(Ynet)."We never had a deal with the Republican administration, we had an agreement with the United States," Minister of Intelligence Services and Israel's Atomic Energy Commission Dan Meridor said Monday, during a foreign press briefing in Jerusalem.
Speaking of the Road Map agreement, struck between the US and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, Meridor said that "the relations between the two countries are based in mutual agreements, and agreements must be upheld.
"In 2003, Israel accepted the Road Map plan and the government voted in favor of it, while filing 14 reservations. It is part of a larger agreement, some of which was in writing and some of it was oral, that has been implemented for the past six years.
"We never had a deal with the Republican administration; we had an agreement with the United States. Yes, it entailed halting settlement expansion, including for "natural growth," and it was in writing, but there were understandings as to the nature and the interpretation of the suspension.
"These understandings were a part of the agreement. Its written part and its oral part compliment each other."
