Israel Will Not Limit Settlements, Netanyahu Says

JERUSALEM — Israel will not limit Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank or Jerusalem despite U.S. calls for a timeout, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday.

Speaking in an interview, Netanyahu said that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright never defined what she meant by a timeout, and Israel will not freeze or cut back construction.

“That’s not going to happen,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Israelis and the Palestinians should be free to accommodate burgeoning populations.

“People say to us that we should limit that [growth]. We are not going to limit natural growth here, and we don’t expect the Palestinians to limit theirs. There is no fairness or justice in that.”

This is not the first time Netanyahu has announced his refusal to implement a timeout in settlement construction. Last month, he also dismissed U.S. calls for a delay, calling the growth of communities on disputed land a “non-issue.”

At that time, Netanyahu said he could not suspend construction while the Palestinians, according to him, were building without restrictions in their communities.

In Washington, State Department spokesman James Foley said U.S. policy remains unchanged: Washington views settlement activity as unhelpful, particularly at this sensitive moment in the peace negotiations.