Netanyahu to tout 10-month West Bank settlement freeze
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering seeking either cabinet or governmental approval for a 10-month freeze in West Bank settlement construction, local daily Ha'aretz reported Tuesday on its website.
Citing a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, the report said the move, in a bid to relaunch stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, would include a commitment to a series of limitations and restrictions on West Bank settlement building, but would not halt construction in east Jerusalem.
Israeli officials hope that the official declaration of a settlement freeze would enable the renewal of the negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority, which has refused to engage in peace talks until Israel freezes settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
The peace talks have been suspended since Israeli army's Operation Cast Lead last winter in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu has updated the Obama administration as to his position on the settlement freeze, said the report, noting that the US has demanded the move for a long time over the past year and that it was not immediately clear whether Washington has accepted Netanyahu's stance.
It was also not clear what the US position was on the exclusion from the freeze of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians wish to make the capital of a future state, added the report.
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