MK Amir Peretz, who faces MK Shelly Yechimovich in the Labor Party primary runoff this week, said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needed to immediately declare another building freeze in Judea and Samaria. Speaking at a meeting with primary loser Amram Mitzna, Peretz said that “Israel needs a huge fire truck to put out the blaze of diplomatic failure. Netanyahu must declare that Israel is freezing building in Judea and Samaria, with the depth of the freeze tracking the intensity of the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, and declare that we can negotiate on our own without outside interference.”
The PA has repeatedly said that it would only return to negotiations if Israel stopped all building in Judea, Samaria, and all of Jerusalem. No Israeli government has yet agreed to an official building freeze in Jerusalem.