Trump to Israel: 'Just do it (and stop talking about it)'!
On Thursday night, it was reported by Michael Wilner in the Jerusalem Post that Donald Trump
believes in a 'two-state solution' and that Israel should stop making announcements that destroy that possibility.
The White House warned Israel on Thursday to cease settlement
announcements that are “unilateral” and “undermining” of President
Donald Trump’s effort to forge Middle East peace, a senior
administration official told The Jerusalem Post.
For the
first time, the administration confirmed that Trump is committed to a
comprehensive two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict
negotiated between the parties.
The official told the Post that the White House was not
consulted on Israel’s unprecedented announcement of 5,500 new settlement
housing units over the course of his first two weeks in office.
“As
President Trump has made clear, he is very interested in reaching a
deal that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is currently
exploring the best means of making progress toward that goal,” the
official said.
"With that in mind, we urge all parties to refrain from taking
unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress,
including settlement announcements,” the official added. “The
administration needs to have the chance to fully consult with all
parties on the way forward.”
Trump plans to bring up the peace
process in his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the
White House scheduled for February 15.
The JINO (Jewish In Name Only) Left was overjoyed. But that joy was apparently premature. Trump is apparently
as pro-Israel as he has always been.
Trump says, shut up and build. That sounds more like Trump who is
asking Israel to play smart and to move only when the table is in your
favor.
“Not helpful in promoting peace,” said his White House spokesman today – and where have we heard that before?
Never from Trump. So something’s gone wrong and I don’t think it’s entirely Trump’s fault, nor do I think here we go again. He’s Obama all over again.
That
won’t happen. But over the years some of us have noticed Israel’s habit
of going public each time it hires an architect. As for me, it’s been
an astonishment how Israel telegraphs every move, particularly when it
comes to housing in Judea and Samaria.
Who asked?
What other country does this? What other country stops the presses to announce -- Hello World, We’re Building More Homes.
Got a problem with that? – and in unison the world says yes.
That
IS the wisdom of Chelm if you expect any other outcome, and that has to
be the cause of Trump’s annoyance. Immediately Israel’s High Court gets
into the act along with the “peace groups” and Haaretz and The New York Times and a day later France invites 70 countries for a Paris summit to denounce the Jewish State.
That leaves Trump boxed in and he says so himself, that it cramps his style and his space to maneuver.
How
many times a day can he take on the entire world, as he’s been doing,
and now must carry Israel on his back – as he has it figured.
All
for no good reason except that Israeli leaders do not know when to keep
quiet. Instead they keep rubbing it in and keep asking for trouble.
The
trouble comes when they speak loudly and then expect the United States
to carry the big stick…like stopping the UN from another 2334.
Have
we forgotten that personally Trump owes us nothing? The overwhelming
majority of American Jews voted against him. He knows this.
The
same majority protests his partial travel restrictions, which means
that while he wants to keep anti-Semites out, we want them in.
Even
pockets of Israelis were shown on television protesting Trump’s
immigration pause. That hurt and it sure wasn’t “helpful” in terms of
friendship.
Now we hear that Trump favors a two-state
solution and where did he get that if not from Benjamin Netanyahu who
keeps promoting that dangerous nonsense.
We can’t ask Trump to be more Jewish than the Jews or more Israeli than the Israelis.
Our only claim on Trump is that we are family. The United States and Israel share the same values.
Only Israel can be counted on through thick or thin throughout the region and he needs Israel as much as Israel needs him.
Trump knows this. But he’s asking Israel to play by new rules, which is to shut up and deal only when the time is right.
Wise advice indeed.
Labels: Donald Trump, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, two-state solution
Real change in US foreign policy?
Greetings from Boston, where I landed yesterday morning. A brief post and then back to work.
The Washington Post is reporting that the
entire senior executive level at the State Department has resigned, apparently out of fear of what might happen in a Trump administration. Keeping in mind that most of the senior echelon in the State Department is Arabist, this may be good for Israel, notwithstanding reporter Josh Rogin's obvious discomfort with it.
[Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson was actually inside the State Department’s headquarters in
Foggy Bottom on Wednesday, taking meetings and getting the lay of the
land. I reported Wednesday morning that the Trump team was narrowing its search
for his No. 2, and that it was looking to replace the State
Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick
Kennedy. Kennedy, who has been in that job for nine years, was actively
involved in the transition and was angling to keep that job under
Tillerson, three State Department officials told me.
Then
suddenly on Wednesday afternoon, Kennedy and three of his top officials
resigned unexpectedly, four State Department officials confirmed.
Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr,
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and
Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions,
followed him out the door. All are career foreign service officers who
have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Kennedy will retire from the foreign service at the end of the month,
officials said. The other officials could be given assignments
elsewhere in the foreign service.
In addition, Assistant
Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Gregory Starr retired Jan.
20, and the director of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations,
Lydia Muniz, departed the same day. That amounts to a near-complete
housecleaning of all the senior officials that deal with managing the
State Department, its overseas posts and its people.
“It’s the
single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that
anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,” said
David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under
Secretary of State John Kerry. “Department expertise in security,
management, administrative and consular positions in particular are very
difficult to replicate and particularly difficult to find in the
private sector.”
All I can think of when I hear about the State Department securing diplomats is Benghazi, although that was clearly Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's fault, and not that of the State Department bureaucrats.
More encouraging is the fact that 'Palestinian' chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat is expressing 'shock' at
President Trump's silence on Israeli 'settlement building.'
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced the approval of 2,500 housing units
in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in order to accommodate the
housing needs of the residents and to return their daily routine to
normal.
The announcement followed the approval earlier this week of 566 new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramat Shlomo, Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev.
While the United Nations and the European Union were quick to condemn the new construction, White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Tuesday declined to express a position on Israeli construction when asked about it in his daily press briefing.
"Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer
said, when asked about Trump's perspective on the Israeli plan to
implement the construction plans.
"He wants to grow closer to Israel to make sure it gets the full
respect in the Middle East," he continued. "We'll have a conversation
with the prime minister."
Responding on Wednesday to the White House refusing to comments, Erekat told AFP,
"We used to hear condemnations, we used to hear American positions
saying '(Israel) should stop settlement activities, it's an obstacle to
peace.'"
"Not commenting, does that mean that President Trump is
encouraging... settlement activities? We need an answer from the
American administration," he added.
Life has sure changed for the 'Palestinians,' hasn't it? If they don't get to the table and negotiate (for real) soon without preconditions, there's not likely to be much left to negotiate about. This whiny series of diagrams regarding future Israeli building plans in Jerusalem appeared in Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily (HaAretz). If all of these plans go through, Jerusalem will thankfully be surrounded with Jewish children.
All of this follows on the heels of yesterday's news that the first act of the Trump-Tillerson State Department was to
place a hold on the
$221 million parting gift that former President Hussein Obama attempted to give the 'Palestinians' and that one of President Trump's first executive orders would
suspend aid to the United Nations or any of its agencies if they recognize a 'Palestinian state.'
Much of this is, of course, a reversal of Obama administration policy implemented during the last administration's first days in office. But if it lasts, the world will be a very different place four or eight years from now.
Messiah's times?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem construction, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Judea and Samaria construction, US State Department
Krauthammer incinerates Obama's 'shameful legacy'
In the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer explains what was different about that UN Security Council resolution, and how the Obama administration
stabbed Israel in the back by allowing its passage.
An ordinary Israeli who lives or works in the Old City of Jerusalem
becomes an international pariah, a potential outlaw. To say nothing of
the soldiers of Israel’s citizen army. “Every pilot and every officer
and every soldier,” said a confidant of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, “we are waiting for him at The Hague,” i.e. the International Criminal Court.
Moreover,
the resolution undermines the very foundation of a half-century of
American Middle East policy. What becomes of “land for peace” if the
territories that Israel was to have traded for peace are, in advance,
declared to be Palestinian land to which Israel has no claim?
The peace parameters
enunciated so ostentatiously by Secretary of State John Kerry on
Wednesday are nearly identical to the Clinton parameters that Yasser
Arafat was offered and rejected in 2000 and that Abbas was offered by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008. Abbas, too, walked away.
Kerry
mentioned none of this because it undermines his blame-Israel
narrative. Yet Palestinian rejectionism works. The Security Council just
declared the territories legally Palestinian — without the Palestinians
having to concede anything, let alone peace. What incentive do the
Palestinians have to negotiate when they can get the terms — and
territory — they seek handed to them for free if they hold out long
enough?
Indeed. The Post can look back at
this column from 2009 and realize that the 'Palestinians' were correct.
Yet
on Wednesday afternoon, as he prepared for the White House meeting in a
suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City, Abbas insisted that his
only role was to wait. He will wait for Hamas to capitulate to his
demand that any Palestinian unity government recognize Israel and swear
off violence. And he will wait for the Obama administration to force a
recalcitrant Netanyahu to freeze Israeli settlement construction and
publicly accept the two-state formula.
Until Israel meets his
demands, the Palestinian president says, he will refuse to begin
negotiations. He won't even agree to help Obama's envoy, George J.
Mitchell, persuade Arab states to take small confidence-building
measures. "We can't talk to the Arabs until Israel agrees to freeze
settlements and recognize the two-state solution," he insisted in an
interview. "Until then we can't talk to anyone."
And what the Post doesn't mention is that Netanyahu is reported to have
offered even more in 2013.
If Hillary Clinton had won November's election, Israel would now have its back to the wall. Fortunately, Donald Trump won the election, and if he is willing to go to the wall in Israel's defense, perhaps this disgraceful resolution can be mitigated.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Barack Hussein Obama, Donald Trump, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem construction, John Kerry, Judea and Samaria construction, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists, settlement freeze
Lawless: Obama trying to handcuff Trump on Middle East
Greetings from Israel. I am home again (briefly).
President Hussein Obama is trying to
handcuff President Elect Donald Trump's Middle East policy.
Washington DC insiders widely expect the president to launch a bold
effort to constrain the president-elect's options in dealing with the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict by supporting unilateral international
recognition of Palestinian statehood, possibly in the UN Security
Council.
...
In seeking to overturn longstanding precedent and thwart the expressed
policy positions of his successor, Obama presumably hopes that
supporting (or not vetoing) a UN Security Council resolution on
Palestinian statehood will create an irreversible fait accompli
that will eventually spur Israel to make concessions, like a settlement
freeze, which will in turn strengthen moderates on the Palestinian side.
It's the same thinking that led the United States to make concession after concession in the Iran nuclear deal,
and it is likely to backfire in the same way. Unilateral recognition of
a Palestinian state will communicate to Palestinian leaders that they
do not need to concede anything and validate the use and incitement of
violence, vindicating hardliners.
Until the Palestinian leadership can recognize
and accept a Jewish state in the land of Israel, the United States must
continue working to prevent international recognition of a Palestinian
state.
Anyone still want to claim that the Obama administration is the 'most pro-Israel administration evah'? If yes, it's time to take your blinders off.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Barack Hussein Obama, Donald Trump, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian education to hatred, Palestinian incitement, settlement freeze, two-state solution, United Nations Security Council
Obama's nasty November surprise... for Israel
Former European Parliament MP Fiamma Nirenstein believes that President Obama is planning a
nasty November surprise (or maybe not such a surprise) for Israel.
But like Ariadne’s thread, a number of clues lead us to believe that,
after the November 8thvote and before the inauguration on January 20th,
Obama is planning a very strong move against Israel during a period in
which he can no longer influence the presidential election’s outcome or
damage Hillary.
In other words, facing a U.N. Security Council
resolution during the “lame duck” period, he’ll ignore the need for
negotiations between the two parties, impose borders, as well as set up
the parameters for the birth of a Palestinian State, reneging the
long-standing American veto. He would allow the resolution supported by
the French initiative for a peace conference to win.In practice, the
consequences would only be those of disrepute and, possibly, of
sanctions against Israel. In times of BDS, this discrediting,this
backing into a corner seems to drive more or less consciously America’s
policy toward Israel.
Astonishingly, the White House erased a
reference to the fact that at Peres’ funeral Obama had spoken in
“Jerusalem, in Israel” from a previously released statement on the
President’s speech. That is to say, the revered Peres would no longer be
buried in Israel, but rather, in some no man’s land. Later, using the
funeral as a bludgeon, while the world burns, the U.S. State Department
issued a violently worded statement regarding the construction of some
apartment units in Shiloh, in the West Bank (to relocate the displaced
settlers from Amona, a dismantled illegal settlement). The statement
basically says that the memory of the deceased leader had been betrayed
thus “cementing a one-state reality of perpetual occupation that is
fundamentally inconsistent with Israel’s future as a Jewish and
democratic state." Oh, really! The housing units, repeated the
government, will be built in an old settlement for refugees of another
destroyed settlement, without bringing one man more. Therefore, this
disproportionate criticism leads us to think two things: the first is
that they are creating an atmosphere for a political attack and
secondly, that Obama wants to leave his mark on the Middle East with
what he considers a boost to the peace process. But it is difficult to
think that he’s right: the real contribution that he could have given is
that of devising a new plan of territorial distribution (his
predecessors all did the same thing); to finally push the parties toward
talks; to ask Abu Mazen to renounce his support for terrorism; and to
favor Israel’s integration within the Middle East. However, he didn’t do
it.
Obama - if he insists - will be remembered as the president
whose pacifism(as has already happened in the past) has fueled conflict
throughout the Middle East and beyond. He will be perceived as the
anti-proliferation president who let the pact with Russia fall to
pieces, as the point of reference for Islamic moderation that favored
Iran and Hezbollah’s Shiite extremism, and who failed to stop Sunni
extremism while upsetting his more moderate allies. This legacy of
failures will only be worsened by sanctions upon the only pro-American
democracy in the Middle East.
I doubt anyone here would be surprised by this kind of nastiness from the self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel administration evah.'
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, feckless French, Judea and Samaria construction, Obama's obsession with Israel, Obama's obsession with Palestinians, Shilo, United Nations Security Council
Germany (and Europe): The more things change....
NGO Monitor reports that the German government spent millions of dollars between 2012 and 2015 supporting Israeli groups that support boycotting Israel and
negating the Jewish state.
The NGO Monitor watchdog group has found that between 2012 and 2015,
Germany funneled at least $4.4 million to some 15 Israeli organizations,
and 42 percent of the donations went to groups supporting an
international boycott against Israel and policies negating Israel’s
existence as a Jewish state.
The report found that the German Economic Cooperation and Development
Ministry operates a Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst)
project in Israel, but in fact, on the ground the project is headed by a
different German group, KURVE Wustrow, which has partnered with two
local organizations—the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace and the
Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
NGO Monitor argues that the Coalition of Women for Peace actively
supports the BDS movement, including heading a project titled “Who
Profits from the Occupation,” a database of potential boycott “targets.”
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee promotes violent riots
across Judea and Samaria, and its Twitter account often features posts
encouraging violence, the report said.
The German Embassy in Israel said that Germany “remains committed to
the two-state solution and devising sustainable peace in the Middle
East. The German government opposes any boycott of Israel, including BDS
activities, as such action undermines the peace process. The German
government’s funding policy seeks to support selected projects via
earmarked funds. Germany will continue to invest in projects and
initiatives that can promote and increase awareness to the two-state
solution.”
Still reading
Catch the Jew, and this is totally consistent with it. Hitler must be feeling proud.
And then there's the European Union, which despite all its problems still
focuses hatred on Israel.
Yes, that's an EU sponsored caravan for 'Palestinians' in Area C (which under the Oslo accords is totally controlled by Israel) and yes, it's illegal. This one is right next to the Jewish town of Carmel in the Mount Hebron region.
Israel has been
demolishing these illegal structures despite
European protests, but cannot do so
quickly enough.
I understand that Israel
Labels: BDS, European anti-Semitism, European Union, German anti-Semitism, Germany, home demolitions, Judea and Samaria construction
State Department denies threatening Israel over 'settlement' construction
The State Department has denied
reports that it has threatened Israel with non-use of its UN veto if Israel pursues '
settlement' construction.
Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said that while his office was aware of such reports in the press, they were “false.”
“Our position on settlements is well known and hasn’t changed,” he said. “We convey it regularly to the Israeli Government. I know we don’t generally comment on private conversations, but I’d like to nip that story in the bud. We haven’t issued any kind of ultimatum on this.”
Toner emphasized that far from issuing any such ultimatum regarding a UN resolution, “there’s not even a resolution out there right now.”
At a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls by senior ministers for construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank in response to an increase in Palestinian terrorism.
According to Channel 2, Netanyahu refusal to authorize new construction was due to a purported Obama administration warning that the US wouldn’t necessarily veto a French-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Security Council.
...
Washington’s reported threat to not veto the motion at the UN came shortly after a Politico report which said US President Barack Obama had rejected multiple calls by a top Democratic senator that he speak out publicly against a Palestinian statehood resolution at the United Nations.
Obama’s refusal, the report said, “highlights how wide the gulf between the Obama administration and Israeli government has become.” The rebuff “unfolded in the context of a personal relationship between Obama and Netanyahu that’s become highly toxic, poisoning US-Israeli relations more widely.”
In March, the administration signaled that it would reevaluate its automatic-veto policy at the UN, after Netanyahu asserted in a pre-election interview that there would be no Palestinian state during his tenure.
Let's just say that I would not put it past this administration to withhold the veto - certainly on a resolution condemning 'settlement' construction, and even on a resolution calling for a 'Palestinian state' and holding out the threat of sanctions under Article VII of the United Nations charter.
It's that bad.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, United Nations Security Council, US veto
Wow: Jewish Home MK disses Obama
For the Hebrew impaired, the tweet above is from a Knesset Channel (like CSpan in the US) interview with MK Ayelet Shaked, number 2 on the Jewish Home party list and a likely minister in the next Netanyahu government. She says "Just like I don't decide who Obama's ministers are, he shouldn't decide for us. And they also should not be interfering in construction in Judea and Samaria."
She's obviously trying to tell Obama that Israel is a democracy, that the people have spoken, and that it's not his place to interfere.
Somehow, I don't think that message is going to be treated fondly on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.
Labels: Ayelet Shaked, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem construction, Jewish Home party, Judea and Samaria construction, Knesset elections 2015
European Union building illegally (for Arabs) in Judea and Samaria Area C
In open violation of international law, the European Union has built more than 400 housing units for 'Palestinians' in Area C - an area of Judea and Samaria that is under Israeli civilian and security control under the Oslo accords - under the guise of '
humanitarian grounds.'
More than 400 EU-funded Palestinian homes have been erected in Area C of the West Bank, which was placed under Israeli jurisdiction during the Oslo Accords – a part of international law to which the EU is a signatory.
The Palestinian buildings, which have no permits, come at a cost of tens of millions of Euros in public money, a proportion of which comes from the British taxpayer.
This has raised concerns that the EU is using valuable resources to take sides in a foreign territorial dispute.
Official EU documentation reveals that the building project is intended to ‘pave the way for development and more authority of the PA over Area C (the Israeli area)’, which some experts say is an attempt to unilaterally affect facts on the ground.
Locally, the villages are known as the ‘EU Settlements’, and can be found in 17 locations around the West Bank.
They proudly fly the EU flag, and display hundreds of EU stickers and signs. Some also bear the logos of Oxfam and other NGOs, which have assisted in the projects.
Questions have also been asked about the conduct of EU workers in the region, after a picture emerged of a man in EU uniform threatening soldiers and bystanders with a rock outside a settlement in 2012. An EU spokesperson declined to comment on the picture.
And when they do comment, these European successors to their Nazi heritage lie about it:
Maja Kocijancic, a Brussels-based EU spokesperson, denied that this was happening.
‘The EU's funding will provide training and expertise, to help the relevant Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministries to plan and build new infrastructure and enable people to reclaim and rebuild their land there,’ she said.
‘To date, no construction has started yet under these programmes. The EU is not funding illegal projects.'
When shown sequences of photographs showing construction taking place, she declined to comment. She also did not comment on an EU-Oxfam sign stating that the 'main activities' of construction work are 'rehabilitation and reclamation' of land.
However, her statement appeared to be contradicted by Shadi Othman, a spokesman for the EU in the West Bank and Gaza. Speaking on the telephone from the West Bank, he accepted that the construction was taking place.
'We support the Palestinian presence in Area C. Palestinian presence should not be limited Areas A and B. Area C is part of the occupied Palestinian territory which eventually will be Palestinian land.
'Palestinians have a right to live there, build schools there, have economic development.
And where is the Israeli government on this?
Apparently hog-tied.
This week, prior to the release of its latest report, Regavim took
journalists to look at a number of Beduin encampments straddling E1 as
well as the Jerusalem-Jericho road. They are not temporary tent
encampments as they were in years past, but rather clusters that – in
addition to tents and tin shacks – also include modular structures with
cement floors bearing the EU logo.
According to Ari Briggs,
Regavim’s international relations director, the EU logo is placed on
the structures in the belief that this will prevent Israel from
demolishing them. Israel is not likely to take down a building with an
EU logo, due to concerns over both public relations damage and the harm
it could cause to relations with the EU, he said.
Maj.-Gen Yoav
Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories
(COGAT), was in Europe this week holding talks with high-level EU
officials. One diplomatic source said this issue was one of the topics
of his conversations.
A COGAT representative, referring to the
Regavim charge that it is reluctant to take down the structures because
of EU involvement, said: “The civil administration acts against
illegal construction, and no organization is exempt from enforcement.
COGAT
has sent official letters to embassies and international organizations
cautioning them against building illegally in Judea and Samaria.”
If we don't stick up for ourselves no one else will. The original Regavim report is
here. Hat Tip:
Honest Reporting.
Labels: European Union, international law, Judea and Samaria, Judea and Samaria construction, Oslo accords
Lapid burns
With Yair Lapid out as finance minister, the Knesset Finance Committee has released funding to the Jewish towns and villages in Judea and Samaria. Lapid, who was holding up the money, is furious, and has labeled the release '
bribery.' (He didn't really think he was going to get any votes from the 'settlers,' did he?
Yesh Atid is outraged at the request of Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu to transfer additional funds via the Finance Committee to
regional councils in Judea-Samaria, the party said in a statement on
Monday.
"This is an election bribery - this is an inappropriate course of
action in a democratic state," the party stated, asking the Knesset's
Legal Advisory to intervene over the issue.
Budgetary transfers to the regional councils had been frozen for months
by Finance Minister and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid, who was sacked
from his ministerial position last week and whose party left the
coalition in a dramatic political move.
Lapid's dismissal has finally paved the way for tens of cash-strapped
communities in the region to receive their funds, leaving leftists
livid.
But the issue is not the only budgetary transfer finally on the table
with Lapid's dismissal; the Finance Committee is expected to make
decisions on dozens of requests for government funding Monday in Lapid's
wake.
Rumor has it that the man behind the transfers is that
'settler' lover,
Moshe 'Boogie' Yaalon.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon may be easing up on his own crackdown
on Judea and Samaria, it was revealed Monday, after leaks from closed
conversations Ya'alon had with unnamed officials indicated his support
for lifting a freeze on funds to Judea-Samaria regional councils.
"Our goal should be the immediate release of funds for the
development of settlements in Judea and Samaria, and I am working to do
this," Ya'alon allegedly stated. "These funds former Finance Minister
Yair Lapid held for political reasons, and now they [the Knesset - ed.]
have to release these funds."
Ya'alon's statements surfaced just as the Knesset Finance Committee announced that funds for Judea-Samaria regional councils had been unfrozen, after months of an on-and-off freeze instituted by Lapid for political purposes.
...
The report, if true, also shows a sharp reversal in Ya'alon's policies thus far. The Defense Minister has been personally behind the continuation of a military seizure of the Yitzhar Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva [Torah academy - ed.] and froze funds for a project to build new housing for IDF soldiers over 1949 Armistice lines just last week.
Heh.
Labels: Israeli Knesset, Judea and Samaria construction, Knesset elections 2015, Moshe Yaalon, settlements, Yair Lapid
De facto building freeze confirmed
Here's the truth: All those announcements that our government has made about building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria are for domestic consumption. The reality is that housing starts in Judea and Samaria
dropped by a whopping 62.4% in the first three quarters 2014. And the building in Jerusalem may not have crossed the green line.
Data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday showed
that ground was broken on 935 homes in Judea and Samaria from January
to September of this year, compared with 2,487 during the same period in
2013.
Settler building makes up only 2.8% of the 32,850 country
wide housing starts. But the largest drop in construction occurred in
Judea and Samaria, compared to an overall decline of 7.4%, according to
the CBS.
Housing starts in Jerusalem, in comparison, grew by 20.6% in the first
three quarters of this year, compared with last year. But the CBS does
not provide data that shows how much occurred over the pre-1967 lines
in Jerusalem.
I'm sure the State Department will be happy.
Labels: Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, settlement freeze, US State Department
Netanyahu, Edelstein hit back at Obama
Prime Minister
Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker
Yuli Edelstein have both hit back at the
Obama administration's criticism of Israeli construction in 'east' Jerusalem. This is from the first link.
Netanyahu, at a ground-breaking ceremony for a new port in Ashdod, said
Israel would continue to build new ports, pave roads, lay rail road
tracks and “continue to build in our eternal capital.”
“I heard
the claim that our building in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem makes
peace more distant, but it is the criticism itself that makes peace more
distant,” Netanyahu said of criticism that poured in following his
announcement of plans to develop 660 more units in Ramot Shlomo in the
northern part of the city and 400 in the southern neighborhood of Har
Homa.
This criticism, he said, is “detached from reality” and feeds false Palestinian hopes.
...
Netanyahu said the international community remains quiet when
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “incites to the murder of
Jews in Jerusalem,” but strongly condemns Israel when it builds in
Jerusalem.
“I don't accept that double standard,” he said. “We
built in Jerusalem, we build in Jerusalem, and we will continue to build
in Jerusalem.”
Arutz Sheva adds (
quoting Netanyahu):
"The French build in Paris, the English build in London - that's the
same as Israel building in Jerusalem," he concluded. "We will continue
to build in Jerusalem and will continue to build here in Ashdod."
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein also
slammed Obama.
"Building in Jerusalem is not something to be done under the table or under the cover of night," Edelstein told Arutz Sheva.
"It has been part of the policy of every Israeli government and
anyone who even thinks that in a peace agreement we will need to
evacuate (the Jerusalem neighborhoods) Gilo, Talpiot and Pisgat Ze'ev
apparently doesn't understand what they're talking about," added the MK.
...
The Knesset Chairman emphasized that currently there are more than
350,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria, and "the overwhelming majority
of them are people of action who are dedicated to the state, and there
is no reason to discriminate between them and others."
"Just as the north and the south must be developed, and Jerusalem and
Tel Aviv - so too there is room for student villages and neighborhoods
in Samaria, Gush Etzion (in Judea) and Har Homa (in Jerusalem)," added
Edelstein.
Meanwhile, Israel's Justice Minister and chief
negotiator bottle washer, Tzipi Livni,
criticized her own government.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, meanwhile, decried the move in an Israel
Radio interview, saying these types of steps will make it more difficult
for Israel to thwart Palestinian efforts in the UN Security Council .
Livni
said while she feels that Israel has the right to build in Jerusalem,
these announcements not only hurt Israel diplomatically, but also worsen
the volatile security situation in the capital.
Livni was apparently for building in Jerusalem before she was against it. But the problem is that
Israel is not actually building in Jerusalem (or in Judea and Samaria).
Indeed, many have argued that the solution to the current housing crisis in
Israel lies precisely in the development of Judea and Samaria, a region
which according to some estimates is over 90% unpopulated.
Instead, Netanyahu has until now imposed a covert freeze on Jewish
construction. The newest announcements still leave much room for doubt
as to whether they constitute a policy change, or are merely a case of
political maneuvering giving the upcoming Likud primaries. Many similar announcements in the past have not actually led to any physical construction.
And you thought the American government was weak?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, East Jerusalem, Har Homa, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, Middle East peace process, Ramat Shlomo, Tzipi Livni, Yuli Edelstein
Monkey Moon bashes Israel for non-existent 'settlement construction'
Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you.
Just a day after Housing Minister Uri Ariel admitted that there is a
de facto building freeze in Judea, Samaria and 'east' Jerusalem, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon attacked Israel for '
settlement building.'
Ban was in Ramallah, where he held a joint news conference with
Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government Prime Minister Rami
Hamdallah. Just a day earlier he justified Hamas terrorism by saying its
cause is Israeli "occupation," at a Cairo donor conference on Sunday that raised $5.4 billion for Gaza.
"While rebuilding is important, we must tackle the root causes of instability. We
must give renewed attention to the West Bank. I once again strongly
condemn the continued settlement activity by Israel," said Ban on
Monday, according to AFP.
The statement may be a reference to construction plans in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamatos that far-left group Peace Now raised to thwart Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit with US President Barack Obama two weeks ago.
The move was in fact merely the approval of building tenders at
some future date in the Jewish neighborhood of Israel's capital, and
leaves intact the building freeze gripping the area.
Moon also attacked 'provocations' on the Temple Mount after Israeli police prevented 'Palestinians' from preventing Jews from ascending the Mount (you should have heard all the noise around 6:00 am this morning) by locking them in the al-Aqsa mosque.
"I am...deeply concerned by repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem. These only inflame tensions and must stop," said Ban.
There's more -
read the whole thing. It has to make you wonder why Israel bothers to be in the United Nations at all.
Labels: Ban Ki-Moon, Gaza, Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian Authority, Ramallah, Temple Mount
Israel announces 2,500 new apartments in 'east' Jerusalem, Obama-Kerry silent
On Wednesday, the city of Jerusalem announced the approval of 2,500 new apartments in 'east' Jerusalem. There was no outcry from Obama-Kerry or from Ban Ki-Moon. And there won't be one either. You see,
these apartments are for Arabs, and you can bet that they will be 100% completely
Judenrein. What's worse, those apartments are accompanied by
the reversal of approval for 2,500 Jewish units in 'east' Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. You see, our spineless Prime Minister has become as much of a messianic as John FN Kerry.
This is from the first link.
The houses will be built in the Al-Sawahira Al-Gharbiyya neighborhood near Armon HaNetziv, according to Walla! News, home to some 27,000 Israeli Arabs.
The expansion plan was formulated for over a year and a half, with
the help of the leftist "Bimakom" (Heb: "In its place") group, which is
engaged in promoting "equal rights" in matters of city planning.
Nationalist politicians and city councilmen reacted with shock to the announcement, after exactly 2,500 building tenders
for Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria were frozen
Monday by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu due to US threats of a
"covert building freeze."
Jerusalem City Councilman Aryeh King filed an administrative appeal
with the Jerusalem District Court over the ruling - which he, along with
many others, have seen as discriminatory - and threatened to quit the
coalition in the event the tenders are not revoked.
"This is crazy," King said, "and runs contrary to a previous decision
not to go ahead with the program until the building committee can
confirm the need for large-scale construction in Arab neighborhoods."
King maintained that the plan also "was put forward by the leftists
to establish their own the demographic balance in the city, and link
Area B to the downtown area - all of this without discussing the issue
with the city council."
"Nir Barkat is endangering the city," he added.
The office of Mayor Nir Barkat said in response, "the Jerusalem
Municipality's urban planning constitutes a clear expression of
sovereignty over all parts of the city and strengthening the unity of
Jerusalem."
"The absence of the Municipality in urban planning may create a
difficult situation, and it is dangerous to approve specific programs
under the auspices of a court without relating to a range of
considerations regarding neighborhoods in, and public buildings missing
in, East Jerusalem," it added. "The alternative to municipal urban
planning is illegal construction of thousands of housing units and
taking over large areas, along with damage to the environment and to an
Israeli sovereignty over a united Jerusalem."
You mean Barkat actually thinks that this shows Jewish sovereignty over the Arab-populated neighborhoods of the city? Really? And by the way, the solution to illegal building is to enforce the law....
And about
Netanyahu's withdrawal of those 2,500 units for Jews....
Cabinet Secretary Gen. (res.) Avichai Mandelblit was tasked with drafting the plans for 1,500
units in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, and
another 1,000 units in Judea and Samaria communities including Ariel,
Emanuel, and Beitar Illit.
The bid publications were prepared and ready to go - until Netanyahu
at the very last minute waffled and changed his mind, canning the plan
right before it was to be published.
Apparently Mandelblit told community leaders in Judea and Samaria
that the international pressure placed on Israel during and following
Operation Protective Edge has led Netanyahu to fear an international
"crisis" if he were to announce plans for new Jewish houses.
"The national status after Operation Protective Edge is explosive and complicated," a senior official told Walla!,
siding with Mandelblit. "Israel needs to act carefully and not initiate
new crises, that will be added to the unavoidable crises created by the
operation."
The international pressure was demonstrated on Sunday, when Israel declared 4,000 dunams (988 acres) in Judea as state land - an announcement which was immediately met by a firm condemnation by US President Barack Obama's administration.
Judea and Samaria council chief
Dani Dayan is steaming.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Dayan said that the bureaucratic
snafu that was holding up development of plans in Jerusalem and in Judea
and Samaria was choking off the life-force of these communities. “For
months the government committees and the Housing Ministry have not
issued any tenders for construction. It's true that development plans
made in the past are now bearing fruit, but without new tenders
construction will soon dry up,” he said.
In the past, governments responded to world political pressure against construction in “a more courageous manner. We were told that building
would not be allowed publicly, but behind the scenes they would tell us
to build outposts, which would later be legalized. Today the government
doesn't have the courage to do this.”
Dayan worries that a crisis is developing in the settlement movement.
“We cannot be satisfied with what we have accomplished. Any area that
is not growing will eventually be lost. Building and growing must be a
priority, even if there are pressures. We must bring the settlement
issue back into the center of priorities, even if it has to be done
politically. If we can't accomplish this now, we are setting a precedent
for the future as well.”
אין שלום, אין ביטחון, ביבי כשלון (There is no peace, there is no security, Bibi is a failure). Yes, I know that was the Left's slogan in the 1999 election campaign, but perhaps it's time for the Right to dust it off.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, City of Jerusalem, Dani Dayan, East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria construction, Nir Barkat
At least the Israeli government is actually thinking
The timing of an announcement that the government is turning approximately 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres) of land near Gush Etzion into government land (what might be called a taking by eminent domain in the United States) for the Sunday of Labor Day weekend shows that at least someone in the government has their thinking caps on. It slowed the international reaction to a move that would inevitably be unpopular outside of Israel. But now the
United States has criticized us, and so has
Ban Ki-Moon. Is Netanyahu up to the challenge? This is from the first link.
The IDF on Sunday conferred the status of state land on 4,000 dunams in the Gush Etzion region, thus ending the civil administration’s investigation into the possibility that parcels were private Palestinian property.
The new designation for an area known as Gevaot opens the door for settlers to advance plans to build a fifth city in the West Bank on those dunams.
"We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity," a State Department official said. "This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue, is counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians."
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the US official said in Washington.
What if our 'stated goal' were not a 'two-state solution'? What if Netanyahu had the guts to reverse the
Bar Ilan speech and say 'We tried. We've been trying for over 20 years. We failed. What we would need to secure us in the event of a two-state solution is much more than the 'Palestinians' are willing to agree to. It's time to move on.'
Would Israelis agree?
Based on their
political affiliations (at least in polls), the answer ought to be yes. But Israelis have been so conditioned - both by the media and by too many of our own politicians - to the idea that there is no solution other than the 'two-state solution' that much must be done to reverse this boxlike thinking. Perhaps this morning was a start.
I turned on the radio briefly this morning (I've avoided it entirely since we left Jerusalem on Sunday) and heard that Labor party leader Yitzchak Herzog and Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On said that this is the time to make a big move forward in the 'peace process.' Huh? MK Zev Elkin (Likud) slammed Herzog (Gal-On spoke in response to Elkin) saying that he's out of touch with what Israelis want and that having seen what happened in Gaza, almost no Israelis would agree to taking the chance of turning Judea and Samaria into another Gaza.
Would Netanyahu agree? Would he say so?
By the way, note that the condemnation comes from a 'State Department official' - not Obama or Kerry. Could they finally be getting the idea that this is not the time to push for a 'Palestinian state'?
If you
read the whole thing, you will discover that the plan to turn this into a Jewish city has been in place for nearly 30 years. Hmmm....
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Judea and Samaria, Judea and Samaria construction, Yitzchak Herzog, Zeev Elkin, Zehava Gal-On
'My career is ruined and it's all the Jooos' fault'
Perpetual 'peace processor' Martin Indyk has
declared the 'peace process' dead.
The [Oslo Accords] represented the last major breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Martin Indyk told The Atlantic's
Jeffrey Goldberg in his first interview since stepping down last week
as the Obama administration's Mideast peace envoy. And that process is
now dead, he added, at least for now.
...
"There is a deep loathing of each leader for the other that has built up
over the years," Indyk told Goldberg at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which
is organized by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic.
"'Loathing' may be too strong [a word] for how Netanyahu feels about Abu
Mazen," he later clarified, "but it's certainly the way Abu Mazen feels
about Netanyahu. He refers to him as 'that man.'"
But no, Indyk doesn't blame Abu Mazen for the collapse of the 'peace process.' He blames the 'settlers.'
In the two decades since the Oslo Accords, a "a deep, deep skepticism"
about negotiations has taken root among Israelis and Palestinians,
particularly among younger generations for whom Oslo is a distant
memory, if a memory at all. In particular, young Palestinians, who have
"grown up under Israeli occupation" and "seen [Jewish] settlements
grow," have jettisoned hope "that the Israelis will ever grant them
their rights." The majorities on both sides that once supported a
two-state solution are no more.
Deep down, even Indyk knows that Abu Bluff is to blame. And yet he still blames the 'settlements.'
Initially, Israel agreed to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners
in four stages in return for the Palestinians not signing international
conventions or attempting to join UN agencies. After six months of
direct negotiations between the parties, he explained, Netanyahu "moved
into the zone of a possible agreement" and was prepared to make
substantial concessions.
But then, beginning in mid-February, Abbas suddenly "shut down." By the time the Palestinian leader visited Obama in Washington
in March, he "had checked out of the negotiations," repeatedly telling
U.S. officials that he would "study" their proposals, Indyk said. Abbas later signed 15 international conventions and struck a unity deal with the Gaza-based militant group Hamas. These moves deflated the peace process.
What accounts for Abbas's about-face? The explanation, Indyk says,
lies in Jewish settlement activity during the talks. The U.S. had
anticipated limited activity in so-called settlement "blocks" near
Israel's 1967 borders, where roughly 80 percent of Jewish settlers live.
What caught Washington off guard was the Israeli government's
announcements, with each release of Palestinian prisoners, of plans for
settlement units, many of which were outside the blocks. "The Israeli
attitude is that's just planning," Indyk noted. "But for the
Palestinians, everything that gets planned gets built. ... And the fact
that the announcements were made when the prisoners were released
created the impression that Abu Mazen had paid for the prisoners by
accepting these settlement announcements." Netanyahu may have simply
been playing domestic politics and trying to placate the Israeli
right-wing, but these announcements effectively humiliated Abbas.
Indyk's implicit message appeared to be that Israel's settlement
policy inflicted the most harm on the peace process: The settlement
announcements undermined Abbas, who in turn walked away from the talks.
At one point in the discussion, Indyk observed that Israelis who are
moving to settlements for religious and nationalist reasons, especially
outside the settlement blocks, "are doing great damage to Israel's
future."
Martin Indyk is a bitter old man. Let's hope he doesn't visit Israel again.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Judea and Samaria construction, Martin Indyk, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists, settlements
It starts: Yaalon wants a Zionist response, Livni wants an international one
There was a fight in Israel's cabinet on Monday night over a proposal by Defense Minister Moshe Boogie Yaalon to
build a new Jewish town in Judea, in the area from which the three teenagers were kidnapped. The woman who wants a Nobel Peace Prize strongly objected....
An Israeli defense official confirmed the details and said that
Ya'alon suggested the new settlement be established in the G'vaot
outpost, frozen in 2002, which is located between Alon Shvut and Beitar
Ilit. The Defense Ministry specified that the outpost is located on
state lands and that the government already made a decision to turn it
into a settlement.
During
Monday's cabinet meeting, Ya'alon presented a plan prepared by the
Civil Administration with various actions aimed at strengthening the
Israeli settlement enterprise. The suggestions include promotion of
planning procedures and the publication of construction tenders for
thousands of new units in the settlement blocs. The plan also includes a
proposal for a new settlement on state lands inside one of the blocs,
to be named after the three victims.
...
According to the senior official, Justice Minister Tzipi
Livni opposed the move and threatened to vote against the cabinet
decision. Livni said that if Israel presents settlement construction as a
sanction or punishment in response to the murder, it will hurt the
little bit of legitimacy Israel has from the international community to
retain the settlements blocs in any future deal with the Palestinians.
Livni
evoked the many condemnations of the murders expressed by a slew of
world leaders, and argued that settlement construction would damage
Israel's international backing and hurt the national consensus
surrounding kidnapping.
"It
is wrong to split the nation along ideological lines of construction
that the entire nation is not behind," Livni said. "Such a move could
also hurt our international legitimacy for a military operation against
Hamas. Settlement construction at this stage would minimize the murders
and transform it from a national issue to a political one."
Economy
Minister Naftali Bennett expressed a certain amount of support for
Livni's stance, stating that he objects to an Israeli response limited
to settlement construction that does not include a comprehensive
military operation against Hamas.
However, a heated erupted at the cabinet meeting, when Bennett called
the proposed actions raised "weak and disgraceful" and threatened to
vote against them. As a result, Netanyahu decided to postpone the vote
and schedule another meeting for Tuesday night.
Bennett is right - the proposed actions are weak.
Read the whole thing. But I want to point out a statement that drips with irony....
Livni also rejected Bennett's proposal. "We've had harsh terror attacks
in the past, but you don't start a war because of it," she said.
Really Tzipi? Weren't you foreign minister in
2006?
Labels: Judea and Samaria, Judea and Samaria construction, Moshe Yaalon, Naftali Bennett, Second Lebanon War, settlements, Tzipi Livni
Jewish housing starts in Judea and Samaria go 'poof' UPDATED
Haaretz is reporting that most of the 1,800 housing starts in Judea and Samaria that were announced last week have gone '
poof.'
Following pressure by Western European diplomats, the Civil
Administration decided on Wednesday to delay the recently announced
plans to move forward on construction of 1,800 settlement homes.
The
only plans approved by the Civil Administration's High Planning Council
concerned 381 housing units in Givat Ze'ev. Those involving
construction in Ariel, Har Bracha, Alfei Menashe, Oranit and other
settlements were put off, along with plans in the settlement outpost
Al-Matan.
Planning
council chairman Daniel Halimi said he received instructions for the
delays shortly before the meeting, and a source who attended the session
said, "Apparently the decision came from high up."
On
Tuesday, British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould and French
Ambassador to Israel Patrick Maisonnave told National Security Adviser
Yossi Cohen that their countries wanted Israel to hold off on advancing
plans for the 1,800 settlement homes, which had been frozen for many
months.
Gould
and Maisonnave told Cohen that Germany, Italy and Spain would be
conveying the same message, which the Italian and Spanish ambassadors
did to the Foreign Ministry later that day, while German Ambassador
Andreas Michaelis weighed in with Cohen early on Wednesday.
Israeli officials admit the delay but deny that it was the result of European pressure.
"Most of the deliberations set for today's original agenda were
discussed, except for a plan that was removed at the request of the
council and an additional plan that was postponed because of a
publishing process that was not implemented as asked," said the
officials.
Envision a pretzel soaked in warm water overnight floating around in a cup. Envision Prime Minister Netanyahu's backbone. Pretty similar, aren't they?
UPDATE 1:31 PM
I just found the retweet below in Barak Ravid's (the author of the report above) Twitter feed. Translation follows:
Translation: Planning sources admit that there is an overall instruction not to bring up any plan for consideration in the [Israel Land] Authority's Planning Committee that includes houses outside the 'settlement blocs.' Political sources say that this is due to [Yair] Lapid's veto.
Thank you Naftali Bennett for giving Lapid so much power by refusing to go into the government without him a year an a half ago.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Britain, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Judea and Samaria construction, Matthew Gould, Naftali Bennett, Spain, Yair Lapid
It's about time: Israel responds to Hamas-Fatah pact
This could be the start of something big. Israel is finally responding in an effective way to the Hamas-Fatah unity government: It has announced
3,000 housing starts in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
The units, which were originally to be approved with release of a
fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners at the end of March that was
never carried out, will include 400 units in Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem,
and another 1,100 to be divided between the settlements of Efrat,
Beitar Ilit, Adam and Givat Ze’ev. In addition, another 1,500 will be
approved for construction in other settlements throughout the West
Bank.
...
The announcement of further construction comes amid a serious policy
disagreement with the US over its approach to the new Palestinian
unity government. US Secretary of State John Kerry pledged continued
allegiance on Wednesday to strong security ties with Israel, even as he
reiterated the US would engage the new government backed by Hamas.
Speaking
at a press conference in Beirut, Kerry – asked why the US felt it had
to “recognize the unity Palestinian government immediately” – stressed
that Washington does not recognize a “government with respect to
Palestine, because that would recognize a state, and there is not a
state.”
Kerry said he has had daily conversations with Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on this matter as “a friend, as well as the
prime minister of the country.” He stressed that Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas assured him “this new technocratic government
is committed to the principles of nonviolence, negotiations,
recognizing the State of Israel, acceptance of the previous agreements
and the Quartet principles, and that they will continue their
previously agreed upon security cooperation with Israel.”
...
The secretary of state reiterated the US position that Hamas is a
terrorist organization, which has not accepted the Quartet principles
and continues to call for the destruction of Israel, “even as it moves
into this new posture.”
“Israel is our friend, our strong ally”
Kerry said, adding that the US-Israeli security relationship has never
been as strong as it is now under President Barack Obama.
“We are
deeply committed. We’ve said again and again the bonds of our
relationship extend way beyond security,” he said. “They are
time-honored and as close, I think, as any country in the world. We
will stand by Israel, as we have in the past. There is nothing that is
changing our security relationship. That is ironclad.”
Be that as
it may, Israel did nothing to hide its deep disappointment with the US
policy, with Netanyahu saying Tuesday he was “deeply troubled by the
announcement that Washington will work with the Palestinian government
backed by Hamas.
Meanwhile, 'Palestinian' chief
negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat is threatening to take Israel to court. .
Let's go to the videotape.
Here's
more:
“We urge the Israeli government to refrain from any punitive
actions,” Erekat told a small group of journalists and diplomats who
traveled with him Tuesday to the outskirts of a small Beduin encampment
in Area C of the West Bank, just outside of Jerusalem.
“If they [Israelis] go ahead in the line of escalation, we will react,” Erekat said.
...
“We want to give them [Israelis] a heads-up that we are planning to pursue our case internationally.”
He
explained the Palestinians would write letters to the member states of
the four Geneva Conventions, which among other topics, deal with the
issue of war crimes.
“We’ll ask them [member states] to shoulder
their responsibility vis-a-vis the occupying power [Israel], vis-a-vis
the atrocities and the crimes that are being committed against the
Palestinian population in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza,”
Erekat said. “We think Israelis and their legal [experts] know what
this means.”
The Palestinians also plan to pursue Israel through
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, which deals with acts of Apartheid, he said.
In 2014, the international community should “not stomach” the use of an apartheid system, Erekat said.
“Instead of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state we should recognize Israel as the apartheid state.”
He
explained he had chosen to visit the Jabal Al-Baba Beduin camp because
it is located in an area called E1, where Israel plans to build 3,500
new homes, for the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement.
Under that plan,
this particular hilltop would have a commercial center and an army
post. While plans for E1 are frozen, Erekat and members of the PLO
Negotiations Affairs Department that led the tour, believe they will be
carried out.
They said Israel would forcibly relocate the Beduin from the hilltop to make way for Jewish building.
Forced
displacement is a war crime, Erekat said, as is the Israeli demolition
of Beduin structures that has already taken place in the encampment.
“We
are preparing ourselves for the defense of our people including the
option of signing the Rome Statute,” Erekat said. While the
Palestinians are prepared to turn to the international court, they are
first focused on using the legal instruments afforded them under the 15
conventions they have already signed, he said.
Israel, in turn,
has warned the Palestinians that their signatures on these conventions
means they are liable for acts of violence against Israel by Hamas,
especially rockets launched from Gaza to Israel’s southern cities.
Read the whole thing. I wonder whether this would be brought up with the court at the same time....
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, E-1, East Jerusalem, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, human shields, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, Middle East peace process, Saeb Erekat
Abu Bluff: 'Peace talks' at an impasse
'
Moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen returned to Ramallah on Thursday and announced that the 'peace talks' are at an impasse. As usual, he blamed the '
settlements.'
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
said on Thursday that Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria had
caused the U.S.-sponsored peace talks to reach an impasse.
"Israel's settlement activity caused the negotiations to fail and led
them to an impasse," the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, told the AFP news agency.
He was reacting to a report earlier that Israel had advanced construction plans for over 2,000 new housing units in six Judea and Samaria communities.
...
The PA consistently blames
“settlement construction” as being an obstacle to peace. It does so
despite the fact that it was informed in advance that Israel will
continue to build as talks continue. The areas in which Israel plans to
build are areas that even the PA has previously accepted will be part of
Israel in a future deal.
Abbas threatened two weeks ago that unless a building freeze was imposed on
Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, the peace
talks would come to an end. Such a freeze was not stipulated as a
pre-condition to resumed talks.
There was never going to be a real peace agreement. But I hope that this 'impasse' becomes official. We have nothing to gain from these 'talks' continuing.
Here's an interesting and perceptive reaction from an
Israeli official:
One Israeli government source responded to the rally by saying it was
reminiscent of Yasser Arafat’s return from Camp David in 2000, when it
appeared that the Palestinians were celebrating the failure of peace
talks. The second intifada broke out shortly thereafter.
“If the
Palestinians celebrate rejectionism, they’re closing the door to
Palestinian statehood, because the only way to achieve a Palestinian
state is through negotiations and agreement with Israel,” the official
said. “A rejectionist position makes Palestinian statehood impossible,
and in maintaining such a position ultimately the Palestinians are only
hurting themselves.”
Third intifada coming? Thank you Obama and Kerry!
Labels: Abu Mazen, Judea and Samaria construction, settlements, settlements are legal
