Israeli PM Netanyahu rejects withdrawal talk ahead of Kerry meet.

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Israeli PM Netanyahu rejects withdrawal talk ahead of Kerry meet. (TOI).

Unilateral pullback to ’67 lines within two years would bring ‘Islamist extremists to the suburbs of Tel Aviv,’ Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected talk of Israel being forced to withdraw from Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, on the eve of a meeting with top US diplomat John Kerry.

Netanyahu, speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting a day before jetting to Rome for urgent consultations with Kerry, connected a Palestinian bid for a UN Security Council resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank to the threat of Islamic extremists in the region.

“We… stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, that is an attempt to compel us by means of UN decisions to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years,” Netanyahu said. “We will not allow this. We will strongly and responsibly rebuff this.”

Netanyahu said such a withdrawal now would bring “Islamic extremists to the suburbs of Tel Aviv and to the heart of Jerusalem.”

He said he would raise the issue in Rome with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Monday.

“I will tell them that Israel, to a large degree, stands as a solitary island against the waves of Islamic extremism that are washing over the entire Middle East,” the Israeli premier said.

“Until now we have successfully withstood and repelled these attacks.” Hmmm......Now their 'Staunchest ally' is part of the assault wave. Read the full story here.