ISRAEL-USA/NETANYAHU Netanyahu to tell Kerry that Israel will rebuff U.N. moves towards Palestinian state

Record ID: 398854

  • Title: ISRAEL-USA/NETANYAHU Netanyahu to tell Kerry that Israel will rebuff U.N. moves towards Palestinian state
  • Date: 15th December 2014
  • Summary: BEN GURION AIRPORT, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 15, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU PREPARING TO BOARD PLANE EN ROUTE TO ROME WHERE HE WILL MEET U.S SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING: "In recent years we have repeatedly rebuffed attempts to dictate ter
  • Embargoed: 30th December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABLK0VD7D66N5F6R4IXI9Z4EME
  • Story Text: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday (December 15) he would tell U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Israel will rebuff any moves at the United Nations to set a timeframe for a withdrawal from territory Palestinians seek for a state.
    Kerry will meet Netanyahu in Rome on Monday to discuss various proposals for a Palestinian state that are circulating at the United Nations.
    Later on Monday, Kerry will travel to Paris for talks with European counterparts and then on to London to meet Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and a delegation from the Arab League, who will urge the United States not to use its U.N. Security Council veto to block the proposals.
    The hastily-arranged meetings suggested urgency in America's drive to manage efforts among Security Council members to draft a new proposal before Israeli elections in March. Kerry said on Friday he wanted to defuse tensions during the talks.
    U.S.-brokered peace negotiations with Israel, led by Kerry, collapsed in April. Since then, Palestinians have made unilateral efforts at the U.N. to form their own state in the occupied West Bank and in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
    Jordan circulated a Palestinian-drafted resolution to the 15-member Security Council last month calling for Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, captured in a 1967 war, to end by November 2016.
    France, Britain and Germany are in efforts to draft a resolution of their own that could draw wider consensus.
    Netanyahu, who is in the middle of campaigning for the March election, will also meet Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi along with Kerry.
    "In recent years we have repeatedly rebuffed attempts to dictate terms to us which would have harmed Israel's security and which do not conform to true peace. This time, too, we will not accept attempts to dictate unilateral, time-bound moves to us," Netanyahu said before leaving to Rome.
    "In a reality in which Islamic terror is reaching every corner of the globe, we will rebuff any attempt that would bring this terror into our home, into the State of Israel. And I will say these things in the clearest manner. Even if there are dictates, we will stand up to them firmly," he added, possibly in light of reports of a feared Jihadist attack in Sydney, Australia.
    Israel has said it hoped the United States would veto any moves at the United Nations to set a time frame for its withdrawal from territory Palestinians seek for a state, but a senior U.S. official said it was too early to say.
    Netanyahu and Washington have clashed frequently over Israeli settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, leading to Israeli media speculation that a frustrated U.S. could soften its opposition to unilateral statehood steps.
    In Jerusalem, violence has surged in recent weeks because of a dispute over access to a holy site in an Israeli-annexed part of the city. Eleven Israelis and twelve Palestinians have been killed.
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