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TechnoratiIsrael Rebuffs Hillary Clinton's Call for Halt in West Bank Settlements
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, called last night for Israel halt all construction of settlements, considered illegal by the international community as they are civilian communities built on war-conquered land.
![[A Jewish boy sets an Israeli national flag as settlers attempt to establish an unauthorised outpost near the Palestinian village of Sair in the West Bank, 2007. Israel dismissed a blunt US call for a halt to all Jewish settlement building on occupied Palestinian land, the latest sign Washington is hardening its tone towards its close ally. (AFP/File/Menahem Kahana)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/settlements_clinton.jpg "settlements_clinton.jpg")
Binyamin Netanyahu, the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister, offered last week in
Washington to dismantle new settlement outposts in return for being allowed
to continue “natural growth” on the established West Bank communities.
But Mrs Clinton made a surprisingly curt rebuttal to the proposal, insisting that Mr Obama – who travels to Cairo next week to try and heal strained US ties with the Muslim world – wanted a blanket ban on settlement growth.
“He wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions,” she said. “We think it is in the best interests (of the peace process) that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly. ... And we intend to press that point.”
A spokesman for Mr Netanyahu – who clashed with then president Bill Clinton when he was prime minister in the late 1990s – said that permission would be given to continue construction in existing settlements, some of which are sprawling towns built in the four decades that Israel has occupied the West Bank.
“Normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue,” said spokesman Mark Regev.
Mr Netanyahu refuses to endorse the concept of an independent Palestinian state, but the US President insists that a two-state solution is the only way ahead.
The Israeli coalition, made up mainly of right-wing, nationalist and religious parties, but also including the centre-left Labour Party which holds the defence portfolio, came to power earlier this year just as Mr Obama came to office. Observers have been expecting it to clash with Washington, Israel’s key strategic ally, ever since.
The spat between the two allies came as Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, headed to Washington to discuss US efforts to revive the peace process with Mr Obama.
Top of his demands is the freeze of all settlement growth, which Palestinians see as a major obstacle to peace. Israeli right-wingers warn that a Palestinian state could lead to an Islamist take over of the West Bank, as happened in Gaza two years ago.
Religious settlers, who often make the most determined builders of unauthorised outposts, argue that the land was promised to them by god.
44 Comments so far
Show AllSince dimwited Israel and "Nitwityahu" have thrown down the gauntlet, then the US must punish Israel with the only thing the Israelis fear the most:
a) block the entire foreign "aid" package [military weapons & $10,000,000,000) to Israel;
b) declare war on Israel;
c) invade and destroy Israel!
As far as I'm concerned it couldn't come too soon; GOOD RIDDANCE to those mentally unbalanced wackjobs!
Let's give Iran the nukes so they can stop wasting time in trying to develop a means to eliminate the Zionists from the face of the earth for all time. Time is running out on the Israeli experiment. You just can't put that many crabs in a pot without them eating themselves. Turn up the heat and cook 'em!
It's pretty sad to see a progressive media source become an "unwitting" bulletin board for anti-Semitic vitriol.
what's wrong? can't handle the truth? Have to resort to juvenile name-calling out of desperation? Have you graduated from High-School yet?
At least dig up some propaganda to counter our claims with. Racist Imperialist and Ignorant are no way to go through life.
Think about it. Can you provide examples of anti-Semitic vitriol, or do you see criticisms of political policies of a nation?
Joe
Someone else who either doesn't know or doesn't want to know the difference between anti-semitism and anti-zionism.
By linking Zionism (a political movement) to Judaism (a religion) these zealots merely reinforce anti-semitic stereotyping. Zionism and Judaism are not the same thing.
Anyone who supports this Zionist regime is complicit in war crimes, ethnic cleasing and aparthied - it's as simple as that - forget all this rubbish about anti- semitism it's a smoke screen.
"Religious settlers, who often make the most determined builders of unauthorised outposts, argue that the land was promised to them by god. "
Woo hoo! How nuts is that? Would that stand up in landlord tenant court? Or is it just self-serving? Why would anyone outside the group accept such a narcissistic claim?
The ultra-religious make these fantastic claims, but the more secular allow them. It keeps the pot boiling and gives the bankrupt and corrupt political right a justification for their existence.
No more money to Israel. (I wish I could say "no more money to us too", since we are just as bad or worse, but don't know how that would work.)
Joe
Poor Clinton and Obama. These folks can't do anything. The Zionists have full control of both houses of congress and of American media. Anything beyond posturing "light" would be political suicide.
We're talking about across the board control, here. Open one of your children's textbooks. Look at the names of the people who wrote it and published it. Read the credits after a movie. Look up the 100 most powerful Americans. Look how all successful American politicians have had to postrate themselves in front of AIPAC. That's not healthy. Not at all. Read the names on Obama's cabinet, etc, etc...
As a Jewish person, I am proud of the accomplishments of the Jewish people. I am also embarassed that, being such a tiny minority in this country, we control all centers of real power. I am proud as a Jew, and embarassed as an American.
Nothing will change until the American people take back their media.
jewish_mom, Shalom, hope you are are most well,
Your last sentence is a hypothetical truism. Of course the media won't be "taken back," before our resources, expropriated wealth, property and country are taken back as a whole as described by Karl.
But that one "organ of the state," Thought Control Central/MSM sure controls our actions well for now!
Jews that care about Arabs are SO cool.
Poor Clinton and Obama. These folks can't do anything. The Zionists have full control of both houses of congress and of American media. Anything beyond posturing "light" would be political suicide.
We're talking about across the board control, here. Open one of your children's textbooks. Look at the names of the people who wrote it and published it. Read the credits after a movie. Look up the 100 most powerful Americans. Look how all successful American politicians have had to postrate themselves in front of AIPAC. That's not healthy. Not at all. Read the names on Obama's cabinet, etc, etc...
As a Jewish person, I am proud of the accomplishments of the Jewish people. I am also embarassed that, being such a tiny minority in this country, we control all centers of real power. I am proud as a Jew, and embarassed as an American.
Nothing will change until the American people take back their media.
Boycott!
,
President Obama should cut off ALL U.S. Tax Dollars to the State of Israel......IMMEDIATELY.
Further, cut off all Military Aid packages to this Israeli Regime..........IMMEDIATELY.
Stop enabling the war crimes and extermination of the Palestine peoples.
......These Mad Zionist are fueled by U.S. Tax Dollars.
,
Just like if Native Americans had been relocated to Europe for two thousand years and blended with the Euro population, couldn't truly be Native Americans anymore. So it is with the Jews. For instance, that "lost tribe" that claimed to be Jewish, their DNA may have said that their "roots" were from the Middle East, but they looke African. Jews may still "play the part" but they certainly don't "look the part" anymore. Literally, they are Europeans.
I am glad she said it. And I hope she keeps saying it. It is a small step but a very important one.
There is certainly much posturing by the US, but it is the case that the Israeli occupation has passed all legal and moral limits. The colonisation is accelerating and the Palestinians punished ever more cruelly -- the more or less sane part of the US establishment can see (I hope) that Israel's expansion project will inevitably lead to the loss of US control of the Arab nations.
'passed all legal and moral limits' - you said it. Frightening & shocking evidence here:
http://www.israellawcenter.org/Missions-general-information.html
"I know not with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
now that we're quoting bibles and all....
actually not a single jew should be there IF they follow their own holy scriptures
according to the jeweish holy scroll (the Torah is a scroll, not a book!), the jewish people will be led to the holy land of Israel [i]by the messiah[/i].......
unless we all missed this quite low profile çoming of the messiah" he still isn't there.
so what we have now is a bunch of people who claim they're jewish, but they are not.
because one cannot claim to be a jew and not follow the jewish holy scroll, right?
they're heretics.
as long as there's no messiah jumping up somewhere, all jews are supposed to roam the length and width of the earth in search of him.
"Hillary Clinton called... construction of settlements considered illegal by the international community as they are civilian communities built on war-conquered land."
Shame to Israeli! They must build bases on war-conquered land instead.
Manifest Destiny redux.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."--(?).
BFE--
Dr. Johnson.
Rainborowe
Which song? I don't remember it.
Rainborowe
Keep up the good work Netanyahu, Lieberman et al!!
Keep giving your welfare benefactors the finger!!
Unlike the past,it has become apparent in the past weeks that the US MSM has been reporting on this confrontation on a daily basis and although miniscule, Congress and the American citizenry are increasingly supportive of the Palestinian cause.
So, you right-wing Zionist crazies, keep it up!!
As the comments above outline, this is all political theatre. This sort of thing has been happening for over 30 years and nothing changes except more ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the Palestinian people. The hypocrisy never ceases. Meanwhile the Apartheid Wall continues.
Gee maybe Mossad and the CIA well have a go at each other on this crucial impasse.
Of course if Obama threatens to cut Aid to Israel Netanyahoo will lie and tangle the US up in tricky procedures...
Like How could anyone trust the guy who doesn't want a Palestine and said 9/11 was good for Israel?
They take pride in the fact that they can run the US with connections and Lobby.
Yeah, but even if Obama threatened to cut off aid, it is Congress who doles out the loot. As Ariel Sharon bragged about (quoted from Ha'aretz) "We have the US Congress bought and paid for, and they know it". The Israelis and their AIPAC allies, know how to work the system
yeah, abe. im sure thats it. only problem with that is the bible says god knows everything - is the alpha and the omega - and can do anything - which means he intended everything that happened and is happening. so if you buy the superstitious BS, which maybe youre being sarcastic and dont buy it either, then you must accept that no one sins or is "failing repeatedly" because we do exactly what god intended us to do.
which makes God a bit like the character Jigsaw in the Saw movies. he intentionally sets people up to be harmed for his own sick, self-righteous amusement.
no, reality is different. god and the supernatural are not behind this because they are mythological. people are behind this.
Seems these religious settlers that argue that "the land was promised to them by God" haven't fully read God, their Landlord's "lease agreement" with them in Deutoronomy chapt 28. There were conditions to be met, at which they failed repeatedly, until God had the Romans "evict" them for good in 70 AD.
Like Jesus said to them, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem,the killer of profets and stoner of those sent forth to her.-how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. LOOK! YOUR HOUSE IS ABANDONED TO YOU. (MATTHEW 23:37,38)
I noticed that the author of the article spelled 'god' with a lower-case 'g.'
Good biblical quote, by the way.
q
“Normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue,” said spokesman Mark Regev.
Did he blink when uttering this hypocrisy?
people need to wake up, this stance taken by Israel could lead to conflict among governments and eventually world war. Maybe that is the aim, cause war abroad and sell weapons to get out of economic wows? That has never happened before in 1898,1917,1941 or has it? rhetorical questions of course.
Still, this is a relief, after Bush's blanket support for Israel and after Obama's team has looked to be nothing but Bush's third term in so many ways. It's refreshing--but you may be right that it's only rhetoric, as we could have expected sharp words during last winter's massacre if they actually cared.
Obama, Clinton, Biden, (not to mention Emmanuel and others) all have fallen all over themselves to promise unconditional support for Israel. They are self-styled Zionists. No surprieses, imperialists will do what imperialists do. Remember the speeches at AIPAC? Obama promised and additional 30 Billion in mostly military aid, over the next 10 years. Congress has been fully bought and paid for. AIPAC et al. calls the shots.
"Forget what they SAY."
Yep, especially when they say "But we want peace." The only advantage the Zionist state has is military, so perpetual war is its only stragtegy for solving its demographic problem.
It's largely true both in the USA and Israel.
Religion is a weapon and weapons are a religion.
It quite simply really. Hilary's and Obama's public calls for a halt to the Settlements is somply posturing for the sake of looking like they are an honest broker here.
They really could not care less about the Palestinians and or the settlements expanding. If they are ANY President of the past 30 years DID care it would have stopped long ago.
All they have to do is halt military and financial aid to israel.
They will not do that.
Forget what they SAY .
I'm not saying they aren't posturing. But what would you consider a legitimate action by the US government to be, that would signal real support for a 2-state solution?
Stop providing weapons and funding the Israeli military.
Joe
"But what would you consider a legitimate action by the US government to be, that would signal real support for a 2-state solution?"
Simple question, simplle answer: a ligitimate action would be the stopping of shipments worth billions annually of bombs and other military support to Israel.
The US isn't fooling anybody outside the US with Clinton's empty rhetoric.
A UNITED NATIONS BOYCOTT.... and it started right here on CD as I recall.
If a settler came and took your land leaving you an economic slave, because God told him to..... Could he be arrested?
Not in Palestine.
Stop money flows to Israel and give the the Palestinians an equal amount that has been given to Israel over the years.
That should do it.
And it would be fair.
By freezing any further welfare donations to the zionist state.
GWNorth, I agree with you. It's all posturing.
Joe