Sunday, January 24, 2010

Planting tree in Gush Etzion, Netanyahu on the future of Large Settlement Blocs - 'we are here to stay'

(Haaretz, Reuters).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday attended a tree-planting ceremony in the West Bank town of Kfar Etzion to mark Tu B'Shvat (Arbor day) and said, "Our message is clear: We are planting trees here and we are here to stay."

Netanyahu said Israelis will continue building in the West Bank and that those places will forever be an inseparable part of Israel.

"There is a national consensus regarding this issue in Israel, and this recognition is slowly permeating the international arena," Netanyahu said. "Today's tree planting reinforces this international position."