I understand the concept of negotiating from a position of strength, but not the concept of continually blowing up any negotiations at all. Our government told Netanyahu that it did not want any more surprises announcing new settlements on the eve of talks.
After Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s visit to Israel was marred last March by an announcement of Jerusalem building plans that Mr. Netanyahu said came as a surprise to him, American officials said they made clear to the Israelis that they expected no further such surprises in the coming months.
At the time, Mr. Netanyahu’s aides said he sent out letters to all offices concerned with settlement building demanding detailed lists of upcoming plans to avoid such an unexpected announcement while peace talks with the Palestinians were under way or in preparation.
It was unclear whether Mr. Netanyahu knew about the latest announcement before it was published in newspapers late last week.
Despite this, immediately before Netanyahu left for the United States, Israel announced “plans for 1,000 new units for a contested part of East Jerusalem.”
The statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office addressed the talks by saying that “Israel sees no connection at all between the peace process and building plans in Jerusalem.”
Of course, they’re alone in that view.
Speaking during his visit to Indonesia, Mr. Obama said that the Israeli announcement — plans for 1,000 new units for a contested part of East Jerusalem — added to the difficulties of Israeli-Palestinian talks. “This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations,” he said, “and I’m concerned that we’re not seeing each side make the extra effort involved to get a breakthrough.”
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel’s actions threatened the negotiating process and was “a call for immediate international recognition of the Palestinian State.”
The statement added: “Once more, at the moment that we expected Prime Minister Netanyahu to announce a full settlement freeze from Washington D.C., he has sent Palestinians and the U.S. administration a clear message that Israel chooses settlements, not peace.
Earlier, Jordan strongly condemned what it referred to as the “resumption of Israeli construction in the occupied Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem.”
France on Saturday joined the United States in an expression of “deep disappointment’ over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to approve bids for 240 new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot, which are located beyond the Green Line.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Paris expected Jerusalem to reconsider the move. According to the French statement, the decision harms the opportunity to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and France is “deeply disappointed” by it.
Valero stressed that the foreign ministers of both France and Spain expected Israel to halt construction in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem…
Russia urged Israel to reconsider its decision as well. According to the Russian news agency, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote on his website, “The Israeli government’s plans are perceived with an extreme concern and disappointment in Moscow.
But, here’s all you need to know:
However, US Representative Gary Ackerman, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, issued a statement supporting the Israeli construction in Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It is not a settlement. As such, the resumption of construction in Jerusalem is not a justification for a crisis, a showdown, a meltdown or even a hissy fit,” he said.
And:
Government ministers on Saturday appeared unfazed by the global condemnation of an Israeli decision to approve building plans for 240 new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Givat Ze’ev and Ramot, located beyond the Green Line.
“The issued statements of condemnation were not serious,” said a senior minister. “What counts is what the Americans say.”
So, according to the Israel government, the whole world (excepting the United States) is not serious, and according to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, the world is just having a meritless “hissy fit” because East Jerusalem doesn’t belong to the Palestinians anyway.
Does anyone see why this kind of arrogant disregard for the world’s opinions and concerns can cause a direct threat to our national and personal security?
Get the talks going and stop talking smack.
Uh, because Israel has no desire to negotiate. That they’re cooperative at all is too keep the aid flowing.
There’s a very simple solution. Cut Netanyahu’s aid off and let AIPAC scream. Then tell the Israelis, Palestinian Authority, and Hamas to go to a meeting where the US will impose the solution that everyone agrees (except the principals) is the solution. UN Resolution 242. It keeps coming back to that. And recruit a 1,000,000 person multinational UN peacekeeping force to enforce the agreement. It will take that sort of overwhelming force for the two sides to settle down and keep the extremists from torpedoing the agreement.
It is better for the US to lead and international effort to repay displaced Palestinians for the loss of their land and enable the establishment of a peaceful economy that the tens of billions of dollars a year in armaments we have been sending to Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. And yes I know that the Saudis are using money from selling us oil to buy stuff, but that represents an indirect tax on the US economy.
However, I don’t think that the sort of aggressive negotiating needed is Barack Obama’s style. How many more missed opportunities until this powderkeg is defused?
Ordinarily this is political suicide. But right now the Dems are on the bottom of the ocean politically. So what the heck, may as well! It’s only been the right thing to do for decades now…
Yep, if Lyndon Johnson hadn’t been so bogged down in the Vietnam War, he might have put the pressure on to have them withdraw and settle things shortly after the Six-Day War. That’s how long the settlement has been clear.
This is how they always act. They don’t want it to end. They want to grind every last Palestinian down into dust.
Just sayin. That is what their actions say.
It depends on who “they” is. There is a substantial peace movement in Israel that like progressives in the US lacks a majority. There are lots of Palestinians who are sick of war but cannot disengage without losing everything.
They is primarily the politicians and religious zealots. And the settlers who have benefited from ethnic cleansing.
Let’s not forget the approval of 800 housing units in the illegal Israeli city of Ariel, an old settlement located right in the middle of the West Bank, which followed the East Jerusalem announcement.
There will be an end to the Jewish state if they keep this up.
It’s like Byrd being willing to get behind cap and trade. He saw that the coal industry will die without the funding for carbon capture and sequestration.
With Israel, they need to find a deal, and fast, or the entire Jewish state will no longer be. Not that I care, but if I were a Zionist, I’d be lining up to deal.
Yep, a United States that cannot bring a satisfactory close to the Afghanistan War cannot guarantee Israel’s security short of threatening to use nuclear weapons. And that’s a no-win situation either way it goes. Ain’t no way to nuke Hamas without Israel hurting in a big way. The geography’s to small.
Which means that the situation is a regional war looking for a spark. And Netanyahu keeps flipping his cigarette lighter.
I’m getting just a bit sick of Bibi the Clown’s humiliations. There must be repercussions some cutting of aid if the settlements are not frozen. Its beyond ridiculous.
The language of criticism used against every Israeli provocation of the situation is quite mild compared to that which would be used against the Palestinians, Syrians, Iranians and probably any other country I could name. That is very noticeable to those outside the Israeli-US (and to some degree French) virtual diaspora.
Lets just wait until they manage to kick start a Lebanese civil war. Was the demolition of a mosque for not having an Israeli permit by the Israeli state the other day reported? Imagine if Hamas demolished a synogogue for not having a Hamas permit or more realistically if the Iranians started doing it to their Jewish minority.
The lack of even handedness just perpetuates and increases the conditions for terrorism against the wider western world that it in many ways was contributory to creating in the first place. you cannot force people into a position where they feel they have nothing without expecting a very dangerous backlash.