Netanyahu Thinks Obama Is Unreasonable, Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians
The peoples of our region dream that their area will be free of weapons of mass destruction, and free of the reasons for violence and counter-violence.
On Monday, Netanyahu briefed the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about his recent meeting with Obama. The American president and his secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, have demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction, including expansion to accommodate what Israel calls “natural growth” of settlements.
Netanyahu said Israel cannot “freeze life” in settlements, according to a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed. Netanyahu was quoted as saying that “there are reasonable requests and unreasonable requests.”
Before dawn, near the Kedumim settlement, stone-throwing settlers ambushed a minivan carrying Palestinian laborers to Israel, the workers said. Six of the 15 Palestinians on board were hurt, including Yahye Sadah, 44, who was hit in the head and said he needed six stitches.
Police said settlers threw rocks and burned tires and then fled. Police said no arrests were made.
A few hours later, settlers torched a wooded hilltop near Nablus and set trees and Palestinian agricultural land on fire near the village of Hawara, residents said. Romel Sweiti, a local resident, said about 50 teenage settler girls gathered on a main road and blocked traffic as Israeli paramilitary police stood in the background.
Toward nightfall, about 20 young Jewish extremists briefly blocked the highway into Jerusalem, burning tires and a garbage bin, causing a huge rush hour traffic jam. Police dragged the struggling youths away, arresting four.
One of the protesters, Menachem Novick, 28, said the goal was to press Netanyahu and his party to keep their campaign pledge to expand the settlements. “We want to give them a push to do what they were elected to do,” he said.
Netanyahu: Obama Call For Settlement Freeze “Unreasonable” [Huffington Post]
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