Freeze Not Cease

Thursday November 26, 2009 09:52 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli PM - Banjamin Netanyahu

Several fundamental Israeli ministers slammed Netanyahu’s temporary settlement freeze proposal, which was approved by his cabinet, and said that “that this issue a submission to the Palestinian demands”.

Head of the Likud Bloc at the Knesset, Zion Pinyan, called for questioning Likud leader, Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and added that settlement freeze should have been discussed among Likud ranks.

Israeli Information Minister, Yuli Edelstein, said that freezing settlement activities means stopping the natural growth of the Jews and ‘deporting those who came to the country”.

Edelstein added that he will not be part ‘of expelling the Jews’, and claimed that freezing settlement activities jeopardizes Israel’s security.
He also claimed that freezing settlement activities ‘does not help the peace process’.

Arab member of Knesset, Jamal Zahalka, said that the vote is meant to delude the world as “trial and error taught us that whenever Israel says it would freeze settlements, it builds more and more’.

Meanwhile, Zevulun Orlev of the Habayit Hayehudi Party (The Jewish Home) called on Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu Party “not to slide to this law level”, and to oppose any settlement freeze.

Arieh Eldad of the Ichud Leumi Party, said that settlement freeze is a ‘shameful submission to Mahmoud Abbas’, and added that this submission would facilitate further submission to Hamas.

‘Every minister who voted for settlements freeze, helped push Israel deeper into the slide of submission’ Eldad said.

Israeli Interior Minister, head of Shas movement, Eli Yishai, said that ‘Netanyahu is conducting enormous efforts to advance the peace process by freezing settlement activities, “but we believe that this will not help peace in any way’.

But Israeli Minister, Benny Begin, a strong advocate to settlement construction and expansion, defended the decision and said that ‘the limitations are on new constructions permits’.

Begin added that the cabinet did not vote on a freeze of settlements activities in the West Bank.

He further said that thousands of units and public facilities in the settlements will be built during the settlement freeze, and after the 10-month freeze, settlements will be built in the West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that the Israeli government has a commitment to Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and that constructions would resume as normal after 10 months.

He added that Israel has a commitment to the countries and the individuals who supported it against the Goldstone report, and not a commitment to Abbas and his authority.

west bank | israeli settlement | news report saed at imemc dot org