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Articles re: U.S. Incentive Package for New Settlement Freeze

Israel was on Sunday examining a package of US incentives in exchange for a fresh ban on West Bank construction as a Peace Now report showed settlers have been building at a furious pace.

Articles:

AFP: "Israel eyes West Bank freeze as settlers race to build"
Toronto Star: "Efforts heat up for Israeli settlement freeze"
AP: "Plan for Mideast talks bets on quick border deal"
LA Times: "Netanyahu lobbies his Cabinet on U.S. peace talk incentives"Washington Post: "Israeli Cabinet to consider US settlement proposal"
Guardian
: "Israel's cabinet split over fresh building freeze despite US offer of military aid"

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AFP: "Israel eyes West Bank freeze as settlers race to build"

by Steve Weizman Steve Weizman Sun Nov 14, 11:32 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel was on Sunday examining a package of US incentives in exchange for a fresh ban on West Bank construction as a Peace Now report showed settlers have been building at a furious pace.

Read the entire article at http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101114/ts_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictsettlerus_20101114163309

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Toronto Star: "Efforts heat up for Israeli settlement freeze"

November 11, 2010

by Olivia Ward

(excerpt)
But a prominent supporter of the Israeli peace movement says efforts behind the scenes in Washington and Israel may dramatically revive prospects for a settlement after decades of violence, despair and growing cynicism.

"There is a new game plan, and there will be a new trade-off to get to a partial moratorium on (Israeli) settlements," said Mark Rosenblum, a Middle East expert and founder of Americans for Peace Now. And he added, hard bargaining is going on between President Barack Obama's administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overcome opposition from Netanyhu's hard-line coalition partners to a freeze that would move the peace process forward.

Read the entire article at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/889577--efforts-heat-up-for-israeli-settlement-freeze

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AP: "Plan for Mideast talks bets on quick border deal"

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Karin Laub, Associated Press Sun Nov 14, 10:28 pm ET

JERUSALEM - Washington's new proposal for reviving Mideast talks, presented Sunday to Israel's Cabinet, rests on the bold expectation that Israelis and Palestinians will be able to sketch a border between them in three months. That's the period the plan sets aside for a one-time extension of a ban on new construction in West Bank settlements.

A previous 10-month moratorium in the West Bank expired Sept. 26, and Israeli settlers have since resumed construction at an accelerated pace, all but making up for past restrictions, according to new figures released Sunday by the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now. Lawmakers and Cabinet ministers gave conflicting accounts on whether the new building curb would be retroactive.

Read the entire article at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_18

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LA Times: "Netanyahu lobbies his Cabinet on U.S. peace talk incentives"

By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times

November 15, 2010

(Excerpts)

Under pressure from the Obama administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began nudging his Cabinet on Sunday toward accepting a multibillion-dollar package of U.S. incentives to restart peace talks with Palestinians.

In return, Israel would renew its partial West Bank construction moratorium for 90 days, including units that broke ground after the previous freeze expired in September. Peace Now, an anti-settlement group that tracks construction in the occupied territories, said settlers have resumed construction on 1,650 units in the last six weeks.

Analysts said it remained unclear whether the prime minister was fully committed to the plan.

"The million-dollar question here is what is going on inside Netanyahu's head, and no one has a good answer," said Shlomo Brom, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies. "On one hand, everyone says he has crossed the Rubicon and genuinely wants negotiations. On the other hand, he appears to waste time in order to preserve his government."

Read the entire article at latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-mideast-talks-20101115,0,2566235.story

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Washington Post: "Israeli Cabinet to consider US settlement proposal"

By AMY TEIBEL
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 14, 2010; 2:41 AM

JERUSALEM -- Israel's prime minister will ask his Cabinet Sunday to consider a package of security and diplomatic incentives the U.S. has proposed to entice Israel to renew limits on settlement construction and revive moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.

Read the entire article at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/13/AR2010111303153_pf.html

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Guardian: "Israel's cabinet split over fresh building freeze despite US offer of military aid"

Four Likud members oppose Washington's initiative, which Palestinians say they have not been informed of

by Ana Carbajosa in Jerusalem

(Excerpt)
Figures released by Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental organisation, show that settlers almost made up for the 10-month freeze during the past six weeks: they started building 1,629 housing units. Last year there were 1,888 new housing starts, according to the Israel's central bureau of statistics. Most of the new housing starts were in isolated settlements, deep in the West Bank and almost all of the projects were private initiatives, according to Peace Now. "Contractors used old permits, issued years ago as the current Israeli government granted very few new permits in the past months," said Hagit Ofran, settlement expert from the Israeli peace group.

Read the entire article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/14/israel-cabinet-building-freeze-military-aid