Israel never said no to new freeze, claims Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said talks to secure a new settlement freeze ground to a halt when the United States stopped pressing for the ban, not because Israel rejected it.


Israeli radio and news sites quoted him as telling parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee that Washington initially asked Israel to extend a 10-month building freeze which expired in September.

“The truth is that we were prepared to do this but contrary to what was reported Israel did not refuse to extend the freeze,” Maariv daily’s “nrg” website quoted Netanyahu as telling lawmakers.

“In the end the United States decided not to take that path, rightly in my opinion,” he added.

Haaretz daily’s website quoted Netanyahu as saying that he told US President Barack Obama he would ask his cabinet to approve a three-month extension.

“I told Obama that I am prepared to go with this to the cabinet and that I will be able to enforce the move, but then I received the surprising phone call from the Americans who said they no longer demand that Israel extends the freeze,” the paper quoted him as telling the committee on Monday.

Netanyahu said in November that he would put the US request to a cabinet vote if incentives from Washington were put in writing, among them finance for advanced warplanes and a promise to veto any UN Security Council resolution against Israel’s interests.That letter apparently never came.

US officials admitted last month that efforts to coax Israel into imposing new curbs on West Bank settlement construction had gone nowhere.

Without a new freeze, the Palestinians have refused to negotiate, effectively deadlocking direct peace talks that began on Sept 2, only to run aground three weeks later when building resumed in the settlements.

“We have been pursuing a moratorium as a means to create conditions for a return to meaningful and sustained negotiations,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Dec 7.

“After a considerable effort, we have concluded that this does not create a firm basis to work towards our shared goal of a framework agreement,” he said.

Haaretz on Sunday quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that a US counterpart told him Washington was deeply disappointed with Israeli Defence Minister and Labour party leader Ehud Barak for failing to deliver on promises that he could win government approval for a fresh freeze.—AFP