Prime Minister Netanyahu Orders End of High-Level Meetings with Palenstinians

Russ Jones | Christian Press | Updated: Apr 09, 2014

Prime Minister Netanyahu Orders End of High-Level Meetings with Palenstinians

In reaction to Palestinians signing onto 15 international conventions and treaties, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested Wednesday his ministers to end high-level meetings with their Palestinian counterparts.

According to the BBC, the order follows "Palestinians' violation of their commitments under peace talks," officials said.

TheTower.org claims Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his officials have violated at least 11 of the 15 treaties they signed.

Even though Secretary of State John Kerry said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing both sides took “unhelpful actions,” Kerry appeared to blame Israel for recent breakdown of Middle East peace talks due to an announcement of plans to build about 700 housing units in East Jerusalem and failure to release Palestinian prisoners.

“… So day (one) went by, day two went by, day three went by, and then in the afternoon, when they were about to maybe get there, 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem, and poof, that was sort of the moment," Reuters reported of Kerry.

In his opening remarks during a weekly Cabinet meeting Netanyahu said it is unfortunate Palestinians won’t recognize Israel as the national state of the Jewish people.

“The Palestinians have much to lose by this unilateral move,” said Netanyahu. “They will achieve a state only by direct negotiations, not by empty statements and not by unilateral moves. These will only push a peace agreement farther away and unilateral steps on their part will be met with unilateral steps on our part. We are ready to continue the talks but not at any price."



Prime Minister Netanyahu Orders End of High-Level Meetings with Palenstinians