JERUSALEM (WJC)–Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a 10-month settlement construction freeze will not include Israeli’s “sovereign capital” of Jerusalem, including the eastern parts of the city captured in 1967. The moratorium would also not apply to construction already started or authorized in the West Bank, as well as buildings to allow the 300,000 residents of the West Bank to live “a normal life,” including, he said, “synagogues, schools, kindergartens and public buildings.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Netanyahu’s announcement had brought “nothing new. Settlement activity will continue in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” he said in Santiago de Chile, adding that Netanyahu “had a choice between peace and settlements, and unfortunately, he chose the settlements”.
In a joint declaration with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Abbas reaffirmed “the pressing need for Israel to cease illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories.” Egypt’s foreign minister called the moratorium “an incomplete step and not compatible with the requirements for achieving peace.”
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress