Pretty exquisite timing by the Israeli government. They waited for
Vice-President Joe Biden to show up in town, book a dinner with Prime Minister Netanyahu and in the best of tradition of BOTH major political parties to vow total, unconditional support for Israel to basically drop trow and shout my departed mom's favorite Yiddish phrase:
Kish mir in tuchas! In Italian, roughly,
vafanculo. See photo for English translation.
Just as Biden said the White House was pushing for a re-start of the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the Israeli foreign ministry announces the total deal breaker that it is authorizing the construction of 1600 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem. You know you are dealing with an out of control Israeli government when the ultra-right wing PM Bibi Netanyahu gets outflanked by his own Interior Minister, a religious fundamentalist who authorized the new construction.
Biden, who has never criticized Israel in a meaningful way,
was forced to "condemn" the new move-- tough language for an ally.
The New York Times has a pretty conventional
round-up of reaction to the Israeli snub. There's one intriguing nugget in the Times collection: a pointed mini-essay from Palestinian reporter
Daoud Kuttab who argues that, as big a slap as this to Obama, he has no one to blame but himself, starting from when he buckled to Netanyahu last fall:
When they met in New York last Sept. 20, President Obama blinked first, leaving the embarrassed Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, hanging on the tree.
In his public statement the U.S. president scaled down from his (and Secretary Clinton’s) previous calls for a settlement “freeze” to accepting Israel’s offer of a settlement “restraint.” Once it became clear that the Americans will not stand up to Israel on settlements, everyone knew their place in this relationship.
Despite the White House’s latest protestation of the embarrassment meted to Vice President Biden, the Obama administration has only itself to blame.
Israel’s announcement March 9 to build another 1,600 units of housing in East Jerusalem, to be added to 112 units approved for a settlement outside Bethlehem a few days earlier, as well other announcements made since that September standoff, all are a result of the American president’s weak knees. The sliding slope that began that day in September has continued and will ultimately derail America’s goals of bringing peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestinian leadership’s refusal to have direct talks until there is a true freeze on settlements in all areas occupied in 1967 shows that the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 were right by stating in the preamble of that resolution the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.”
All attempts to appease and reward Israel for its acquisition by war has resulted in pushing peace away. If President George W. Bush truly believed, and President Obama truly believes — as they both publicly stated — that an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state is in the “national interest” of the United States, Washington must resolve once and for all that any Jewish settlement built on Palestinian territory forcefully taken in 1967 will not be tolerated.
Once America regains its resolve in this area, the peace train can proceed to its destination.
Don't hold your breath for a new departure schedule to be announced. On this issue, the entire U.S. political class is in the tank and that train is far, far off-track. The big winner in this dust-up by the way isn't Israel. It's Iran.
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Pretty exquisite timing by the Israeli government. They waited for Vice-President Joe Biden to show up in town, book a dinner with Prime Minister Netanyahu and in the best of tradition of BOTH major political parties to vow total, unconditional support for Israel to basically drop trow and shout my departed mom's favorite Yiddish phrase: Kish mir in tuchas! In Italian, roughly, vafanculo. See photo for English translation.
Just as Biden said the White House was pushing for a re-start of the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the Israeli foreign ministry announces the total deal breaker that it is authorizing the construction of 1600 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem. You know you are dealing with an out of control Israeli government when the ultra-right wing PM Bibi Netanyahu gets outflanked by his own Interior Minister, a religious fundamentalist who authorized the new construction.
Biden, who has never criticized Israel in a meaningful way, was forced to "condemn" the new move-- tough language for an ally.
The New York Times has a pretty conventional round-up of reaction to the Israeli snub. There's one intriguing nugget in the Times collection: a pointed mini-essay from Palestinian reporter Daoud Kuttab who argues that, as big a slap as this to Obama, he has no one to blame but himself, starting from when he buckled to Netanyahu last fall:
March 10th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
yep.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:35 am
“Palestinian territory forcefully taken in 1967″ was the result of an act of war committed against Israel by Arab forces. I say they should keep it and do what they will with it.
Biden was between a rock and a hard place, and he knows it, and so does Obama, Clinton, etc. The last thing they want is for Israel to launch an attack on Iran, which is by no stretch of the imagination a far-fetched notion. In fact, it becomes increasingly more likely with every passing month.
I look at this settlement business as a reverse bribe. Like they’re saying, “ok we won’t do that, but we will do this instead, and if you don’t like it, too bad. Oh, and by the way, we might also do that other thing anyway, so screw you.”
For Palestinian and other Arab Muslims, nothin’ says lovin’ like Israelis in the oven. For my part, the Israelis have my permission to go all out to put a stop to this nonsense by any means they deem necessary and appropriate. As for American Jews, they can let their fingers do the voting just like anybody else.
March 11th, 2010 at 6:57 am
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1971053,00.html?loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.141618:b31815536&xid=Loomia Israel’s Snub of Biden: More Than Just Bad Timing
March 11th, 2010 at 9:15 am
“…was the result of an act of war committed against Israel by Arab forces.”
Actually, Israel attacked first. But that doesn’t stop racist ignoramuses like PatrickKelley from foaming at the mouth.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:18 am
While I am here: Why do so many people assume that Israel would attack Iran and then Iran would do nothing about it? I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Israel when the counterattack comes. And Iran might not be alone.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I have to agree with Daoud Kuttab’s assessment of Obama. “Settlement restraint”? After seeing what they did in Gaza last winter, how can anyone expect restraint from the Israelis? The Likud is totally out of control, thumbing their nose to international opinion.
Obama’s timidity, his continuation of Bush policies, and his eagerness to appease Republicans and the business community instead of confronting them on issues in which he would have enjoyed broad public support will be how history remembers this one-term wonder.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Patrick Kelley, you are not alone. Those who have criticized him might want to read this: http://clarespark.com/2009/09/11/oil-politics-and-obamas-view-of-israeli-history/. And then try Michael Oren’s book on the Six-Day War, or anything by J.C. Hurewitz or Walter Lacqueur. And then complain about our collective abuse of the sources.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Clare Spark does herself no favors in attempting to defend Patrick Kelley’s obscene comments.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
A better source than those Clare cites would be Ilan Pappe’s “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.”
March 12th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
I think Mark is certainly right that the authorization of the settlement units in East Jerusalem is a miserable move. I have joined the Americans for Peace Now campaign to send letters to President Obama saying Biden was right on this matter, and the US must be firm with both sides to attempt to facilitate an agreement.
I’m sure a large number of American Jews feel exactly the same way.
I have thought, by the way, that the Palestinian insistence on a “total freeze” of settlements has been overwrought and inflexible, as it is not such a terrible thing for there to be provisions for natural population growth in those big settlement blocs that Palestinian negotiators have said they can concede to Israel in exchange for other land. Then again, an Israeli government that was very intent on peace might have said, you know what, we will show that we are serious by indeed authorizing a 100% Freeze at this support–and American supporters of Israel could have sent bunk beds to those “pioneers” in the affected settlements.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Portions of my last sentence ended up a little garbled, as I saw in the brief moment when my comment appeared among the other comments, before disappearing for approval …
After saying the East Jerusalem was indeed miserable, but that the 100% Settlement Freeze was inflexible as applied to settlement blocs that Palestinians seem willing to cede to Israel, I meant to say of the “total settlement freeze” issue that an Israeli govt very intent on peace might say “you know what, we will authorize a 100% freeze at this time”…and American supporters of Israels could then send bunk-beds to the ‘pioneers’ of the settlements.
January 21st, 2011 at 8:27 am
I’m now gonna go matteress surfing xD any one wanna join