Israel PM to lay out peace policy
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 08, 2009 00:00
JERUSALEM - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under stiff U.S. pressure to freeze West Bank settlement construction and endorse Palestinian statehood, said yesterday that he plans to deliver a major policy address laying out his proposed road to peace.
Netanyahu offered no hint of what he might say. So far, he has resisted pressure to bend to these two White House demands, deepening an unusually public face-off with Israel's top ally.
"It must be understood, we seek peace with the Palestinians and with the states of the Arab world while trying to reach as much understanding as possible with the United States and our friends abroad," the Israeli leader said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. "My desire is to achieve a stable peace that rests on solid foundations of security for the state of Israel and its citizens," he added. "Next week I will make an important policy speech in which I will present to the citizens of Israel our principles on achieving this peace and security."
Unclear attitude
Netanyahu has publicly declared his commitment to peace before, but has offered few details about how he hopes to achieve an agreement with the Palestinians without ceding control of most of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those lands and the Gaza Strip for their future state, and say they won't renew peace talks until Israel agrees to freeze settlement construction and negotiate Palestinian statehood.
Israeli construction in the West Bank has long tormented peacemaking, because it is seen by the international community as a way of cementing control over areas claimed by the Palestinians. Since entering office in January, Obama has taken up the issue head on. His administration hopes that halting settlement expansion would embolden the Arab world to make overtures toward Israel and improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world, which suffered under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Obama's demands of Israel do not represent a break with U.S. policy. But his adamant and repeated pronouncement of them in high-profile appearances has generated much consternation and edginess in Israel.
"It must be understood, we seek peace with the Palestinians and with the states of the Arab world while trying to reach as much understanding as possible with the United States and our friends abroad," the Israeli leader said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. "My desire is to achieve a stable peace that rests on solid foundations of security for the state of Israel and its citizens," he added. "Next week I will make an important policy speech in which I will present to the citizens of Israel our principles on achieving this peace and security."
Unclear attitude
Netanyahu has publicly declared his commitment to peace before, but has offered few details about how he hopes to achieve an agreement with the Palestinians without ceding control of most of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those lands and the Gaza Strip for their future state, and say they won't renew peace talks until Israel agrees to freeze settlement construction and negotiate Palestinian statehood.
Israeli construction in the West Bank has long tormented peacemaking, because it is seen by the international community as a way of cementing control over areas claimed by the Palestinians. Since entering office in January, Obama has taken up the issue head on. His administration hopes that halting settlement expansion would embolden the Arab world to make overtures toward Israel and improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world, which suffered under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Obama's demands of Israel do not represent a break with U.S. policy. But his adamant and repeated pronouncement of them in high-profile appearances has generated much consternation and edginess in Israel.