As the United States Special Middle East Peace Envoy, George Mitchell, concluded a new series of talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials as part of the proximity talks, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated Thursday that Israel will resume its settlement activities directly after freeze period ends.On Thursday morning, Mitchell held talks with Netanyahu and discussed issued related to the proximity talks with the Palestinians.
His meeting came after a meeting with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, in the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The office of Netanyahu issued a statement saying that Netanyahu and Mitchell discussed a number of issues including “acts of good will towards the Palestinians”.
The statement added that Netanyahu expects the Palestinians to act “more positively”, and to stop all international campaigns, boycott and all activities that aim at isolating Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli Army Radio reported that Netanyahu will present his “good will plan” but will not implement it without a progress in proximity talks.
This alleged plan includes releasing some detainees, handing some cities to the Palestinian Authority and removing some roadblocks.
The Radio added that Israeli deputy Prime Minister, Moshe Yaalon, stated that settlement activities will resume directly after settlement freeze ends in this coming September.
He vowed that Israel will not evacuate any settlement, and will not remove any settler “living anywhere in the land of Israel”, according to Yaalon.
His statements came as hundreds of Jewish settlers held a celebration at the Maon illegal Israeli settlement, near Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
