THE TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has formally defied a US call to halt Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, according to officials in Washington.
Mr Netanyahu is said to have written to Barack Obama over the weekend officially rejecting his demand to freeze settlement expansion in the city – a move that takes relations between Israel and its superpower patron into uncharted territory.
The Israeli prime minister's response came nearly a month after a tempestuous meeting at the White House in which he was instructed to make a series of confidence-building measures towards the Palestinian leadership.
Until now, Mr Netanyahu has equivocated as he tried to balance the demands of his coalition's right-wing, which urged him to make no compromises, against the intense pressure of the US president.
Although he offered to make some concessions, such as releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners, Mr Netanyahu held firm on the issue of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured and annexed after the Six-Day War of 1967.
Israeli officials, however, denied that their prime minister had made any formal reply to Mr Obama's demands.
"The idea that there was some formal response is just not true," one said.
Mr Netanyahu has made his feelings on East Jerusalem clear in recent days. Stopping construction in the city's Jewish settlements is "totally, totally a non-starter", he told the US television network ABC on Sunday. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Thursday, April 22, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Israeli prime minister defiant ahead of visit from US special envoy, George Mitchell, despite deadlock in peace talks
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reportedly told the US administration that his government will not stop settlement construction in east Jerusalem, despite US pressure and long-running deadlock in peace talks.
The message was delivered to US officials at the weekend, according to reports by AP and the Wall Street Journal, and comes ahead of a visit to the Middle East by George Mitchell, the US special envoy, later today.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, would not discuss the details of Israel's talks with the US administration but he said: "We want this process to succeed and to see the restart of talks. We hope that this is possible soon."
Earlier this week Netanyahu insisted again that construction in east Jerusalem would continue. "The Palestinian demand is that we prevent Jews from building in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. That is an unacceptable demand. If we made it in London or made it in New York or in Paris, people would cry foul," he told US television network ABC.
He admitted there were outstanding issues with the US. "We're trying to resolve them through diplomatic channels in the best way that we can," Netanyahu said. >>> Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem | Thursday, April 22, 2010
Obama’s Smarm >>>
