Bibi's Hot in Washington/NY - No "Freeze"

Well, Benjamin Netanyahu completely avoided any reference to a further freeze in his interview with ABC "GOOD MORNING AMERICA"'s George Stephanopoulos.

Here for the clip and here for the transcript:

...MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: How about extending the settlement freeze? The president said yesterday he hopes that there will be enough progress in the peace talks for the freeze to be extended past September. What exactly do you need to see from the Palestinians in order to extend that settlement freeze past the deadline in September?

PM NETANYAHU: We discussed the concrete steps that need to be taken in the next few days, literally in the next few days and weeks to finally begin these direct negotiations for peace. I think once we get there, realities may change. But I think the most important reality is that we don't stick on, as we negotiate or start peace between Israel and the Palestinians, we don't stick on all sorts of requirements and grievances that are ancillary.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're open to extending the freeze?

PM NETANYAHU: I'm open to beginning peace negotiations now, and that's what I want to do. And by the way, I've been open for the last year and a quarter. I think we've wasted a lot of time with these kinds of excused, preconditions, all sorts of things that are packed in the way of a simple action.

You know, you've seen these pictures of peace conferences. Let's put it in the Middle East as a peace tent. We're sitting in the tent, we're waiting for Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, to sit on the other side, across the table, in the tent. And the Palestinians say, we won't even enter the tent before the tent or the one before that tent as well.

I say, just fold the tents, get into the main arena, engage in negotiations. Let's not waste our energies on ancillary things, on minor things. Let's try to resolve the issues of security, territory, refugees, water. These are huge issues...

He avoided the issue.

Check here for criticism of Stephanpoulos:

Stephanopoulos on Wednesday repeatedly berated Benjamin Netanyahu as to what the Israeli Prime Minister will do for the peace process.

Focusing almost entirely on Israel, while excluding the U.S. and the Palestinians, he hectored, "What are you prepared to do? More security autonomy for the Palestinians on the West Bank? Prisoner releases?"

In the tease for the show, he wondered, "President Obama and Israel's Prime Minister all smiles at the White House. But, is the friendship as solid as they claim?" Yet, the former Democratic operative failed to ask a single question as to what Obama could do to make the relationship stronger.

________________________

UPDATE

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he was prepared to discuss "right away" the future of Jewish settlements if Palestinians entered direct peace talks with Israel.

Asked on CNN's "Larry King Live" if he would extend beyond September a 10-month moratorium on housing starts in settlements in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu said it was time for the Palestinians to drop preconditions for face-to-face talks.

"Let's just get into the talks and one of the things we'll discuss right away is this issue of settlements and that's what I propose doing," he said.

- - -