Netanyahu Defies Obama On Expansion Of Existing Settlements And Half Of Israelis Support Attacking Iran Now

Reuters reports that "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed U.S. calls to impose a freeze on all settlement activity... The note of defiance came less than a week after Netanyahu held talks in Washington with Obama, who wants Israel to halt all settlement activity... Netanyahu's comments reaffirmed a position he took in his bid for the premiership in a February election. By natural growth, Israel refers to construction within the boundaries of existing settlements to accommodate growing families. "

"We do not intend to build any new settlements, but it wouldn't be fair to ban construction to meet the needs of natural growth or for there to be an outright construction ban," Netanyahu told his cabinet, according to officials.

Certain news organizations such as Reuters would have you believe that Obama is trying to enforce the 2002 Roadmap to Peace and Netanyahu is rebuffing it. However, "Phase 1" of the Roadmap calls for Palestinians "Ending Terror And Violence, Normalizing Palestinian Life, and Building Palestinian Institutions." This has yet to happen. To prematurely call on Israel to constrain existing settlement growth while the Palestinians fulfill none of their obligations is against the very nature of the Roadmap itself.

In other news, the AFP reports that "just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday. Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University. But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama's efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons."
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