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Netanyahu Rules Out Dismantling Settlement Blocs

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon and Steve Linde - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post this week that a "real and fair" accord with the Palestinians cannot include driving masses of Jews from their homes in settlement blocs. "I think that there is recognition that ultimately there has to be a real and fair solution, and that certainly doesn't include driving out hundreds of thousands of Jews who live in the suburbs of Jerusalem, and in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, in the Ariel bloc," Netanyahu said. "I think that is unrealistic." Asked about an initiative by the Europeans to present a new peace plan, he said there would be "many initiatives," and "we'll have an important task in trying to tell the truth to the world." That truth, he explained, was that the settlement issue was not the core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, nor was the Palestinian issue the core of instability in the Middle East. "The core of the conflict is the persistent refusal of the Palestinians to recognize the Jewish state in any boundary," he declared. "There is a common acceptance [in Israel] that the so-called settlement blocs will remain part of Israel in any settlement, and that's where the majority of construction is taking place," he noted. "I am confident that President Obama understands that only a sovereign Israeli government can determine what Israel's interests are," he added.
2013-01-18 00:00:00
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