Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wrapped up a visit to the United States following his White House meeting with President Obama. On Thursday, Netanyahu told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations here in New York that Israel “has done enough” to address Palestinian grievances and that the Palestinian Authority should drop their conditions for the resumption of peace talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “I decided, unlike any previous government, to freeze the construction in new settlements for a ten-month period to encourage the Palestinians to enter the peace talks. So far, seven months have passed. They haven’t come in. They should come in. They should have come in yesterday. They should have come in twelve months ago, seven months ago. But we should not waste any time.”

Israel has only partially frozen settlement construction, and Palestinians have insisted on a complete freeze before talks resume. Outside of his speech, protesters said the Israeli government should be held to account for war crimes in Gaza and ongoing settlement expansion on the West Bank.

Felice Gelman: “Netanyahu should not come to New York without having to confront the possible war crimes that Israel has been charged with, both by the UN report that Judge Goldstone did on the invasion of Gaza and also with the killing of nine civilians on the high seas by the Israeli navy on the flotilla that was going to Gaza. In both cases, Israel has been asked to participate in a transparent international investigation and has refused to do so.”

Mahmoud Dandashli: “President Obama tried to at least delay the settlements. However, they are trying all they can to restart the settlements again, and this is illegal, as if I’m coming to New York to tell New Yorkers, 'You know what? I'm taking part of Manhattan. You need to move out.’ Who will accept that? Why should Palestinians accept that? Why the international community will not do anything?”