Israel threatens unilateral measures against Palestine
6 April 2014, 13:57 -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Israel would take unilateral measures against Palestinians if they go ahead with applications to adhere to international treaties. Netanyahu's remarks, made at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators prepared to meet with US envoy Martin Indyk, in a last-ditch attempt to save teetering peace talks from collapse.
'These will only make a peace agreement more distant,' he said of the applications the Palestinians made on Tuesday to adhere to 15 treaties, AFP reports. 'Any unilateral moves they take will be answered by unilateral moves at our end.'
US Secretary of State John Kerry, the driving force behind the peace push, warned on Friday that there were 'limits' to the time and energy Washington could devote to the talks process, as his appeals to both sides to step back from the brink fell on deaf ears.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas rejected a plea from Kerry to withdraw the treaty applications, while Netanyahu ignored US appeals to refrain from tit-for-tat moves, asking for a range of options to be drawn up for retaliation.
Israel says Abbas's move was a clear breach of the commitments the Palestinians gave when peace talks were re-launched in July to pursue no other avenues for recognition of their promised state.
The Palestinians say Israel had already reneged on its own undertakings by failing to release a fourth and final batch of prisoners last weekend, and the treaty move was their response.
'The Palestinians have much to lose from a unilateral move. They will get a state only through direct negotiations and not through empty declarations or unilateral moves,' Netanyahu said. 'We are prepared to continue talks, but not at any price.'
Israel wants peace talks but 'not at any price' - PM Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first public comments on a crisis in US-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians, said on Sunday Israel was prepared to continue negotiations but 'not at any price'.
Netanyahu, speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, also cautioned that Israel would respond with steps of its own if the Palestinians pressed ahead with unilateral moves toward statehood.
Israel strikes in Gaza after rocket attack
Israeli warplanes attacked several sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip Sunday, sources on both sides said, hours after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave hit the Jewish state. Palestinian medical and security sources said five sites in northern and southern Gaza were hit, including training camps for the militant Islamic Jihad and Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, AFP reports.
The Palestinians said there were no injuries in the attacks.
The Israeli army said in a statement it 'retaliated' to 'ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza', targeting four 'terror sites' in northern Gaza and a fifth in the south of the coastal territory.
On Saturday night, a rocket fired from Gaza hit an open area in southern Israel without causing damage or injuries, the army and police said.
According to data from the Israeli army, since the beginning of March 82 projectiles fired from Gaza hit the Jewish state.
On Thursday, four rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave slammed into the Jewish state, shortly after Israel announced it had called off the planned release of 26 Palestinian prisoners.
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