A new building freeze would cause a break-up in the government and new elections by springtime, warns National Union chairman Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz. The Jewish Home and Israel Is Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) parties have said they would quit the government before agreeing to another building freeze.
Speaking on Voice of Israel government radio Tuesday morning, MK Katz said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would lose 5-10 seats if Netanyahu agrees to Palestinian Authority and Obama administration demands to renew the moratorium on building for Jews in Judea and Samaria.
The 10-month building freeze that the Prime Minister instituted last year expired three weeks ago without succeeding in its original purpose of causing PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to return to direct discussions with Israel over a proposed new PA state.
The Prime Minister told the Knesset’s opening winter session Monday that he would agree to renew the freeze if Abbas would recognize Israel as Jewish state. The PA lead immediately rejected the offer, while the United States stayed out of the latest development, saying only that its position has not changed. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters that "both sides need to take steps if we are to see the necessary conditions for negotiations to continue."
Science and Technology Minister Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, chairman of the nationalist Jewish Home party that is part of the coalition government, said it would be “immoral” to renew the freeze and to "use Israeli citizens" as pawns in a game of political chess. He pointed out that the PA flagrantly violates construction laws and builds freely, without permits.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposal, even though it has been rejected by the PA, was met by strong opposition from nationalists throughout Israel. Leaders in Judea and Samaria called on the government to approve tenders for new construction and not to create a “de facto” freeze.