Israel won’t accept US dictates

Israeli Prime Minister Natenyahu said Israel would not accept American dictates. Israeli media have reported that the United States—the main sponsor of the Mideast peace process—wants Israel to commit to a building freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"I don’t think its acceptable to operate with a take-it-or-leave it approach,” Netanyahu said in an interview published Wednesday in the Haaretz newspaper.

Israel, he added, isn’t a protectorate of the United States.

The United States had been trying to break a four-month impasse in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Earlier this week, the two sides agreed to resume talks. Netanyahu told Haaretz that agreement has to be achieved by consultations and agreement and not by dictates.

Haaretz said Israelis and the Americans were trying to reach a formula under which Israel would agree to a temporary settlement freeze, a key Palestinian demand.

On July 28 the sides announced they would resume talks. Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub told Israel Radio that security cooperation between the sides would not resume unless Israel halted construction at Jabal Abu Ghneim building site.