Opposition Mounts to US Plan for Israeli Settlement Freeze - Voice of America

Robert Berger | Jerusalem 21 November 2010

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairing the weekly meeting of his Cabinet (file photo)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Cabinet to try to shore up support for a 90-day moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that is aimed at reviving Middle East peace talks.

Israel ended a 10-month moratorium in late September, prompting the Palestinians to suspend negotiations.

The United States has offered to sell Israel 20 advanced stealth fighter jets and to block anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations Security Council in exchange for the settlement freeze.

But Mr. Netanyahu is having trouble winning support from his right-wing coalition partners.

Cabinet Minister Eli Yishai said his ultra-Orthodox Shas party opposes the freeze. But he said the party might reconsider, if the U.S. guarantees that it will not demand any further restrictions on settlement construction when the 90-day period expires.

The dovish Labor Party, on the other hand, supports the freeze.

Labor Cabinet Minister Avishai Braverman urged the prime minister to move quickly to get the peace talks back on track.

Outside of the Cabinet meeting, some 2,000 Jewish settlers held a noisy protest against the moratorium.

"We will never allow the Land of Israel to be divided!" said settlement leader Dani Dayan.

Speaking in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also rejected the freeze because it only applies to the West Bank.

He said he would not return to peace talks, unless Israel also stops settlement construction in disputed East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state. Israel says Jerusalem is not a settlement, and it reserves the right to build anywhere in the city.

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O'Donnell's "I'm You" Ad Spurs Opposition Site - CBS News

October 5, 2010 5:17 PM

In her first ad of the general election, Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has a message for Delaware voters: "I'm you."

Her opponent, Democrat Chris Coons, is responding with his own message to O'Donnell: not so fast.

Coons' campaign launched a webpage today that urges visitors to "tell Christine O'Donnell: you are not me."

"In her new television ad, Christine O'Donnell says she is you," the Coons webpage says. "But unless you think the retirement age for Social Security should be raised, want to further de-regulate Wall Street, are against a woman's right to choose, think public schools should teach Creationism, and think homosexuality is an 'identity disorder,' she is not you."

O'Donnell's ad is embedded on the page, so Coons supporters can watch it for themselves. Visitors can also download an icon image of Christine O'Donnell with the words "Not Me" underneath.

Today on CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged," the National Journal's Ron Brownstein said that O'Donnell's unique ad was intended to portray her as "the voice of the people coming to bring common sense to Washington."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010

Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter. Tags:Christine O'Donnell ,Chris Coons ,Delaware Senate Topics:Campaign 2010

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