MIDDLE EAST: Settlers step up pressure on Israeli cabinet in bid to prevent settlement freeze

Record ID: 791678

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Settlers step up pressure on Israeli cabinet in bid to prevent settlement freeze
  • Date: 22nd November 2010
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (NOVEMBER 21, 2010) (REUTERS) **FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** JEWISH SETTLERS DEMONSTRATING OUTSIDE ISRAELI CABINET MEETING IN PROTEST AGAINST RENEWAL OF SETTLEMENT FREEZE BOY HOLDING UP SIGN, WHISTLING SETTLERS HOLDING UP SIGNS AND FLAGS CLOSE OF SIGN READING IN HEBREW AND ENGLISH 'BENJAMIN NETANYAHU -- YES YOU CAN, SAY NO' YOUNG PEOPLE CLAPPING HANDS AND SHOUTING
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACBIAVESXCBA84W3KOC8QG9FEZ
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Jewish settlers demonstrated on Sunday (November 21) outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office calling him to reject incentives promised by Washington in return for a further freeze of Jewish settlement building.
    Netanyahu unveiled the U.S. incentives to his cabinet last weekend and appeared hopeful the ministers would back plans for a temporary halt to building in the occupied West Bank to overcome a hurdle to the peace talks.
    Netanyahu looks to have backing from a slim majority of senior ministers in favour of a freeze, but his ministers are facing growing pressure from the pro-settler lobby to vote against and prevent any halt to settlement building.
    Settler leader Danny Dayan said that resumption of the moratorium would compromise Israel's credibility in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
    "We came here to call upon our government not to take this very bad decision to renew the moratorium. If there is one position, that the Israeli government has declared unequivocally, it is that the moratorium was a unilateral one-time gesture. Now, if this position crumbles then all the credibility of Israel in the crucial negotiation we are going into will collapse itself too," Dayan said.
    Political sources say seven cabinet ministers are ready to support the plan, while six were firmly opposed, leaving two ministers from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party holding the balance of power.
    "The Rabbi (Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of Shas Party) is against (the freeze), but he has asked to hear what exactly is being offered by the United States -- that is that there will be no freeze in Jerusalem, that there will be a commitment that the Americans won't ask for another freeze and third, that it will be possible to build in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) immediately after the three months have ended. These things are what the Rabbi has asked to check and after that he will make the decision. As of now we are voting against," Israeli interior minister and head of Shas party, Eli Yishai said before the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
    Washington hopes its diplomatic and defence enticements will persuade Israel to renew the freeze for 90 days, opening the way for three months of intense negotiations that would focus on the future border of a Palestinian state.
    The Palestinians have expressed outrage in private over reports of the U.S. offer, saying it was a bribe to get Israel to fulfill basic international obligations.
    Ends.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register