WaPo rips Obama's 'settlement freeze' extension
A spot-on editorial in Wednesday's Washington Post rips the Obama administration's 'settlement freeze' extension as 'desperate improvisation.'We have no objection to the reported incentives. Despite their cost, the F-35s will help preserve Israel's margin of security at a time when Iran's nuclear program remains unchecked. The question, however, is whether the administration's initiative is attached to a coherent strategy. Having largely created the impasse over settlements with pointless demands that Israel cease all building, President Obama will now pay dearly to take the issue off the table - using coin that should have been used to obtain needed Israeli concessions on the actual terms of Palestinian statehood.'Fierce moral urgency,' even if it were real (which it is not in this case) is not a policy.
Administration officials appear to hope that in 90 days the territory of the new state can be mostly delineated, rendering the settlement issue moot - or that the talks will at least gain enough momentum that neither side will wish to break them off. The odds are not in favor of either development. Past negotiations have revealed some big differences between the two sides on territory, and they are unlikely to be settled without trade-offs on other core issues, such as the disposition of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. As for momentum, the administration hoped that elusive force would carry the process past the end of the last settlement moratorium in September. It didn't.
Labels: Barack Obama, fierce moral urgency, settlement freeze extension, Washington Post
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:29 PM
3 Comments:
Its damaged the standing of the Israeli government. Obama's inept and clumsy handling of promises to Israel have made Netanyahu look like a fool. Here's hoping Israel gets the message: twice burned, twice shy.
So much for the "fierce moral urgency" of establishing a Palestinian state in a year's time.
Sadly, the hapless Obamii scramble right, fake left, run in circles, but can't resist pulling out their favorite play: gaming Jewish and Israeli leaders for fools with meaningless assurances and then faking them out with a double-cross.
"Most of the disagreement concerns the American desire to remain vague over whether it will seek another freeze in three months' time. The Americans would like the text to say that progress over the next three months would render another freeze unnecessary"--Haaretz. [e.g., no progress.., deep freeze stays on]
oh, btw, Jerusalem it appears is definitely back on the chopping block--if true then all of the verbal assurances to Bibi (did he have a מלפפון in his ear? did his supporters?) have disappeared in under a week. Just like those "no preconditions". --"The United States will demand that Israel refrain from construction in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as part of a 90-day settlement freeze ...a U.S. official told Haaretz on Thursday." Really? Bibi the frier? Seems like a good time to tell Barry Glubb Pasha to cease and desist, Israel is done with his taqiya.
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