Breaking: Cabinet approves Judea and Samaria 'building freeze'
The Netanyahu - Livni government (soon to be?) has approved a 10-month building freeze in Judea and Samaria 11-1. The only minister to vote against the freeze was Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beiteinu). The ministers of the Shas party, whose leader says "we cannot agree to freeze construction even for one day," absented themselves from the meeting without explanation.The head of the Samaria Council has called on Netanyahu to resign:
Head of the Samaria Regional Council, Gershon Mesika, said in response to the freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria that "Netanyahu deceived Israeli voters and must resign."No one should be surprised by this freeze. We all saw it coming.
"I'm ashamed that the Likud chairman has supported a policy that stands in direct contradiction of the platform under which he was elected. He is thereby choking the settlement enterprise in a way even the most extreme left-wing governments have not done," he added.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:22 PM
10 Comments:
Let's see how Obowma and Abu Mazen spin this one so that they replace this concession (capitulation?)with yet another demand and still blame Israel for killing the "peace process"!
The prospects the Palestinians will return to the table with the freeze in place are none. After 16 years of a total freeze on construction in the revanants another ten months more won't make the Palestinians moderate their position one iota. It should have been conditioned on a Palestinian return to negotiations but now it looks another unilateral Israeli concession for nothing in exchange from the other side - and even a partial freeze doesn't go far enough for them.
What could go wrong indeed.
Andre, Israel unilateral concessions do not make the Palestinians kinder and gentler but instead make them more obdurate and extreme. The only people who will be harmed by the freeze are Jews whose quality of life will only deteriorate more thanks to the mindlessness and stupidity of their own government in coddling the PA extremists instead of looking after the welfare of Jews.
Don't hold your breath waiting for "peace" negotiations to resume any time soon.
This move will not bring the Arab world around nor will it make Palestinians fall in love with Israel. What it will do is show the world the Arab world not to mention the Palestinians didn't bite.
Bibi will stand before the world and say, "see we made painful concessions and nothing changed."
The only way once and for all to rub reality in the eyes of the world is to show them.
Sure this has happened time and time again however this is really the first time our hateful appeasing world leaders pinned peace on settlement halt. When there is no peace they will be reminded of it. Bibi is using this as a tactic, I swear.
I pray to G-d this is true.
We have nothing else. The world has turned us into Pariahs. Bibi will use this right back in their faces.
There is going to be no movement over the next 10 months. The Palestinians are not coming to the table unless Israel agrees to give them everything they demand without their having to negotiate for it. As a move designed to show Israel is the party that wants peace, the freeze will find no takers on the other side.
NormanF,
Of course this will change nothing! The Palis are always looking for some excuse to torpedoe any negotiation and when they are cornered and have no option, they simply walk away (a la Arafat).
The fact that none of the lamestreet media has reported this shows that this is going to get buried until the Palis and Obowma find yet another excuse to blame the Israelis for being "not helpful"!
Since the "Palestinians" have refused this offer on the grounds that it doesn't include an offer to freeze construction in Jerusalem, does that mean Israel isn't committed to the freeze and isn't going to carry it out? Because it was just an offer and was refused?
We can only hope, I guess.
The real question is what happens after the 10 months elapse. Will construction be renewed? Will Israel finally begin giving its Zionist enterprise the support it needs? Right now there are more questions than answers. I have no doubt the real reason for the freeze announcement wasn't the Palestinians; it was to buy American goodwill while Israel takes on Iran.
The real question is why now?
There are many who believe Bibi is just a common oppotunist. He may have some of those Clintonesque qualities, but I do believe deep down he is against these concessions.
Poll wise Bibi is up and Osama is down, so why did he cave now? Even if Osama used Carteresque brutal pressures, Bibi could survive it now that Osama is down.
Is there some hidden agenda there? Is he bluffing?
hat gives?
I foolishly thought that forcing the Israeli settlers to leave Gaza was a pretty big concession and look how well that turned out for Israel.
Perhaps it would have been wiser to move all of the Palestinians up to the West Bank and then discuss statehood, but no, if they can't have Jerusalem, they will never be satisfied.
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