Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Netanyahu: "We will not let Terror decide where Israelis live"

"We will not let the blood of Israeli civilians go unpunished. We will find the murderers, we will punish their dispatchers," Netanyahu said Tuesday evening as he met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Washington hotel. "We will not let terror decide where Israelis live or the configuration of our final borders. These and other issues will be determined in negotiations for peace that we are conducting."

Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, said earlier that the attack would not change this week's summit, but served to stress the security concerns that Israel plans to make a central issue in the talks.

"There is no change. We are committed to peace," Regev said.

Clinton said that halting such terror and destruction "is one of the reasons why the prime minister is here today, to engage in direct negotiations with those Palestinians who themselves have rejected a path of violence in favor of a path of peace."

She added: "We pledge to do all we can always to protect and defend the state of Israel and to provide security to the Israeli people. That is one of the paramount objectives that Israel has and the United States supports in these negotiations."