Netanyahu Tells U.S. Mediator Palestinians Inciting Against Israel

[Purveyor]

JERUSALEM | Sat Aug 10, 2013 3:38pm EDT
(Reuters) - Israel has complained to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about statements by the Palestinians which it said undermined nascent peace talks, an Israeli official said on Saturday.

"Incitement and peace cannot coexist," the official quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as telling Kerry, the negotiations' sponsor, in a letter sent over the weekend.

The complaint underscored the recrimination and distrust on both sides that threaten the talks, even as Israel prepares to free scores of Palestinian prisoners ahead of a second round of discussions next week.

According to the official, Netanyahu's letter referred to an assertion Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made on July 29 that a future Palestinian state "would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier".

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/10/us-palestinians-israel-idUSBRE97908M20130810

[Purveyor]

1. No "incitement here" of course: Israel Advances 1,100 Settlement Units Despite Peace Talks

JERUSALEM – As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators prepare for a second round of peace talks next week, an Israeli military committee advanced nearly 1,100 units of proposed Jewish housing in the West Bank, a settlement-watch group said Thursday.

The projects are particularly sensitive because most of the units are located in isolated settlements that Israel is unlikely to retain if and when a Palestinian state is created.

Palestinian leaders have warned that such moves will threaten the recently revived peace process, launched last month by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The U.S. has urged Israel to refrain from expanding settlements on land it seized during the 1967 Mideast War. Most of the international community views such settlement construction as illegal.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-israel-advances-west-bank-settlements-20130808,0,4270888.story

[oberliner]

2. Palestinians complain to Kerry about settlements

WASHINGTON (AP) — The second round of U.S.-brokered Mideast peace talks will be held next week, the State Department said Thursday, even as the Palestinians protested new Israeli settlement activity.

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Israel's latest settlement announcements were an indication of "Israel's bad faith and lack of seriousness" in the talks.

The letter was sent Thursday, the same day that State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced that Mideast peace envoy Martin Indyk and deputy special envoy Frank Lowenstein were heading to the region for talks Aug. 14 in Jerusalem, followed by a later meeting in the West Bank.

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-complain-kerry-settlements-221145506.html

[Israeli]

3. Today's Haaretz Editorial

Settlements will continue to determine Israel's future

The government will do anything it can to sabotage the talks with the Palestinians. There is no other way to interpret the recent approval of 878 new housing units in secluded West Bank settlements.

The government will also forge ahead with creating facts on the ground, just in case the talks get under way. The addition of 91 settlements to Israel’s national priority areas attests to this.

Saeb Erekat, head of the Palestinian negotiation team, has warned that the construction in the West Bank jeopardizes the direct negotiations scheduled to open in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a State Department spokeswoman has said the United states does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity and opposes any effort to legalize outposts.

But the Israeli government is not impressed. It sees itself as a victim of diplomatic rape intended to end the dream of a Greater Land of Israel. The government is determined to battle anyone seeking to thwart this dream.

If there's any need for further proof of the government’s derangement, it's the decision not to sign the scientific cooperation agreement with the European Union as long as the agreement is restricted to the 1967 borders. Israel is the only country outside the European Union that was invited to join, but what's NIS 1.5 billion - the sum Israel will lose if it doesn't sign? And what does the government care if vital research fields are crippled as long as the delusion of the Greater Land of Israel is protected?

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http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.540784