Netanyahu: Israel will resume West Bank building in 8 months

I constantly see this little ad on Haaretz?s webpage imploring readers to ?Help feed desperate hungry Israeli children.? How can there possibly be desperately hungry Israeli children when the government spends billions on settlements? And if there are desperately hungry Israeli children, just imagine how Gazan children must be doing. Keep building settlements and stealing land, Netanyahu. That?s your real priority.

Attention all Zionists. You are rapidly loosing the support of Americans who for many years have wanted you to succeed. However your present attitudes, continued theft of land, illegal settlements and brutal occupation are wearing thin with us, Jews and non Jews alike. Mend your ways or drift out into the cold world alone.

then one with al-qaida ties will have a try... and then who? who, bobby g? who will follow that, and the next, and the one after that? oh but wait...i may possibly be getting ahead of myself; because at the rate israel is going, it may end up annexing the west bank. so go ahead and insert THAT somewhere between one of the above who's, bobby g; and THEN what? ethnic cleansing? how will israel deal with a growing palestinian population(soon to be a majority), within its borders...while still trying to maintain the image that it's a democracy? total apartheid? i wonder where it'll end up with THAT in the eyes of the world...and in those of it's biggest benefactor, bobby g? how will it be perceived by the united states? do you think the u.s. will be as willing to cozy up with israel then? keep protecting it in the unsc? continue providing it with money, arms, and technology? either way, bobby g; are you really sure you're so anxious for abbas and his government to fail? and do you really think that israel wins in ANY way if he does?

Did anyone expect anything different from a leader who has consistently favored settlement expansion over peace and lied about his true intentions?

Its not about building settlements, its actually about never achieving peace. Jews in Israel just want to continue to occupy and oppress thinking the Pals will just go away. How silly of them to think they will achieve their goal. They are destroying their country and making the world sit up and take notice of their true ideology of racism. As for black skinned Jews in Israel..doesnt take much digging to find out how they are treated in Israel.

next time you think the USA can stop aide to israel stop and think again.go to boycott israel and you will see the list of companies that support israel and you will know that no matter what we will always support this country.And that my friend is total bull

And it's TEMPORARY because 500,000 people aren't going to put their lives on hold while Abbas tries to reconcile with Hamas while pontificating over what parts of the freeze he doesn't like. Abbas needs to get to the table and start talking, the clock is ticking, tick, tock.

don't you think its time for israel to stop building houses.i also think it would be kind of them to GIVE the houses to all the Arabs they made move from their land.This would stop all the violence in the middle east and everyone will be happy.We all know you can afford it so step up give them a place to live and be happy

Yes, Israel, you have carried out your de factio annexation of the West Bank , and converted Gaza in to the largest ghetto ever created. And, its all the Palestinians fault. They can be helpd without equal political rights indefinitly. See if you can sell this to the democracies for another 50 years.

Israel will have to face one day the challenge of evicting Thousands of Settlers, the more the merrier for us to watch!

One cannot clap with one hand. Up to now pals proved beyond any reasonable doubt that all their intentions are ill conceived and they never been serious enough to even contemplate peace. As such Israel should continue becoming a World Leader in all branches of today's modern society. Israel's economy amongst the strongest in the World, R/D is the most advance in the World. Compare that to other side which dwells on terror, murder and disinformation that destines them to achieve nothing for now and for a future....

I say Build Build Build, its Jewish land!!!! Not Palistinians. They belong in the countrys they were kicked out of.

br: "Abbas qotes road map; what about rockets and incitement?" Abbas is not firing any rockets at anyone, and his PA security service in the WB has ensured that Hamas can not fire rockets from anywhere within his authority. The "incitements" listed by the Israeli toady to the USA were laughable, and I imagine that his letter suffered a very quick flick into a State Dept. trashcan.

Let's be clear here. We are israel. We only agree to stop expropriating the land of weaker peoples for limited periods of time. Then we resume our theft. We can't help it. It's what we do. Seriously, there are so many Israelis who are better than that. Please, give them a voice.

in answer to reaction no. 17: israel can build settlements in stead of in the golan heights and the west bank. there is plenty of space in the negev-desert to build and irigate, which is half the territory of the state of israel and which is thinly populated.

Just becuase the Pals want something doesn't mean that Israel should just give it to them. Dividing the capital is a non starter. The Pals are divided, won't recognize Israel's right to exist and launch rockets at. Israel has said they will sit down to negotiate without preconditions, Bibi has agreed to a two state solution and yet Abbas wont talk. Why should Israel wait and put their country on hold. How about return our solider, stop the terror and recognize Israel.

The Arabs have made it absolutely clear that they do not want peace and will never negotiate in good faith with Israel. There is no point in waiting another eight months before starting to build again. It is just dividing the nation and failing to appease the enemy who is still thirsting for even more Jewish blood. Anyone who thinks I might be exaggerating has only to read a few of the comments on Haaretz talkback!

Tens of thousands of palestinians rely on the settlement construction for jobs and they don't give a dam about politics they just want to put food on the table and if building settlements earns money then they will do it. Also the son of the palestinan PM won't be happy either because he owns a cement factory which has been selling cement to settlements. The ONLY loosers from a settlement freeze are the thousands of palestinians who are about to loose their jobs. Well provided Bibi doesn't extend the thing then in 8 months they will get their jobs back and they can start feeding the family again.

Excellent!!! the so called "freeze" will be lifted in 8 months and building in the WB will continue. This certainly proves israel's intentions. Even Bibi is not going to allow building where he thinks he will withdraw.

The threat to withhold Israel loan guarantee will become a reality. Hundreds of thousands are out of work in America. 85 thousand net jobs were cut by businesses in December 2009. How much longer will Israel bleed American tax payers? America is getting deeper and deeper in debt to China. China is forging ahead. China has become the world's largest exporter. America is trying to stay the number one power by military might, running up the war debt. China is climbing ever closer to becoming the world power by economic growth, it's not running itself or its military ragged like America. Israel and its settlement building on Palestinian land will whither away, just as surely as America will be knocked off its pedestal. The Empire is crumbling.

"Bibi wants to avoid peace like-the-plague" Esther What did you expect Bibi to do ? Abbas should have accepted to negotiation in these 10 months & the freeze & negotiations perhaps would be extended. Now Abbas gets nothing ! No negotiation and back to stagnation ! Just another reason to blame Israel, One may wonder if Abbas refused to negotiate because he doesn't wants to be seems weak in his competition with Hamas ! There is nothing than power struggle among the palestinians in this conflict. And that is the real plague !

Please tell me, why is Israel so stubborn on building settlements in a place that is a disputed land? " Ram The West bank is no longer disputed--it is officially "Occupied territory". Please check case #2056/04 Beit Zourik V Israel. In this case the highest Court in Israel ruled the West Bank to be,,,"Held under Belligerent Occupation" ergo it cannot be sovereign Israeli territory as an Occupier cannot occupy it,s own territory. But Israel even ignores it,s own High Court of Justice. Stay around and see what for and to whom your hard earned tax dollars go and the level of gratitude the USA gets.

Barry, your assessment is correct, with one main idea you miss. The Palestinians could have had a state 43 years ago, in 1967, 66, 65, etc.. They were not interested in a State at any point prior to 1967. The focus was on the destruction of Israel. Had they wanted a State, would Jordan have given it to them ? Why aren't the Jordanians petitioning Israel for this captured land, after all, it was captured from Jordan ?? Had the Pals wanted their State prior to '67, we would not be having these discussions. They would already have their State. Why are they REALLY STATELESS, Barry ??

Israel has no intention of giving back any land or why would they continue building settlements. Well they may have shot themselves in the foot, without any land left for a Palestinian state they'll have to declare a bi natioanl state,with passports and voting rights in the knesset for all Arabs.

KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THE ISRAELIS EVERYWHERE

"We want to renew negotiations without negotiations," he said. Well, you can't be clearer than that

to sit and negotiate while clearly israel is undermining the object of the negotiations.

he can "exclude" all of Gaza, all of the West Bank and certainly all of Jerusalem. Mr. Netanyahu could never do what we did here in SA. Jews have neither the will, spirit or honesty to live in peace with others. Your actions prove this. We have Muslims and Jews living here, fully integated and prospering at all levels. This would never be allowed by Mr. Netanyahu. The so-called settlers who voted him in would either vote him out, or as in past administrations in Israel, assasinate him. What a rats nest you have created out of what was once a beautiful ancient land for thousands of years. And, to think of it, you have done it in about 60 years. My congratulations to Mr. Netanyahu and his cohorts. However, it will come to no good end until the 3 million or so Palestinians realize fully, that there is absolutly no hope whatsoever and begin a mass riot.

Netanyahu represents quite openly the true aim of Israeli hardliners. An Israeli state that stands alone in the occupied lands, with all Palestinians absorbed into the surrounding Arab states... They will never allow an autonomous Palestinian state, they will never give up more land than they have already, they will never allow Jerusalem to be divided and at this moment, any moment, are working on removing Arabs from Israel proper. There are many moderates in Israel, but they hold about as much sway as they do here in the US... the reactionary, radical, inflammatory 'them or us' anger always wins... our President has been called communist/marxist/fascist, even worse than Hitler for trying to expand healthcare to all our citizens... which, although ridiculous and insulting to those who suffered and died through the Holocaust, actually gained traction and helped defeat sections of the bill. So it is highly probable that in 50 years the Middle East will still be at war!

...they had ever stopped. Bibi is a spinmeister. A politician's politician. If he were an attempt at a human being, you could almost hate him. But he is what he is and he's pretty good at it.

Please tell me, why is Israel so stubborn on building settlements in a place that is a disputed land? Is there no other place left in the entire Israel to house some 250 families?? Seriously, I don't understand all the politics behind this dispute, but I would like to know the answer to a simple question...do Israelies treat Palestinians as second class human beings?? Are dark skined pople treated differently in Israel?? Just want to get a sence of what the people there are like!!!????

Stop all US aid to Israel until they stop building in the occupied land meant for a Palestinian state. If we keep funding them with our American taxes then we look like the bad guy. If it weren't for the American's money there would be no Israel. I'm not Jewish, or Arab so my support shouldn't be automatic! If you want to continue building that's fine. Just not with my hard-earned taxes.

Bibi wants one thing only from the Palestinians. To lock them in impotent packets of misery without a state or allies, while Israel consolidates their resources (but not the burdens of placating their voters and providing reasonable governemnt services to them). Every settler, every settlement, every outpost, and every restriction on Palestinian society is a move away from peace, yet Bibi calls his pauses, his shifts of emphasis, his willingness to temporarily slow the promotion of settlement as a peace offering? Ludicrous. There will be no peace until both sides stop pointing fingers, stop laying UNREASONABLE preconditions, stop feeling they deserve to throw one last mighty blow before peace, try to find empathy for the opponent, and seek agreement on a satisfactory near-term diplomatic arrangement. I used to thing tit-for-tat violence and Israel's thirst for overwhelming retaliation to every provocation were the only major obstacles to peace. Today I know differently.

... on the strength of that declaration alone, Abbas would be crazy to start a peace-shmeace process with Israel... ... all the more so since Bibi knows that full well... ... Bibi wants to avoid peace like-the-plague... ... he just wants to keep the loan-guaretees... ... and meanwhile Barak is hob-nobbying with Republican senators in Washington, undercutting Obama... ... what-they-can-get-away-with typifies this government...

keep the West Bank open to squatter colonies while maintaining a relative calm w/PLO, keep the welfare check and weapons from USA flowing in, confuse everyone with double talk (leiberman says one thing bibi says another) shuck a jive to make nothing change, since squattters are free to steal land in peace...in the short run he has insulted the world, threatened settlements, and threatened the zio-US relationship....in the long run he has isolated zio-land from the world...bibi2 is worse than bibi1...is anyone surprised?

he is a weak leader, pandering to the abusive right just to keep his seat warm. His government is taking the country where it shouldn't go - a path of further perpetual conflict. Hashem help us in building a government who really wants peace with our neigbours.

The Israeli government does not want to abide by the Geneva conventions. They surely make it hard for other countries to support them...

Yes B (Binyamin) and B(Barak) can never be partners to the serious, moderate Abbass. Reciprocity,Both are the same saying something meaning something different. Yes I agree it takes TWO to TANGO, they are both can Tango until the coming of the BINATIONAL STATE. What a PAIR?

The writing ison the wall its too late for two states the world is moving to enforce equality. The only democracy in the middle east (what a joke) will soon have to walk the talk

These were also in road map. Why wait 10 months when palestinians have already rejected negotiatins. Resume and expand settlement int he land of Israel.

Israel this is your land and is there to build, build and build.

The bigger joke than Bibi are the Palestinians. They haven't done squat in years to show they want peace. Now, they're playing hard to get. As always, they are the masters of miscalculation. Bibi, stand your ground, stand firm. Who needs these pre-conditions when you hold the winning hand. Abbas is on life-support.

The arabs' arguments at present, against construction, will have even more "validity" in the future and resuming construction is going to be much harder than continuation ever was. The sad thing is that Natanyahu knows this but talk is cheap. On the other matter of poor Gilad; the slogan used to be: no release of those with blood on their hands. Now we are talking of icons. l think the direction we are moving is is other than encouraging.

"Netanyahu: Israel will resume West Bank building in 8 months" Ed What other choice left for israel, than never stop defending itself as it did for over 2000 years. The world is not listening and the palestinians are never changing. A stalemate that leaves no choice for israel that have no choice than look after itself ! Resume West Bank building is a great step for israel unity !

Surely nobody believes there ever has been a settlement freeze do they?

Empty promises from an empty heart! We all knew the freeze was a joke. And we all know Bibi is a joke!

So far only a couple of haredi settlements that are never going to be evacuated have actually faced any settlement freeze and his apology for a defence minister has already reneged on any freeze elsewhere. This is a government in stasis, rather like the almost erstwhile Sharon, BUT where he was never in thrall to the settlers, this bunch certainly are and the consequences for the rest of the nation are that we are not so gently going down the tubes. And we don't seem to have noticed it!