No Warranty
Scammer hater
Washington (CNN) -- Israel will not halt settlement construction ahead of negotiations with Palestinians, a top spokesman told CNN.
In his speech to the joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is willing to make "painful compromises," including ceding some Israeli settlements in order to achieve a peace deal with a future Palestinian state.
But Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, said his government is not ready to declare the size of such concessions.
"You want me to be specific, and I'm saying Israel will play its cards in the process of negotiations," Regev told CNN's Elise Labott. Regev spoke to Labott and Foreign Policy magazine's Josh Rogin following Netanyahu's speech before a joint meeting of Congress. The interview was streamed on CNN.com.
Regev demurred when pressed further on whether Israel could commit to a cessation of settlement construction in areas widely believed to be part of a future Palestinian state.
Warm reception for Netanyahu Video
"I think we have to negotiate where the final borders are going to be and that will affect everything," he said.
Asked for a comment, a Palestinian representative said a settlement construction freeze is an important move to get Palestinians to the negotiation table.
"You can only be generous if you give up something that does not belong to others," said Maen Arikat, the Palestinian representative to the United States. "We cannot negotiate with them when they are confiscating more land and building more settlements on the very same land that will become our future Palestinian state."
In his speech to the joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is willing to make "painful compromises," including ceding some Israeli settlements in order to achieve a peace deal with a future Palestinian state.
But Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, said his government is not ready to declare the size of such concessions.
"You want me to be specific, and I'm saying Israel will play its cards in the process of negotiations," Regev told CNN's Elise Labott. Regev spoke to Labott and Foreign Policy magazine's Josh Rogin following Netanyahu's speech before a joint meeting of Congress. The interview was streamed on CNN.com.
Regev demurred when pressed further on whether Israel could commit to a cessation of settlement construction in areas widely believed to be part of a future Palestinian state.
Warm reception for Netanyahu Video
"I think we have to negotiate where the final borders are going to be and that will affect everything," he said.
Asked for a comment, a Palestinian representative said a settlement construction freeze is an important move to get Palestinians to the negotiation table.
"You can only be generous if you give up something that does not belong to others," said Maen Arikat, the Palestinian representative to the United States. "We cannot negotiate with them when they are confiscating more land and building more settlements on the very same land that will become our future Palestinian state."
