The collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a year ago has led to an accelerating war of words over Israeli settlements, with Israel accusing its growing chorus of foreign critics of prejudging the final terms of a peace deal at best – and anti-Semitism at worst.
The caves around this windy settler outpost, whose name is Hebrew for \”Of Sound Mind\”, have served as places of meditation and prayer – and, according to Israel – staging ground for the worst Jewish militant attack on Palestinians in years.
American nonprofits donated more than $220 million to Israeli West Bank settlements from 2009 to 2013, according to a Haaretz investigation.
Two months into a wave of stabbings, shootings and vehicle attacks by Palestinians targeting Israelis, gaps are emerging between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the military and intelligence chiefs over what is driving the violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed concerns raised by Britain’s chief rabbi about the growth of West Bank settlements.
Israel’s right to the West Bank “is not a matter of political debate,” President Reuven Rivlin said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed resuming peace negotiations with the Palestinians but with the initial focus on identifying those Jewish settlements that Israel would keep and be allowed to expand, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.
Israel invited tenders for construction of 77 new homes in Jewish sections of eastern Jerusalem.
It was an example of the tightrope Netanyahu walks between his political allegiances and the international community, whose faith in his commitment to a two-state solution with the Palestinians – including a halt to settlement-building – is wearing thin.
Rebuffing international criticism, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told his German counterpart point-blank on Sunday that Israel will not stop building homes for Jews in East Jerusalem.
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