Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., December 13, 2008 Kislev 16, 5769 | | Israel Time: 02:39 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 22:04 11/12/2008
Netanyahu looks to calm EU fears he'll halt peace talks
By The Associated Press
Tags: EU, Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu 

Benjamin Netanyahu, the chairman of the Likud and the man polls predict will occupy the prime minister's chair following the February 10 elections, sought Thursday to reassure Europeans that he will continue peace talks with the Palestinians if he wins February's general election, despite a rightward tilt in his Party.

Netanyahu was speaking to Israel-based EU ambassadors in the wake of Likud primaries, which catapulted several ultra-hawks into the top 30 places on the party's slate of candidates for the elections.
Advertisement

Netanyahu was the guest speaker at a lunch hosted by the European Union and arranged long before Monday's primaries. He used the occasion to try to quell concerns fueled by the outcome, which delivered significant advances for a wing of Likud seeking to halt peace talks, ban minority Arab citizens of Israel from the parliament, encourage non-Jews to leave the country and pull Israel out of the United Nations.

Following the primary results, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of the rival Kadima Party warned that a victory for a Likud slate peppered with die-hard opponents of concessions to the Palestinians could plunge Israel into international isolation.

Netanyahu resisted peace efforts when he was prime minister from 1996-1999 but says he will carry on existing negotiations with the Palestinians if he is returned to power, as polls indicate, though with more emphasis on encouraging Palestinian economic growth rather than a speedy transition to a sovereign Palestinian state.

"I told them that a Likud government under my leadership will continue the peace talks, stressing security and economic development," Netanyahu said in a brief statement after Thursday's lunch. "We intend to interlace them with economic development, rapid economic development for the Palestinians and regional cooperation with Jordan and Egypt."

Netanyahu spokesman Ron Dermer said that despite the primary upset, the former premier remained in firm control of his party and its policy and said so to the ambassadors.

"He made it clear that he is the party leader, he will call the shots and he will also choose a government that will enable him to carry out his policy," Dermer said.

Related articles:
  • Likud committee bumps Feiglin down to 36th on party ticket
  • Israel Harel / Bibi, not Feiglin
  • Gideon Levy / Ostracize, boycott, do not join
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Off with your seat!
    Likud committee bumps Feiglin down to 36th on party ticket.
    Trotting for the Globe
    Israeli animated feature 'Waltz with Bashir' nominated for Golden Globe award.
      1.   there`s no sense in netanyahu staying with likud 21:20  |  yahn goodey 11/12/08
      2.   NO to EU crap 21:32  |  Brod 11/12/08
      3.   just tell the EU to "pucker up" )( 22:20  |  disgusted American 11/12/08
      4.   A foretaste of what to come 23:22  |  Axel 11/12/08
      5.   BIBI is just as bad as Olmert Barak and Livni 01:28  |  Ralph Levy 12/12/08
      6.   Does he not remember? 02:06  |  Mark Lincoln 12/12/08
      7.   Well, sure, Bibi will continue the talks..... 03:58  |  Johnboy 12/12/08
      8.   Brod on crap... - 2nd try 04:35  |  BBSNews 12/12/08
      9.   Brod & Ralph 05:45  |  Mark of Lewiston 12/12/08
      10.   An american`s view 06:09  |  Bob Taylor 12/12/08
      11.   WHY IS FEIGLIN QUIET? 08:18  |  jJosephus 12/12/08
      12.   What Peace Talks? 09:31  |  Baruch Gold 12/12/08
      13.   Why pander to EU, it only brings more terror! 09:57  |  Harvey 12/12/08
      14.   Axel - Constant!! 10:30  |  Lisa 12/12/08
      15.   Netanyahu will continue peace talks? 13:33  |  lady from USA 12/12/08
     Read & React
    Iran irate after Sarkozy rules out shaking Ahmadinejad's hand
    Responses: 114
    Livni: It isn't possible to bring every soldier home
    Responses: 40
    ANALYSIS / IDF soldiers must at least believe they won't be abandoned
    Responses: 29
    Yossi Sarid: We're weakening ourselves before future civil war with settlers
    Responses: 26
    Yoel Marcus: Barak better equipped to deal with Iran, Hamas than Netanyahu
    Responses: 19


    More Headlines
    23:47 Palestinians: Israel asked to annex 6.8% of West Bank
    20:13 IDF soldiers critically wound Palestinian youth with rubber-coated bullet
    23:14 IDF chief of staff: Freeing Gilad Shalit is always on the agenda
    23:45 Jimmy Carter: I would have been delighted to meet Hezbollah officials
    12:41 State to court: Rescind release of settler who shot Hebron Palestinians
    16:15 U.S. Army sends American-Israeli woman to Afghanistan
    15:42 50 years on, Holocaust survivor defends Rudolph Kastner
    00:13 Egyptian guards shoot dead African man trying to cross into Israel
    17:16 Ahmadinejad: Israel at end of line, will soon fade away
    19:59 Wheelchair-bound woman, 50, dies in Jerusalem apartment blaze
    13:28 Amira Hass returns to Gaza after a two-year absence
    12:13 Palestinian poll: 40 percent of Gaza residents wish to emigrate
    12:18 Suspected Muslim extremist shoots and kills Yemen Jew
    10:35 Barak: Likud still far-right, despite Feiglin demotion
    20:53 Two Qassams hit Negev, days before Gaza cease-fire set to end
    09:18 ANALYSIS / IDF soldiers must at least believe they won't be abandoned
    18:18 Holocaust comedy is fine, it's kitsch we should worry about
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Summer in Israel
    Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009
    Living in Israel Studying in English
    Click & Meet our students from all around the world
    Fattal Hotel Chain
    Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel.
    Car rental in Israel
    Shlomo Sixt Receive $15.00 from our low rates.
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Hebrew Summer courses
    From $39.95
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |
    Real Estate in Israel | Travel to Israel with Haaretz | Hotels Israel | Restaurants Israel | Tourist attractions Israel | Shops Israel
    birthright Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved