Netanyahu challenged on settlement construction

Tanden challenges Netanyahu: “Israel isn’t acting neutrally. There has been growth of settlements strategically placed to make a Palestinian state more difficult, or this has been the result” of settlements.

Netanyahu: “Factually, there have been no new settlements built for the last 20 years. The additions are in existing communities. Google this. This is just repeated ad nauseum. It assumes as a self-evident truth that we’re gobbling up land. The total amount of built-up land is just a few percent [of the West Bank]. The addition [in new construction] is one-tenth, two-tenths of one percent [of West Bank land]. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s three-tenths. That’s the land that is being gobbled up. We’re not gobbling up land.”

“Prime Minister Barak built 5,000 units a year. Sharon 1,800 units a year. Olmert built 1,700 units. My government has built 1,500 units a year.”

“the settlements are there. Their growth does not materially affect the path to peace. “It’s not the core issue. It wasn’t the core issue in Gaza either.”