Israeli PM terms settlement freeze 'one-time, temporary' move
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that a 10-month moratorium on new housing starts in the West Bank settlements was only a "one-time, temporary" move, after it drew scathing criticism from the right in Israel.
After the 10-month period, Israel "will return to building," Netanyahu was quoted by local daily Ha'aretz as telling a conference organized by the financial newspaper Calcalist.
"The future final-status accord in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) will be determined at the end of negotiations and not a day earlier," said the Israeli premier.
Netanyahu's comments came after Israeli Defense Ministry inspectors who came to the West Bank on Tuesday to enforce the moratorium found the roads blocked by Jewish settlers, who have vowed to defy the government crackdown.
Settlers fanned out across the West Bank, shouting at the inspectors and refused to let them pass, according to Ha'aretz.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was visiting the West Bank on Tuesday, reiterated that the government intended to enforce the freeze completely.
"The cabinet's decision will be carried out and enforced fully," Barak said. "On the other hand, it will be carried out in a way that ensures as much dialogue as possible with residents."
On Wednesday, Netanyahu announced the 10-month moratorium on new housing starts in the West Bank settlements, saying the move was in a bid to revive the peace talks with the Palestinians.
However, the freeze in the West Bank settlements applies only to new homes, meaning that housing already underway will go ahead and Israel will continue to build synagogues, schools, kindergartens and public buildings "essential for normal life in the settlements."
Netanyahu also said that the construction freeze would not be implemented in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, which is viewed by Israel as a separate issue to be discussed in a final status agreement with the Palestinians.
Settlement construction has been a key sticking point in U.S. efforts to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which have been suspended since Israeli army's Operation Cast Lead last winter in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians have refused to engage in peace talks until Israel freezes settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.
