Netanyahu to tell Obama: 'No new 'settlements' but we will build in 'settlement blocs''
Although it's likely to go over like a ton of bricks in Washington, this actually makes a lot of sense. Binyamin Netanyahu will tell Barack Hussein Obama on Monday that while Israel will not build any new 'settlements,' it will continue to build in the 'settlement blocs.' Despite the Obama administration's discomfort with that position, they cannot really argue against it. After all, if Netanyahu is bound by the Sharon and Olmert governments' commitments to the 'road map,' shouldn't Obama be bound by former President Bush's commitment that the 'settlement blocs' will remain under Israeli control? "Netanyahu will insist on Israel's right to construct within existing settlement blocs in order to sustain their natural growth," said Zalman Shoval, a close confidante of Netanyahu and former Israeli ambassador to Washington.Exit question: Count how many times AFP refers to Netanyahu as being 'hawkish.' Do you think they're trying to tell you something?
"He will also make a clear commitment not to build new settlements," he added.
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Netanyahu will argue that Obama's predecessor George W. Bush said in a letter to former prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004 that large settlement blocs will remain under Israeli control in any future peace deal.
"The previous US administration made a clear commitment on the large settlement blocs. It is not possible not to build there," Shoval said.
"As for the other settlements, we will have to examine the issue when we discuss the final status (peace) agreement with the Palestinians," he said.
A senior government official said that "the new Israeli government will abide by previous commitments not to build new settlements."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:00 PM
1 Comments:
Israel hasn't built a new settlement since Oslo and that won't change. No surprise there. But its unreasonable to expect Israel to agree not build new housing, schools, businesses and all the other elements of "natural growth" in existing revanants. Since they are in areas that are slated to remain even after a peace agreement is signed, under Israeli sovereignty, freezing their development makes no sense whatsoever. And what is it with the media habit of applying hawkish and ultranationalist as "helpful" adjectives to describe Israel's leaders? If they were really out of the mainstream, they would be renouncing Israel's prior commitments. The labels are offensive, prejudicial and absurd. As a matter of fact, the last thing Netanyahu is looking for next week in Washington is a confrontation with Obama.
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