Word: netanyahu
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...Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected the demand for a total settlement freeze, and he won strong domestic political backing for insisting on "natural growth" construction in existing settlements. Mitchell's visit aims to finalize an agreement on this issue that both sides can live with - the Israelis want to complete some 2,500 housing units already under construction and exempt East Jerusalem from the freeze. (Read about Israeli settlers vs. the Palestinians...
Indeed, even though a mechanism for sharing Jerusalem has been one of the "final status" issues in the peace process since Oslo, Netanyahu on July 19 responded to U.S. pressure to halt a construction project in the eastern part of the city occupied by Israel in 1967 by insisting that Israeli control over Jerusalem is non-negotiable. It's not clear what Washington will accept. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who previously insisted that there could be no exceptions with a settlement freeze, was asked on July 16 to comment on reports of a compromise. She said she was "certainly...
...Arab states to reciprocate for an Israeli settlement freeze, but even Washington's key allies in the region appear reluctant to reward Israel for simply complying with its obligations under the "road map" to peace proposed by President George W. Bush in 2003. Skepticism abounds in Arab capitals over Netanyahu's commitment to Palestinian statehood - a principle he reluctantly and conditionally embraced under heavy pressure from Obama, and which many believe he has no intention of implementing. His latest comments on Jerusalem will reinforce that skepticism...
...Israelis are equally skeptical about Palestinian intentions. In an interview last week, Netanyahu's national security adviser, Uzi Arad, poured scorn on the Obama Administration's efforts to expedite a two-state solution, saying the conflict would not end soon because the Palestinians, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, lack the will to end it. "Even the moderates among them do not really want a settlement," Arad said. "At most, they are striving toward a settlement in order to renew the confrontation from a better position...
...Meanwhile, Abbas is under pressure from Fatah leaders who openly challenge his fealty to Washington. Even in the best-case scenario of rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, the Palestinians are still set to hold elections in January of next year - and could very easily keep Hamas in power. (Netanyahu has insisted that he will not deal with a Palestinian government that includes the organization...