ISRAEL: New campaign counts down to end of settlement construction freeze

 April 23, 2010 | 10:57 am 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December declared a 10-month construction freeze in the West Bank settlements. He said he hoped the move would "help launch meaningful negotiations to reach an historic peace agreement that would finally end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."

It could have, maybe, but the freeze -- gradually renamed "suspension" -- was partial, didn't include East Jerusalem and was rejected by the Palestinians. Things floundered around until last month when ill-timed reports of construction planned in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem dragged down peace matters -- along with Israeli-U.S. relations -- during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel.

Netanyahu has since been under heavy pressure to apply a full freeze in Jerusalem and come up with a positive policy on other issues. After weeks of consultations among the ministerial "forum of seven," Netanyahu answered U.S. demands, reportedly a list of 11 points. On Jerusalem, the answer was no. At least publicly. Haaretz columnist Akiva Eldar writes that President Obama has offered Netanyahu a gentleman's agreement on Jerusalem, understanding that Netanyahu cannot afford to hint that Jerusalem is being treated like West Bank settlements -- a Middle East version of "don't ask, don't tell."

The freeze is already halfway through, ending in September, right around the corner.

 Danon slams Indyk for 'intervening'

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
22/04/2010 08:14

Likud members respond to Indyk's criticism of the party.

Hours after former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must choose between satisfying American demands or the members of his party, Likud MK Danny Danon launched a campaign to emphasize opposition to Netanyahu's West Bank building moratorium.

In an interview with Army Radio, Indyk reiterated many of the sentiments that he expressed in an opinion piece published in The New York Times, but added that Netanyahu's "problem is not [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman or [Interior Minister Eli] Yishai but within the Likud Party itself." Lieberman and Yishai are chairmen of Israel Beiteinu and Shas, respectively.

"If I am the problem, then I am very proud to be part of the problem," responded Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. "As far as I remember, regarding predictions that I made about the outcomes of [diplomatic] processes in which Indyk participated in, I and not he turned out to be right.

"I would ask our friends – and I do mean friends, without any implied sarcasm – to deal more with international affairs and less on analysis of Israeli domestic politics," continued Edelstein. "It would certainly add to our mutual esteem. Just as I would not imagine going on American television and analyzing the relations between the White House and the Congress, I would hope that Israel's friends would deal more with an active pursuit of a return to negotiations, and I think that they should take more seriously the Israeli point that one needs to come to the negotiation table without preconditions or intermediaries."

Shortly after Indyk's interview, however, Danon opened a campaign that seemed to emphasize Indyk's statements. The freshman MK and head of World Likud set up a virtual hour glass to count down the weeks, days, hours and minutes until September 26, 2010 – the day the 10-month settlement housing-start freeze put in place by the cabinet is set to end, at www.dannydanon.com/he/. The clock can be downloaded to computer desktops and mobile phones to serve as a screen saver and will soon appear on popular online news sites.