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Discussions Continue in Israel on U.S. Proposals

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon and Gil Hoffman - Prime Minister Netanyahu has held private discussions over the last few days with senior ministers regarding the settlement construction moratorium issue. One senior official said that Netanyahu was concerned that if Israel extended the moratorium, Jerusalem would be seen as having no "red lines," a bad perception to foster on the eve of negotiations dealing with much more critical issues. According to this official, the U.S. was putting pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians to show flexibility, and was also making it clear to both sides that it was not in either of their best interests for the negotiations to grind to a halt. Another diplomatic official said the impression that Israel was holding out on extending the moratorium by two months to get more "incentives" from the U.S. was "mistaken." Were Netanyahu to hold a vote on extending the freeze at Wednesday's security cabinet meeting, it would almost certainly be defeated.
2010-10-06 09:05:10
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