JERUSALEM (JTA) — The 10-month settlement construction freeze is "one time" and "temporary," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"We will go back to building at the end of the freeze," Netanyahu said Tuesday at a conference sponsored by the Calcalist financial newspaper.
Netanyahu said a final agreement on West Bank land "will be determined at the end of negotiations and not a day earlier."
Netanyahu said the freeze "was not an easy decision, not for the settlers and not for me."
He said he instituted the freeze in order to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table for peace talks.
Palestinian leaders have said the freeze, which does not include public buildings such as schools and is not in force in eastern Jerusalem, is not enough. They say they will not resume peace talks until all construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem is halted.
