Netanyahu Rejects Claims Of Provocation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled the image of a wounded baby girl, her hair splattered with blood, scooped up from the rubble after her mother was killed in the bombing of a Tel Aviv cafe.

“Nothing justifies the savagery,” Netanyahu said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press, rejecting Palestinian claims that Israel’s actions led to the bombing that killed three Israelis the terrorism, and the men of violence, if he wants to,” said Netanyahu.

Israeli officials had indicated earlier in the day that the Cabinet might issue a statement formally suspending contacts at the political level with the Palestinians. Such a move would have escalated the rhetoric and made reconciliation even harder.

In the end, the Cabinet issued a muted statement that said an essential step in ending the current impasse was fighting terrorism.

In his interview with the AP, Netanyahu said the initiative he announced last week for speeding up negotiations on so-called final status issues was still very much alive.

His proposal, greeted with wide-spread skepticism from Palestinians, called for an all-out effort to reach agreement on the future of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements, the Palestinian demand for statehood and final borders in six months.

Many thought the gap was too wide to close in such a short period and saw the proposal as an attempt to get out of promises to make further withdrawals from the West Bank.

“It’s on the table, providing we can get through this horrific stage in which terrorists are out there with the encouragement of the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said.

“If we rein in the terrorists, we can proceed with peace.”