Netanyahu aides: Israel will not cancel settlement expansion plans

Netanyahu is not burning his own bridges. He is burning Israel's bridges.

Give the people of Gaza a lasting peace. Show them that a true leader is one who cares! Timothy Lim, 2BES2, University of Santo Tomas

Israsel has no intention and never did have any decision of working toward a two state solution. The world should understand this. What the want is the Greater Land of Israel, all of it. Maximum land taken by any means and settled with the maximum number of Jews with the simultaneous effort on the part of the Israeli government to make life for the palestinians as unbearable as possible with the intention of forcing them to emigrate. That is their plan and to pretend it is otherwise is mere blindness.

Some pundits say it is purely a bluff, the building in that area has been on the table for years and Bibi doesn't have the gall to alienate Obama further. Whatever, Bibi has no policy or plan to actually deal with the Palestinians thru negotiations but provocation and delay as if it will go away. Perversely wrong, and history will note that Bibi endangered Israel and it's very existence thru his foolish narrowmindedness.

The people of Israel should invest in a psychoanalyst for Bibi et al to show him that he is reacting to long distant historical events rather than acting in the best interests of 'his' people. As things are, on Israel's current path, the state of Israel will not exist shortly and Jews around the world will pay a terrible price for generations to come.

Barbara Tuchman needs another chapter in her book, "The March of Folly" just to cover Israeli policy on the West Bank.

OUR GOVERNMENT IS A BUNCH OF MORONS. NOT LESS THAN THAT. I AM SCARED TO DEATH NOW AND LOST ALL MY HOPES FOR A BETTER FUTURE THE ONLY HOPE IS IN THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS. MAYBE THE PEOPLE WILL WAKE UP AND KICK THOSE IDIOTS OUT

Interesting article but not one Named source in the entire piece. Really difficult to lend it any weight

This is exactly why the Palestine vote was necessary. Netanyahu had no intention of creating a Palestinian state, at least not a real one with true sovereignty. Bibi wants Palestinians to accept pockets of land with no airport, no military, no control of anything that every other country controls. On top of this he wants Palestinians to accept a fragmented state that is 40% of the total West Bank area. He is acting fast now to do what he was planning to do all along, only faster. It is amazing how such a historically oppressed and persecuted people have now become the most ruthless occupiers/oppressors in the world.

It is non the less very Netanyahu - unlikely to confront the International community head on. The destruction of the PA is no real win either quite the opposite. Iran is out of his league too.

If Palestine has declared itself a state, then fine. Let them collect their own taxes, establish their own law and order, meet their international obligations (including the financial and respecting other nations' rights and security), perhaps conduct its overdue elections, and if they are unhappy with the borders defined by current settlements, let them initiate negotiations with Israel to amend them. As a state Palestinians should not expect others -- whether other countries or the UN -- to do their hard (and often dirty) work for them.

Europe is nothing anymore. Horrible economies, weak militaries, and a stagnant population.

You EU, shame on you. I will like to ask you only two questions; (1) before UN bid in favour of PA, Israel warned of violation of the agreement. Did you ever considered that? (2) you Britain, you specifically said to PA that should give assurance that it would not use its upgrade against Israel. Was there any responce from PA? And now you are condeming Israel for it retaliation on PA. You are systematically siding one State. This have been proved at UN bid against Israel on November 29, 2012.

You're a bunch of criminals. From Brazil.

Do not back down. World opinion is fickle and short lived. Go BB go!

I believe Israel when it says agreement with Palestinians were violated by Palestinians, but I would like to see those agreements on CNN and other media.

How can you claim something is a vital interest if you say it is a punishment for the bad behaviour of your opponent? The simple fact that Israel claims it wants to punish the Palestinians proves that building those settlements in occupied territory is a matter of choice, not of necessity. This is just another short-sighted, failed attempt of Israel to get a point accross. But the point is not about justice and breaking promises, it is about colonialism. You don't punish your equal, you punish a little child that didn't do what it was told, you punish the slave or the indiginous people for daring to oppose the will of its colonial ruler. How naive is the Israeli government to think that they can get away with this? Colonialism is soo 19th century!