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Israeli PM Favors "Natural Growth" of Existing Settlements
[AFP] Ron Bousso - "[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu will insist on Israel's right to construct within existing settlement blocs in order to sustain their natural growth," Zalman Shoval, a close confidante of Netanyahu and former Israeli ambassador to Washington, said Tuesday. "He will also make a clear commitment not to build new settlements." Netanyahu will argue that President George W. Bush said in a letter to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2004 that large settlement blocs will remain under Israeli control in any future peace deal. "The previous U.S. administration made a clear commitment on the large settlement blocs. It is not possible not to build there," Shoval said.