Special to WorldTribune.com

JERUSALEM — A key Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces
increasing opposition to any cooperation with the United States for the
establishment of a Palestinian state over the next year.

Netanyahu told parliament on June 6 he receives telephone calls “several times a week” from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

“If there is actual action [to establish a Palestinian state] there will be an ideological struggle and a confrontation within Likud,” Deputy Defense
Minister Danny Danon said.

Officials said Dannon’s remarks, which stunned the United States, reflected that of most ministers in the Cabinet.

Dannon’s statement, reported on June 9, marked the highest-level opposition within the Likud Party to a Palestinian state.

Officials said Netanyahu’s government could collapse if the prime
minister agrees to U.S. demands for unilateral withdrawal from or a total
housing freeze in the West Bank. They said most of the ruling coalition,
including those in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, oppose an independent
Palestinian state.

The coalition opposition was expressed as the United States has been pressing for significant concessions by Israel that would pave the way for a Palestinian state in 2014.

“All those who are privy to the talks know that Israel is not the side evading negotiations, placing obstacles to renewing negotiations,” Netanyahu said.

Officials said Netanyahu, who repeatedly pledged to build, has agreed to
Kerry’s demand for a housing freeze in the West Bank and Jerusalem. They
said aides to the prime minister have stopped projects to construct Jewish
homes around Jerusalem in an effort to assuage Washington.

“One should view this as a temporary hiatus,” former Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman said. “We have an interest in Kerry succeeding.”

Officials said the opposition within the coalition to Netanyahu could
come to a head over the next few weeks. They said Kerry has submitted a
package of demands unacceptable even to the most pro-American ministers in
the Cabinet.

“There is no such decision, nor was such a decision ever made, nor will
such a decision to freeze construction in Jerusalem ever be made,” Likud
parliamentarian Ofir Akunis said.

  Avigdo Lieberman, Danny Dannon, John Kerry, Likud Party, Netanyahu getting ‘several’ calls weekly from Kerry on Palestinian state