Page 25 - Settlement Activity News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

You can tell there's a little bit of frustration with the obama delegation in that that's the stage that we're at, but that is the stage that we're at. the issue of settlements, which is something the president dodged yesterday with netanyahu, he couldn't quite dodge it today but, boy, did he tap dance around it. take a listen. >> we do not consider continued settlement activity to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace. i will say with respect to israel that the politics there are complex and i recognize that that's not an issue that's going to...

>> they talk about settlement activity on the west bank. >> in the past, we ripped up settlements, 21 settlements to advance the peace process, didn't get peace, got rockets. we froze settlement construction in the west bank for ten months to get the palestinians back to the table. they have a lot of preconditions, not just settlements. we have no preconditions. a lot of things we asked the palestinians to do but don't form them as preconditions. we think the only way to resolve this conflict is through direct negotiation. >> one final question. he is going to make a major speech, the presiden...

A growing gap between israel and the united states. and i think most israelis will not accept that. the fact of the matter is, many of them would like to have their cake and eat it, too. have our friendship, but do what they want, which is land. but most of them are sensible enough that perhaps the two are not possible, so you have to pick. and friendship with the united states is fundamental to israel's survival. >> jeffrey goldberg made the point from "the atlantic" and "bloomberg view" that his own reporting rereeling sha the president had said that israel doesn't know what its best interes...

Records a historic achievement. meanwhile the palestinians, as they were celebrating israel's settlement activity on the we felt bank continued n response to the u.n. vote they said they were planning for additional construction in this very same area but actual work could be years away. forecast also gave the green light to construction for three other other units in east jerusalem and other places on the west bank. at the weekly cabinet meeting, president netanyahu dismissed settlement and said we will carry on building there and all other plays on the map of israeli ace strategic interests....

Of the normal channel for resolving the conflict peacefully, that is through negotiati negotiations, sideways to the united nations. it doesn't move the palestinians forward. it's a significant but symbolic act. and if it produces a kind of punitive, vicious circle in which the israelis now announce more settlement activity, the particularly strategic activity it seems to be, and then the palestinians decide to go to the international criminal court who would charge israel with some crimes and then we'll get into a downward spiral, the congress cuts the funds to the palestinian authority, we c...