“You have to ask a simple question,
why does Abu Mazen serially refuse, for four years, to enter negotiations? Why
does he place pre-conditions on the start of those talks?” Netanyahu asked,
“I have conditions for concluding
the talks, but not for starting them,” he said.
The Western Wall is not occupied
territory, Netanyahu said, as he promised to continue to buck the international
community to defend Israel’s right to build in its ancient capital of
Jerusalem, including in eastern section over the pre-1967 lines.
“I am saying this in the clearest
way possible, the Western Wall is not occupied territory, and I do not care
what the United Nation says [on this matter]," Netanyahu told Channel 2.
He said he just stood near the Tower
of David in the Old City with foreign ambassadors.
“I said to them, would you accept
that in you could not build in your capitals?” Netanyahu recalled.
““My fundamental position is that we
live in a Jewish nation, Jerusalem became that nation's capital over 3,000
years ago,” Netanyahu said.
He added, “We will build in
Jerusalem because it’s our right.”
Had the Jewish people bowed to
international pressure, the state of Israel would not have been created, the
Six-Day War would not have been fought, the Iraqi reactor would not have been
bombed and Petah Tikva and Kfar Saba would never have been built, Netanyahu
told Channel 1.
He rejected charges that he approved
the new homes, including 1,048 in West Bank settlements, to curry favor with
right wing voters.
But, he said, that massive electoral
support for his party would help him defend Israel both diplomatically and
militarily.
"On election day Israeli
citizens will send a message," he continued, "not only domestically
but also to the international community,” Netanyahu said.
"Do you know who will be paying
attention to the election results?" Netanyahu added, "[Iranian
President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, [and Hamas
chief Khaled] Mashaal, they'll wait for polls to close and for results to be
publicized. And they'll want to know if the prime minister was strengthened or
weakened."
Still, he told Channel 2, when asked
why he suddenly began building, “What happened is not the elections. What happened
is that the Palestinians appealed to the UN - they just ripped apart all their
agreements with us. If they act unilaterally, we will not sit idly by. "
Netanyahu said he supported a
two-solution, but that it had to be brought about in such a way that would not
place Iran in the West Bank.
But in spite of Netanyahu’s words,
the international community has leveled the brunt of its public criticism on
Israel, stating that building in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem was
harming any possibility of renewed talks.
The European Union and Russia on
Friday denounced Israeli actions.
"The European Union and the
Russian Federation are deeply dismayed by and strongly oppose Israeli plans to
expand settlements in the West Bank and in particular plans to develop the E1
area," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief
Catherine Ashton said in a statement.
"The EU and the Russian
Federation underline the urgency of renewed, structured and substantial peace
efforts in 2013," said the joint statement after an EU-Russia summit in
Brussels.
The EU and Russia, which together
with the United States and the United Nations make up the Quartet of Middle
East mediators, said the settlements were illegal under international law and
were an obstacle to peace.
"The EU and the Russian
Federation will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including
with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties," they
said.
It was time to take "bold and
concrete steps towards peace between Palestinians and Israelis", they
said, calling for "direct and substantial negotiations without
preconditions."
The EU and Russia called for the
unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of goods and people to and from
the Gaza Strip, and urged Israel to avoid any step that would undermine the
financial situation of the Palestinian Authority.
They urged the Palestinian
leadership to use Palestine's new UN status constructively and avoid steps that
would deepen lack of trust and lead further away from a negotiated solution.
Jpost staff and Reuters contributed
to this report
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