Israeli minister worried about Israel isolation for settlement expansion policy

Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni censured the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement expansion policy, which she said is leading to the further isolation of Israel. On Saturday, Livni said if talks with the Palestinian Authority fail, Israel would face international isolation similar to what crushed the Apartheid regime in South Africa, Press TV reported. “The (so-called) peace negotiations are the wall stopping the wave (of international boycott pressure). If there is a crisis (in the talks, that wave) will crash through,” Livni said in an interview with Channel 2 TV news. Asked whether Tel Aviv would face the same kind of isolation as South Africa did in the apartheid era, she replied, “Yes”. The former Israeli foreign minister said the international criticism of the settlements is a propaganda war in which Israel is losing, adding that every new settler unit “is another brick in the wall of isolation that is being built around us”. Livni is leading Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinian Authority in the so-called peace process. Palestinians call the settlements illegal and want Tel Aviv to scrap plans for more constructions. Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas said on Friday that Israel has been using the talks as a “cover” to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel recently announced the construction of 1,800 new settler units in the West Bank. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks broke down in 2010 after Israel refused to halt its settlement construction.