Israeli cabinet holds its weekly meeting
(19 Jan 2014) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated his government's commitment to aggressively pursue peace in the south of the country. Netanyahu warned Hamas, the group ruling Gaza, that Israel will not hesitate to use force against "those who wish to harm us and those who do so". "We are determined to maintain the calm in the south, we will achieve this by pre-emptive action and targeted killings," Netanyahu said, speaking during the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem. Earlier on Sunday, Israel struck Gaza after militants fired a rocket into Israel late the night before. The military said it carried out an airstrike targeting a Palestinian militant who launched five rockets towards Israel late last week. An Israeli anti-missile battery system intercepted the rockets. Netanyahu also referred to the international community's "one-sided approach" towards Israel in its talks with the Palestinians, saying it was "unfair". "The one-sided approach towards Israel does not promote peace, it delays it and strengthens the Palestinian Authority's reluctance to move forward practically with the negotiations," he said. On Friday, Israel's Foreign Minister summoned a group of European ambassadors to protest against what he described as their countries' one-sided approach to the Middle East conflict. Avigdor Lieberman called in the ambassadors of Britain, France, Italy and Spain a day after these same countries summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their countries to protest against a recent Israeli announcement of new settlement tenders in east Jerusalem and the West Bank - territories Palestinians want for their future state. Israelis and Palestinians resumed peace talks in July after years of stalemate and the Israeli government has come under heavy criticism for continuing its construction plans throughout the talks. More than 500-thousand Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. While the Palestinians dropped a longstanding demand that Israel halt all settlement construction when peace talks resumed, they say they received assurances that Israel would show restraint. Since then, Israel has approved plans, most recently last week, to build thousands of new settler homes. The Palestinians, and the international community, view the settlements as illegal or illegitimate. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
