JERUSALEM, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday postponed a cabinet vote on a controversial report advocating legalizing the status of settlements and outposts in the West Bank.
Addressing a weekly meeting of Likud ministers in Jerusalem, Netanyahu, who planned to submit several of the report's clauses for government approval on Sunday, said that the document awaits the approval of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, who has expressed reservations on its contents.
"I regret to say that at this point the A-G isn't backing the report, but I hope we will find a solution for that," the Ha'aretz daily quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Several Likud ministers have upped the pressure on Netanyahu in recent weeks to adopt the so-called Levy report, drafted by a committee headed by former Supreme Court vice-president Edmond Levy, which recommends changing the legal status of settlements and rules that Israel is neither an occupying entity nor meets the criteria of "military occupation" under international law.
Submitted in June, the report recommends measures to legalize West Bank communities currently disputed by the Palestinians and much of the international community, including seizures of private and state-owned lands, as well as annulment of army orders preventing settlers from expropriating land for agricultural use.
Last week, opposition parties and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who formerly headed the Labor party, came out strongly against the report, warning that its approval would further isolate Israel and possibly lead to international sanctions.
Opposition leader and current Labor chief Shelly Yachimovich accused Netanyahu of attempting to pit sectors of the Israeli public against each other as early elections are set to take place on Jan. 22, 2013.
"He's trying to bring back a fictitious argument between the Right and the Left that doesn't exist, to divert the public's attention away from socio-economic matters," she said.
At Sunday's meeting, however, Likud members demanded to know when the report would be brought to their approval, with some contending that deliberations should commence regardless of the A- G's reservations.
Following a brief exchange, Netanyahu reportedly instructed Justice Minister Ya'akov Ne'eman to submit the report to the cabinet in its next session, according to anonymous government sources quoted by Ha'aretz.
Netanyahu's decision to hold up the cabinet's vote on the Levy report comes after the European Union (EU) on Friday slammed a government plan to build apartments in Gilo, a disputed hilltop settlement neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton criticized the approval of a plan announced Thursday by the Interior Ministry to build 797 apartments in Gilo, located on land captured by Israel in the 1967 war and home to 60,000 residents.
"Settlements are illegal under international law and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible," said a statement released by Ashton's office.
The statement further noted that the EU "has repeatedly urged the government of Israel to immediately end all settlement activities in the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem, in line with its obligations under the road map."
On Sunday, Netanyahu brazenly responded to the EU's condemnation, telling cabinet ministers that Israel will not place any limitations on construction in its capital.
"In the same way building goes on in London, Paris, Washington or Moscow, Israel is building in Jerusalem. We have a connection no less ancient and powerful to our capital," Netanyahu said in a statement.
While the international community largely views Gilo and nearby West Bank settlements as occupied Palestinian land and a major stumbling block to achieving peace, Israel considers most areas it seized in 1967 as disputed, and not occupied, and whose final status will be determined as a result of direct negotiations with the Palestinians.
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