RAMALLAH – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday pledged that there would be no dismantling of any Jewish settlement in Palestinian territories and that settlement blocs will remain part of Israel in any deal in the next four years. The Hebrew daily asked Netanyahu if he can promise not to uproot any settlement in the next four years, he answered: “Yes,” adding, “The days when bulldozers uprooted Jews are behind us, not in front of us. I am not in the habit of handing out concessions. Our record proves it.” “We never uprooted any community, we strengthened the settlement enterprise, and we established the first university in decades at (West Bank settlement) Ariel”, referring to granting the settlement's college a full university status. He added that a “real and fair” peace agreement with the Palestinians cannot include driving masses of Jews from their homes in settlement blocs beyond the Green Line. Disputes over settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were the major reason for suspending the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since September 2010. The Palestinians insist that they will not resume any direct or indirect peace talks with Israel unless the latter clearly declares a complete cessation of settlement activities in the territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state. They also demand the release of 123 Palestinians who were arrested before the Oslo Accords in 1993. Netanyahu's remarks come four days before the Israeli Knesset's elections. The last Israeli poll by the daily Haaretz predicted 63 seats for the Likud-right-Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jews) bloc and 57 for the center-left-Arab lineup.
