Netanyahu: Dealing with Iran more important than West Bank outposts

Coordination with Washington over the Iranian threat is more important than the illegal settlement outposts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Likud party's Knesset faction yesterday following a stormy debate on the outposts.

The statements essentially adopt the American view that concessions to the Palestinians would make it easier to halt Iran's nuclear program.

At the meeting, several Likud MKs blasted the premier for having promised to evacuate outposts and refrain from building new settlements. One of the most severe comments came from Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan.

"We need to throw attorney Talia Sasson's report on the outposts onto the trash heap of history," he said, referring to a report that declared the outposts blatantly illegal. Sasson was working for the Justice Ministry at the time, but after leaving the ministry, she ran unsuccessfully for a slot on the left-wing Meretz Party's Knesset slate, causing many on the right to question her impartiality.

Netanyahu, however, urged the MKs to take Israel's diplomatic and security needs into account and refrain from criticizing the evacuations.

"These are not normal times," he said. "Danger is galloping at us... My job, first and foremost, is to ensure the future of the State of Israel."

Given the Iranian threat, the Israeli-American relationship is supremely important, he continued.

"Our situation today is different than it was in 1996-99," he said, referring to his first term as prime minister, "and we need to tailor our order of priorities to the nation's needs and achieve unity in order to repel the danger. There are reasons to preserve our good relationship with the United States."

"The leadership's job is to remove the [Iranian] danger," he continued. "Who will remove this danger? Either we will, or no one will. If we do not mobilize the U.S. and the nations of the world for this purpose, no one will."

Regarding last week's evacuation of the Maoz Esther outpost, which was ordered by Defense Minister and Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak, Netanyahu said that he and Barak had coordinated this move and denied that Barak was "conducting an independent policy."

"Even during the campaign, I said that we are a law-abiding country and will deal with the illegal outposts - if possible, through dialogue," Netanyahu said.

However, he also reiterated his promise to allow construction in legal settlements to accommodate "natural growth."