Michael L.
The tidbit below was written by the Associated Press and published by Y-Net.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C.The European Union's top diplomat has denounced Israel's plan to build more than 1,500 homes in Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. She calls the move illegal and a potential obstacle to peace.
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, says the EU "deplores" the Israeli plan and says it violates international law. Ashton said in a statement Thursday that "any actions that could hamper or undermine the on-going negotiations must be avoided."
The construction plan, announced Wednesday, has also drawn angry condemnations from Palestinian officials, who accuse Israel of undermining newly relaunched peace efforts. UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the Israeli plan as well, and Washington said it would not create a "positive environment" for the negotiations.
WASHINGTON – US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki responded Wednesday to Israel's announcement of building 1,500 units in east Jerusalem saying "We do not consider continued settlement activity or east Jerusalem construction to be steps that create a positive environment for the negotiations."This is playing out just exactly as I predicted it would.
At no time in the course of pursuing negotiations toward a two-state solution have we condoned settlement activity or east Jerusalem construction," she added.
First the US strong-arms Israel into faux negotiations. Then the PA, the US, and the EU make various demands on Israel, some of which it will meet and some of which it will not. Nothing, of course, will be required of the Palestinian Authority other than its participation in screwing around with the Jews.
When Israel fails to meet the demands made of it the PA, the US, and the EU will complain and blame Israel for hurting the faux "peace process."
At some point in the not distant future the PA will then pull out of talks and blame Israel for the failure of the negotiations.
The EU will place sanctions on Israel and around this time the violence will begin in earnest. When that happens the EU, and the western left, will blame that violence on the victims of that violence, which is the Jewish minority in the Middle East. The greater the violence against the Jews in the Middle East the greater the condemnation of those Jews by western leftists. If the Second Terror War (intifada) is any indication, western left condemnation of the Jews (or the Israelis or the Zionists) will reach a sadistic crescendo right around the time that buses and pizza parlors are getting blown up by "Palestinian freedom fighters" leaving body parts all over the place.
Then Israel will, of course, respond to the violence and get further condemned for the "collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
Because really what this is about is the process of delegitimization. What it most definitely is not about is bringing peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. If this horrendous fiasco were really about bringing an end of hostilities via a two-state solution then the EU and the US would place pressure on the Arabs, who have never accepted two states for two peoples, rather than this ongoing arm-twisting of the Jews because we have, for the most part, always accepted the principle of two states for two peoples.
The whole drama is entirely unjust. Also, of course, I've seen this movie before.
It ends badly.
From the comments:
1. Lady Ashton Pray tell madam,Indeed.
what are the Brits doing in the Falklands?
Mendoza , Tel-Aviv, Israel (10.31.13)
5. Where are her condemnations of Abbas' daily underminingThis is just the kind of question that I am seeing more and more of. Which is to say, how can we have any confidence whatsoever in the Palestinian Authority as a "peace partner" when it continues to promote genocidal hatred towards Jews and is now on a whirlwind world-tour of anti-Israel defamation?
Where are her condemnations of Abbas' daily undermining negotiations by trying to get other governments to pre-determine the outcome of the negotiations?
Eric, Tel Aviv & NYC (10.31.13)
It simply makes no sense and, yet, the Obama administration is mute.
7. Can she actually name the law it is against?Israel's enemies refer to all that is Jewish-Israeli as "illegal" or illegitimate. Of course, the people who constantly cry out that "settlement activity" is illegal under "international law" almost never cite the law, itself. Under what law, under whose law, is it illegal for Jews to build housing for themselves on Jewish land?
As Israel is building in land that was originally designated for Israel that was later liberated from Jordanian occupation; what law is being broken by Israel building in Israel?
Eric, Tel Aviv & NYC (10.31.13)
Which is why my friend, Scott, can write:
13. Ashton thinks if she keeps repeating a lie it will come trueAt this point I wouldn't even say that the land is in dispute any more than I would suggest that American land is in dispute due to the claims of Native-Americans. Judaea and Samaria are Jewish lands and have been since long, long before there was any such place as, say, France. In fact, from a historical perspective the Jews of the Middle East have far greater claims to Jerusalem than the United States has to Washington D.C., because unlike the vast majority of Americans, the Jews are the indigenous people of their region. Nonetheless, if the Jews of Israel feel so gracious as to give up some of their tiny portion of the world for yet another Arab country, that's OK with me.
Israel is not in violation of international law for building in Judea & Samaria since it has not been part of a sovereign state since ancient Israel. Many professionals on international law have come to the same conclusion. The territories are in dispute & the Arabs do not have exclusive rights to them.
Scott, Ramat Gan, Israel (10.31.13)
In fact, I recommend it. Here is, in my opinion, what Israel should do:
1) Declare final borders.
2) Remove IDF to behind those borders.
3) Toss keys over shoulder.
Mike - do NOT worry - Netanyahu has no real intention of building anything!
ReplyDeleteHe made the announcement for entirely cynical PR reasons. The amusing part is the world hasn't caught on yet.
If they did, they wouldn't be kicking up such a sh*t storm about Israeli announcements non-announcements on Jewish construction.
Wait a second.
DeleteSo, what you are telling me is that, in your opinion, Netanyahu is lying to Israelis who are looking for affordable housing?
Is that it?
Of course - he does not want to cross Obama and he does not want to have Israel be blamed for the inevitable collapse of the pretend peace talks with the PLO.
DeleteWe've heard these promises from him before and I wouldn't exactly hold my breath waiting for the bulldozers to break ground in the future.
In short, all of this is much ado about nothing.
I'm suggesting neither a 'two state' nor a 'one state' so called solution but something different from both. Israel's interests are Israel's. They are not responsible for erecting this silly facade called 'palestine'. That's the Arabs' problem. So let's call it the 1.x state solution where 'x' is some arbitrary value: Israel < 1.x 'palestine' < 2. Basically it would amount grabbing onto what Israel can hold permanently and the 'x' part isn't given so much to the Arabs as simply abandoned to them. Whatever it is or turns into becomes the de facto and dejure 'palestine' for them to do with whatever they like, want and can.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it will be a real country maybe it will be a failed state maybe it will be a collection of warring tribes and gangs maybe it will be a permanent and 100% completely externally funded make believe land - part refugee camp part jihadi Disneyland part new offices of the permanent mission of the UN committee on starting a new bigger better Holocaust or whatever they call it. Doesn't entirely matter either way.
I would only differ in that I think it would indeed be in Israel's interest to help set up a stable such state on its borders, and I do hope such a thing can one day come to pass.
DeleteThen reality kicks in, and I tend to think that the only thing that now matters is that !) Israel tries. 2) It almost certainly fails, and Israel does the "declare final borders, toss keys" thing, with of course the added provision that if the inevitable criminal terror state next door decides to dedicate itself to the destruction of Israel, that it 3) end that threat, permanently, by any means necessary.
It's a shitty outlook, admittedly, but at least it's a realistic one.
Nobody is 'illegal,' to a certain brand of progressives, except of course for in the case of Jews deciding to live in a specific part of the land where Jews as a people originally came from.
ReplyDeleteIn that instance, it's perfectly fine for many 'progressives' at places like Daily Kos to call people illegal, and spew vicious hatred toward same.