to the US and to Abbas won’t work.”
Labor rebel MK Ophir Paz-Pines called the move “too little, too late.”
He said that had Netanyahu agreed to a settlement freeze before the summit with Abbas in New York, the summit might not have failed and negotiations could have begun then, but now it was unlikely that talks could begin even with the freeze.
Israeli defense officials, meanwhile, said that the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria would be given additional tools to enforce the freeze on settlement construction.
In meetings held recently by Acting Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Amos Gilad, the possibility of hiring additional building inspectors for the civil administration was approved and is waiting for a final okay from Barak, expected in the coming weeks.
Once the freeze goes into effect, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi will have to issue orders to all of the different regional councils instructing them to cease all construction. The Israeli Police will also be called in to ensure that construction is not continued and to prevent the deployment of caravans in outposts or settlements.
Meanwhile, as part of the settlement leaders and some Likud MKs campaign, public figures and politicians will be brought to the settlements so that they can see the building freeze and its implications up close. Yesha Council officials said to Ynet, “If it’s necessary, we will continue to build.”
A group of settlers, calling themselves the Nablus Core, will hold a demonstration Thursday afternoon at the entrance to Nablus demanding that Jewish presence be returned to the tomb.
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