Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Refuses U.S. Call for Settlement Building Freeze in West Bank

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country will continue to build settlements in the West Bank despite calls from the United States to freeze further construction.

While Netanyahu said he would consider “scaling down construction” that likely won’t be enough for Palestinians who have said a complete freeze would be needed if there were to be a lasting peace deal. Both sides have blamed the other for preventing a peace deal from being completed as Israel has pointed to continued attacks on its soil while Palestinians have protested the settlements as well as blockades.

George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy in the Middle East, met with Israeli President Shimon Peres in hopes of renewing the stalled peace talks. Mitchell was also scheduled to meet with Netanyahu on Monday but that meeting was delayed so that the two could attend the funeral of Assaf Ramon, the fighter pilot who was killed on Sunday when his jet crashed in the West Bank. Ramon was the 21-year-old son of Ilan Ramon, considered a national hero as the country’s only astronaut. He was killed in the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster that claimed the lives of all seven astronauts as it exploded attempting re-entry.

Netanyahu has remained consistent in his message, saying the building of 2,500 housing units already under construction would continue. The PM has said the construction is necessary to meet the needs of Israelis but he would consider scaling down future construction, but only for a temporary period.

Addressing the Palestinians demands for a complete freeze to constriction Netanyahu stated, “Palestinians expected a complete halt to construction, a freeze, now it is clear that will not be. Jerusalem is not a settlement, and construction there will continue as usual.”

In response to Netanyahu’s position Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said a meeting between the two would be pointless as long as Israel refused to halt construction.

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