(AP-New York Times) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international criticism of West Bank settlement construction on Friday, equating it to "ethnic cleansing" of Jews and insisting the settlements are not an obstacle to peace, in a video that drew a rare rebuke from the U.S. Netanyahu said he has "always been perplexed" by claims that Israeli settlement building is "an obstacle to peace." "No one would seriously claim that the nearly 2 million Arabs living inside Israel, that they're an obstacle to peace," Netanyahu said. "Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one precondition: No Jews. There's a phrase for that: It's called ethnic cleansing....It's even more outrageous that the world doesn't find this outrageous. Since when is bigotry a foundation for peace?" U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said, "We obviously strongly disagree with the characterization that those who oppose settlement activity or view it as an obstacle to peace are somehow calling for ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank. We believe that using that type of terminology is inappropriate and unhelpful." Netanyahu said in the video, "I think what makes peace impossible is intolerance of others. Societies that respect all people are the ones that pursue peace. Societies that demand ethnic cleansing don't pursue peace."
2016-09-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive