Gal-On: Netanyahu's giving Obama the finger

Meretz leader expresses disappointment in Netanyahu's announcement to expand settlement construction amid upcoming prisoner release.

Zehava Gal-On at the President's residence 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Zehava Gal-On at the President's residence 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to announce construction tenders in settlements ahead of the third round of Palestinian prisoner releases is an attempt to create facts on the ground and prevent the American administration from advancing a diplomatic agreement, Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On said Thursday.
"Netanyahu is giving the American administration the finger," Gal-On said. "There does not need to be a connection between building in the territories and releasing prisoners. As long as there is no agreement with the Palestinians on the future of the settlements, expanding settlements is adding insult to injury."
Likud MK Moshe Feiglin agreed that construction and prisoner releases should not be connected.
"Construction in Judea and Samaria in exchange for terrorists perverts the value of settlement," Feiglin wrote on Twitter.