Netanyahu: ‘We are ready to continue talks with Palestinians but not at any price’

“We are ready to continue the talks but not at any price,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) in a statement he read at the weekly cabinet meeting on 6 April.

“Unilateral steps on their part will be answered with unilateral steps on our side. We are willing to continue negotiations, but we will not do so at any price,” he said in a reference to the Palestinian leadership decision to unilaterally request to accede to 14 international treaties.

“The Palestinians substantially violated the understandings that were reached with American involvement,” Netanyahu said, adding that they have “much to lose by this unilateral move”.

“They will achieve a state only by direct negotiations, not by empty statements and not by unilateral moves. These will only push a peace agreement farther away and unilateral steps on their part will be met with unilateral steps on our part,” he added.

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s intensive attempts to put Israeli-Palestinian talks that began in July back on track and extend them beyond an April 29 deadline unraveled in the past week after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s unilateral move to to join UN international conventions.

In his statement, Netanyahu stressed: “Israelis expect peace, a genuine peace, in which our vital national interests are assured, with security first and foremost.”

He continued “During these talks we carried out difficult steps and showed a willingness to continue implementing moves that were not easy, in the coming months as well, in order to create a framework that would allow for putting an end to the conflict between us. Just as we were about to enter into that framework for the continuation of the negotiations, Abu Mazen hastened to declare that he is not prepared even to discuss recognizing Israel as the national state of the Jewish people, which we have made clear to both the President of the United States and to other world leaders as well.”

Meanwhile Israel targeted nine terror sites in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in retaliation to ongoing rocket attacks from the Hamas-ruled territory.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said: “The retaliation this evening at Gaza terrorist aggression was precision, and intelligence based. It is our obligation to seek out those that wish to attack us, eliminate their capabilities and pursue them wherever they hide. Hamas rocket terrorism is an intolerable reality Israelis should not have to accept.”

Since March, around 131 rockets have been launched from Gaza at Israel, out of which 82 rockets hit Southern Israel. These figures include the massive rocket attack that took place between March 12-March 14, when a barrage of 70 rockets hit southern Israel, and 5 additional rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System.