Israel PM rejects withdrawal talk ahead of Kerry meet
Netanyahu will reject withdrawal talk after the Kerry meet, too... | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected talk of Israel withdrawing from east Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, on the eve of a meeting with the inept bumbling top US diplomat.
"We... stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, that is an attempt to compel us by means of UN decisions to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years," said Netanyahu. He said such a withdrawal now would bring "Islamic extremists to the suburbs of Tel Aviv and to the heart of Jerusalem."
Speaking ahead of the weekly meeting of his cabinet, he said he would raise the issue in Rome with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Monday.
"I will tell them that Israel, to a large degree, stands as a solitary island against the waves of Islamic extremism that are washing over the entire Middle East," the Israeli premier said. "Until now we have successfully withstood and repelled these attacks."
The Palestinian leadership plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding the end of Israel's occupation by November 2016. The Arab League has backed the text, but it ran into opposition from the United States, which has repeatedly vetoed resolutions seen as undermining Israel.
Posted by: Steve White 2014-12-15 |