Netanyahu Slams UN's Mideast Envoy: 'His Remarks Distort History, Push Peace Further Away'

[Little Tich]

Source: Haaretz

After Nickolay Mladenov said Israeli settlements, lack of PA rule in Gaza undermine peace efforts, Israel's UN ambassador fires back in defiant statement.

The Prime Minister's Office harshly responded on Tuesday to the UN Middle East envoy's remarks to the UN Security Council concerning the role of Israeli settlements concerning the stalemate in the peace process. 

"The UN envoy to the Middle East's remarks to the Security Council distort history and international law and push peace farther away," the statement read. "The obstacle to peace is the unending attempt to deny the Jewish people's connection to their land and refusal to recognize that they aren't foreigners here."

"The claim that Jewish construction in Jerusalem is illegal is absurd as the claim that U.S. construction in Washington D.C. or French construction in Paris is illegal," the statement continued, adding that "the PA's demand that a future Palestinian state be ethnically cleansed of Jews is outrageous. The UN must condemn it instead of adopting it."

Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council on Monday that illegal settlement expansion and the lack of Palestinian Authority control in Gaza remain among the biggest obstacles to peace, nearly two months after international negotiators offered practical recommendations to enable a return to talks.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.739339