After attending Aqaba summit, Hanegbi says there is ‘no building freeze’ in settlements

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, who attended today’s summit in Aqaba, says that Israel did not agree to any settlement freeze or policy changes.

“Contrary to reports and tweets about the meeting in Jordan, there is no change of policy in Israel,” says Hanegbi, a former longtime Likud MK.

“In the coming months the State of Israel will legalize 9 outposts and approve 9,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria,” Hanegbi says, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “There is no building freeze or change in the status quo on the Temple Mount and there is no restriction in IDF activity.”

A joint statement from the participants following the meeting between Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian and US officials in Jordan states that the agreement “includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months and to stop authorization of any outposts for six months.”

The Israeli statement said that no settlement announcements were “expected in the coming months.”