He said that Olmert should have withstood American pressure to allow the Hamas to participate in last Wednesday’s election.
Netanyahu cited a decision he made while prime minister in the mid-1990’s to build the Har Homa neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem, as an example of resisting American pressure.
“I built Har Homa despite the opposition of the United States,” he said, telling Israel Radio that the decision was a crucial one for the country.
Netanyahu also toured an area northwest of Jerusalem near the Arab village of Beit Iksa . Olmert recently decided not to include that village within the capital’s perimeter security barrier. Netanyahu was accompanied by party MKs, including Yuval Shteinitz, Chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Shteinitz told Israel Radio Sunday morning that Olmert’s decision to keep Beit Iksa outside the barrier exposes Route 1, the main artery linking Jerusalem with the rest of the country, to terrorist attacks. Snipers from the village, located on a plateau above the road, could easily fire on motorists using Route 1 or Route 9, a new route being paved beneath the village.
Steinitz added that leaving the village outside the barrier has become even more problematic since the Hamas’s election victory in the Palestinian Authority. Hamas terrorists in that village, which numbers no more than 1,000 inhabitants, could effectively cut transportation into and out of the capital.
Netanyahu said that the Hamas’s electoral victory now proves to every Israeli that the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was a mistake.
On the other hand, MK Amir Peretz, chairman of the Labor party, said that the Hamas victory does not mean that the disengagement was a mistake. “Imagine what it would be like, if our soldiers were prancing around in the Gaza Strip, after the Hamas victory,” he said.
Peretz added that Israel should not negotiate with a Hamas government that wants to destroy Israel.
Netanyahu cited a decision he made while prime minister in the mid-1990’s to build the Har Homa neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem, as an example of resisting American pressure.
“I built Har Homa despite the opposition of the United States,” he said, telling Israel Radio that the decision was a crucial one for the country.
Netanyahu also toured an area northwest of Jerusalem near the Arab village of Beit Iksa . Olmert recently decided not to include that village within the capital’s perimeter security barrier. Netanyahu was accompanied by party MKs, including Yuval Shteinitz, Chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Shteinitz told Israel Radio Sunday morning that Olmert’s decision to keep Beit Iksa outside the barrier exposes Route 1, the main artery linking Jerusalem with the rest of the country, to terrorist attacks. Snipers from the village, located on a plateau above the road, could easily fire on motorists using Route 1 or Route 9, a new route being paved beneath the village.
Steinitz added that leaving the village outside the barrier has become even more problematic since the Hamas’s election victory in the Palestinian Authority. Hamas terrorists in that village, which numbers no more than 1,000 inhabitants, could effectively cut transportation into and out of the capital.
Netanyahu said that the Hamas’s electoral victory now proves to every Israeli that the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was a mistake.
On the other hand, MK Amir Peretz, chairman of the Labor party, said that the Hamas victory does not mean that the disengagement was a mistake. “Imagine what it would be like, if our soldiers were prancing around in the Gaza Strip, after the Hamas victory,” he said.
Peretz added that Israel should not negotiate with a Hamas government that wants to destroy Israel.