JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country would resume construction in West Bank Jewish settlements in eight months, local daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.
"In another eight months, we will start building again," Netanyahu told his coalition members, highlighting that Israel's freeze on construction in West Bank settlements was only temporary.
Meanwhile, the prime minister told the ministers that Israel was interested in seeing peace talks with the Palestinians begin as soon as possible.
"We want to renew negotiations without negotiations," said Netanyahu.
Under pressure from the Obama administration, Netanyahu announced in November a limited, 10-month moratorium on new housing in the West Bank settlements, saying that he hoped the move would help restart negotiations suspended since December 2008.
However, he stressed that the construction limits will not be implemented in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem.
Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed, are considered by the international community as Israeli settlements and one of the main obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Israel deems Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, while the Palestinians want the east section of the holy city as capital of their future state.
The Palestinians have vowed that they will not return to the negotiating table unless Israel totally freezes its construction activities of Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as in East Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday approved the construction of two sections of fence on the Israel-Egypt border in a bid to prevent infiltration into Israeli territory, local news service Ynet reported.
The construction of the two sections, one near Rafah in the north and the other near Eilat in the south, will cost 1-1.5 billion shekels (about 270-400 million U.S. dollars), said the report. Full story
Palestinians mourn over the body of a Gaza militant killed in an Israeli missile strike, in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, Jan. 10, 2010. Israeli soldiers Sunday hit a group of Gaza militants in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah after they were discovered trying to fire rockets from the area. The attack left three militants dead, according to Palestinian medical sources and witnesses. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar) Photo Gallery>>>
GAZA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Three Palestinians were killed in an explosion in Central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah late on Sunday, medical sources and witnesses said. Full story
JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel said on Sunday that it would not free "terrorist icons" as part of a prisoner swap deal currently under discussion with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, local daily Ha'aretz reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the declaration, adding that his country would stand firm on its pledge to see some of the "terrorists" set for release expelled from the West Bank, said the report posted on the daily's website. Full story
