Israel remains the biggest impediment to peace in the Middle East

Thirty  years ago when Secular Human was in college in the west, he met some Saudi students. The Saudis believed that time was on the side of the Arabs. They stated that it might take 50 to 100 years to beat Israel, but it would eventually happen. Rightardia suggests the Saudis had a point.


Israel is an island of 6 million Jews in the middle of an Arab sea. It is a unifying issue among Arabs. It is also not a self-sufficient nation after 50 years of US foreign aid. Although it is the smallest of nations that the US provides aid to, it it is also the biggest beneficiary of US foreign and military aid.


If Israel is unwilling to stop settlements in the West bank and follow UN Accords, the US should freeze foreign and military aid until it comes back to the table. We need to start playing hard ball with Israel. It is the best interests of Israel if we do this in the long run.


Rightardia also likes the Pope Benedict's idea of making Jerusalem an international city rather than the capital of Israel. Again the Israelis are trying to be a player in situation that affects three of the world's religions.

The construction of illegal Israeli settlements is a major sticking point to restarting peace talks [AFP] Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has met the US special envoy to the Middle East in Jerusalem for talks on restarting stalled peace negotiations. Netanyahu held talks with George Mitchell on Tuesday, for a meeting that was expected to focus on reaching an agreement on freezing the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. But in advance of the talks, Netanyahu reaffirmed his position that Israel will not bow to US demands to completely halt the building of settlements. In remarks to a parliamentary committee on Monday, Netanyahu rejected calls to freeze all settlement construction, but said he would consider a temporary slow-down in the rate of building. 'Reducing scope' "They (Americans) asked us for a complete freeze and we told them that we will not do this," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by a parliamentary official. "I told the Americans we would consider reducing the scope of construction. "But there has to be a balance between the desire to make progress in political negotiations and the need to allow inhabitants of Judea and Samaria to continue to lead normal lives." Netanyahu was referring to areas of the occupied West Bank. A freeze on settlement building is one of the key Palestinian conditions for the resumption of peace talks. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said that peace talks will not restart negotiations, on hold since December, until Israel freezes its settlement activity.  Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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Israel is openly defying the US on West Bank Settlements

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Israel has approved 50 new settlement units in

the West Bank and plans to build 1,400 more [AFP]

Israel has approved the construction of 50 new homes in a West Bank settlement and announced plans to expropriate more Palestinian land.

The move comes just hours before Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, visits the US in a bid to defuse tensions over Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The land grab and new permits come despite a demand from Barack Obama, the US president, for a complete freeze to all Israeli settlement activity, and could exacerbate a rare public spat between the allies.

Barak, who is scheduled to meet George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, in New York, told Israel's Army Radio before the trip that he hoped to reach an agreement where "a solution to the settlements can be found".

Compromise possible

Responding to reports that Israel might agree to suspend settlement activity for three months instead of enforcing a total freeze, Ian Kelly, a US state department spokesman, said: "I'm not going to say we're not willing to compromise."

Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said the US was "optimistic about making progress" in Tuesday's meeting. "I think the president has outlined the responsibilities of all," he added.

"This would be the largest area of land ever confiscated by Israel in one go since 1967"
Hatem Abdel-Qader, Palestinian minister

Despite the Barak-Mitchell meeting, Israel went ahead and approved the 50 new homes in a West Bank settlement on Monday.

The Israeli defence ministry on Monday presented to the supreme court plans to relocate settlers from an illegal outpost in the West Bank to a settlement north of Jerusalem.

And there are plans for another 1,400 housing units at the site, Israel's anti-settlement group Peace Now told the court.

Also on Monday, a spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration, which reports to Barak, said it had placed notices in the Arabic Al-Quds newspaper on Friday, inviting Palestinians who object to the move to expropriate land, to file appeals within 45 days.

"The land in question includes a strip along the shores of the Dead Sea that emerged over the years as the water receded due to shrinkage," the spokesman said.

According to the Al-Quds notices, the land to be expropriated totals 139 sq km and includes plots of land near the major West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, the spokesman said, without giving further details.

Palestinian objections

The moves drew immediate criticism from Palestinians.

"This would be the largest area of land ever confiscated by Israel in one go since 1967," said Hatem Abdel-Qader, the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs. "We will appeal against this decision."

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, reiterated his stance that peace talks with Israel cannot resume until settlement construction comes to a complete halt.

"We won't accept the continuation of settlements," he said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he will not allow the building of new settlements but will allow construction in existing communities, under what Israel calls "natural growth".

His refusal to order a total freeze has given rise to rare public disagreements between his government and the Obama administration and even raised questions about whether the US will continue to actively support Israel at the UN.

But Gabriela Shalev, Israel's UN ambassador, said on Monday that the Obama administration had assured Israel that it would continue defending it at the UN.

"We were told explicitly [by the Americans] that there are no consultations and no discussions at all within the administration in this direction," Shalev told Israel's Channel Ten television.

Some 500,000 Israelis live among 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Source: Agencies

english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/20096300295121896.html

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