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Israel Ministry Wages Settlement War Against US
Interior Minister Eli Yishai has begun to make good on a pledge to exploit all the resources of his ministry, "its branches and its influences over local government" to expand settlements in the territories.
A Jewish settler stands near ruins after the Israeli police demolished makeshift structures in the unauthorised outpost of Ramat Migron, near the West Bank city of Ramallah June 3, 2009. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defying U.S. President Barack Obama's call for a settlement freeze, said on Monday Israel would continue to build in existing Jewish enclaves in occupied territory. The right-wing coalition government has said it will remove unauthorised "outposts," mostly small hilltop camps, that Israel itself has not approved. The World Court has deemed all settlements, large and small, illegal. (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun) Yishai, who is also chairman of Shas, made the promise last Thursday to the heads of the Yesha Council of settlements. His party is concerned by the freeze on construction that has been in effect since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office, which Yishai said is "drying out" the settlements.
Haaretz has learned that Yishai has instructed officials at the Interior Ministry to come up with ways to help the settlers, by allowing continued construction within the major West Bank settlement blocs where building has stopped as a result of American pressure.
Yishai wants to include additional built-up areas within the city limits of towns in the major settlement blocs, effectively expanding those cities' boundaries. Adjustment of the city limits, which is within the purview of the Interior Ministry, can mean the addition of several square kilometers to a locale's jurisdiction - or the subtraction of said amount of land.
Yishai thus plans to ensure that city limits will be calculated in as liberal a way as possible, so that construction can eventually take place in the few additional square kilometers, to accommodate the "natural increase" of the population.
In addition, Yishai is hoping to allocate funding from the "interior minister's reserves" to benefit settlements in the West Bank. These funds, amounting to several tens of millions of shekels, are distributed at the discretion of the minister without having to meet certain usual criteria.
The heads of the Yesha Council said they had the impression from their meeting with Yishai that the minister intended to allocate funding to the settlements from the ministerial reserves to "correct the existing distortion."
Yishai also plans to change the law mandating special funding for outlying communities, which at present discriminates against the West Bank settlements, in his view. He said he wants to ensure that the law will help the peripheral areas, but will also be altered so as not to be biased.
Settlement discrimination
"Settlements in Judea and Samaria have suffered for many years from various forms of discrimination and distortion. I do not intend to examine the reason or figure out who was responsible for this. I intend to correct the situation. I believe that we do not have to be on a collision course with the Americans," said Yishai. "There were understandings with previous administrations in the United States that allowed us to build in keeping with the natural increase and certainly within the limits of the settlements."
He added that, "any steps the United States intends to take in the Middle East will have to be equitable. It is not right to start to enforce the issue of construction and not to make it equitable."
Yishai was careful not to criticize Netanyahu directly. Rather, he aimed his barbs at the U.S. administration while promoting an independent ministerial policy that benefits West Bank settlement.
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22 Comments so far
Show All"...It is not right to start to enforce the issue of construction and not to make it equitable."
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Since when is illegal occupation and annexation of Palestinian land equitable in any sense?
The more the hardliners push, the closer they get to the day when Israel is forced to pull back to the '67 borders if it's to continue to exist at all. Considering the belligerant attitudes of some of the more rabid Israeli Pols, the Diaspora starts to become more understandable, dudn'tit?
It seems to be understood in Israel, since the US has mildly suggested that settlement expansion should cease, that this is used as a public relations tactic. The US has no intention of halting illegal settlement expansion, let alone dismantling the existing settlements, all of which are illegal. This has happened many times before.
Obama said that the bond between Israel and the USA is unbreakable. In effect, that means Israel has carte blanche to do whatever it wants.
What's more, the US Congress would never cut off Israel aid, in fact they have given Israel progressively more money despite the latest atrocities and crimes. Israel gets the message that the worse it behaves, the more it is rewarded by the Empire.
For now you are right.
But the USA is displaying all of the 'classic signs of collapse' and this time it should prove to be a fatal collapse in that whatever evolves after the inevitable, will never resemble to former.
When that happens, Israel will become a memory, the Jews (that survive) will be spread out as before; and the world will have learned that neither the USA or Israel were anything but negative examples---never to be repeated.
Neither the USA or Israel have been willing to abide by International Law, yet they will call into account the behavior of those "others" who emulate them. They both use the International Laws established after WWII as a measure for others while they themselves, actually pass laws to avoid abiding by those "other laws"--
That kind of duplicity cannot be maintained for much longer----and the world has had its fill of both the USA and Israel.
It is simply a matter of time before the 'world' steps in and eliminates the risks posed by both rogue nations: the USA and Israel.
"Tick Tock, Tick Tock"-----------
Good Luck America/Israel, you really need it.
Israel has is exposed for what it was all along - an immoral and illegal INVASION by a group of people.
I have every sympathy for those who resist the oppression and genocide of the invaders.
Historically, it's how the Israelites came into possession of the "promised land" in the first place. The European slavers who founded our country did it too. It's Biblical, so it's OK.
It's true that the Israelis are exactly like the slavers.
Good point in shining a light on the moral monstrosity of Zionism.
socialist,
I agree. The Obama administration will surely not hold true to its words about Israel needing to stop its crimes against Palestinians; the words saying or rather pretending the contrary being only PR bs, more lies, deceit, ....
Israel is going to keep on doing whatever it wants. Who's going to stop them? Faster than you can say "terrorist," the Israel lobby can get the U.S. Congress to pass resolutions in support of any action that Israel takes.
If the US MSM perceives Pres. Obama to be humiliated or "disrespected" by Israeli leaders bent on expanding the settlements, expect them to turn on Israel and expose its racist, brutal treatment of the Palestinians, from which the American public has long been shielded.
For those familiar with US MSM "feeding frenzies", it is clear that American public support for Israel would quickly dwindle. That in turn would bring the US hammers into play - financial aid and the automatic veto in the Security Council.
This scenario can only occur if Israeli leaders "spit in Pres. Obama's face" - so I say: bring it on Yishai and Netanyahu!!
Although your scenario remains unlikely in my opinion (largely given the nature of the corporate mainstream media), I sicnerely hope something to that affect indeed occurs. I got hope for that
"There were understandings with previous administrations in the United States that ALLOWED US TO BUILD..."
LOL! People say things like this when they imagine that the balance of power will never change, which is an absurd notion. When last you saw a Pharaoh? Napoleon got his butt kicked in...get this...Haiti. The nazis got shocked and awed.
Evolution is still happening, and very light weapons of mass destruction will be discovered that will greatly alter the balance of power. The world's 2 Billion Muslims will overthrow their puppet governments and install leaders who look out for THEM. The US will be a poor nation in permanent oil crisis, and will stop funding the ethnic cleansing in Palestine and make friends with "A-Rabs". Sanctions on Israel will follow.
Then, all these heores who advocate ethnic cleansing today will be cowering in some undisclosed location somewhere, watching Al-Jazeera.
Recent reports revealed that the Bush Administration while signing an agreement requiring a stop to settlements they held a back room deal to look the other way and not call Israel to task for breaking the agreement. I supported Obama, and I still do but if he looks the other way we should call him on this as well as any movements against the people and the popular movement that want to hold his feet to the fire of human need.
Yes, lets be sure to call Obama on it. It seems to make so much difference.
(The incident described below is just another example of Israel's policy of ethnic cleansing in action):
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Christian Peacemaker Teams, CPT Hebron
Israeli Civil Administration, military and police destroy cisterns in Beqa'a Valley
By Donna Hicks
8 June 2009
The Israeli Civil Administration, police and military, along with bulldozers and heavy equipment arrived in the Beqa'a Valley east of Hebron and in between the Israeli settlements of Harsina and Kiryat Arba early this morning, according to a resident.
When CPTers Donna Hicks and Barbara Martens arrived around 9:00AM, heavy equipment was lined up along the bypass road running through the area, and bulldozers, civil administration, military and police were at several sites destroying cisterns and pulling up irrigation pipes from Palestinian farmland preparatory to hauling the pipes away. The work continued throughout the morning and afternoon, concluding around 3:00PM.
Two Palestinians were injured by Israeli military when a mother intervened in the beating of her son. In all, five persons were injured. Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions was arrested when he protested the actions of the Israeli military at one of the sites.
The Israeli military destroyed six cisterns and pulled out and hauled away many feet of irrigation pipes from the Palestinian fields. Palestinian farmers build cisterns to collect rainwater to supplement irrigation of their crops. The area is suffering from a multi-year drought. Stop work orders and demolition orders are frequent as this area is under total Israeli control and it is nearly impossible for Palestinian residents to get permits for building and improvements. Ann electricity pylon and a power pole were also pulled down.
Let me see. Islamic terrorists with links to Al Queda and wanting to drive Israel into the sea and rebuild a Caliphite from Spain to China were hiding inside the Cisterns and using them to stockpile weapons of mass destruction!
Oh they will chop heads off too!! Did I cover all the Talking points?
You forgot that terrorists were stowaways in the USS Liberty, which was why it was attacked, although it was attacked by accident.
See: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22787.htm
Denied Infamy
Israeli attack on USS Liberty
By Alan Sabrosky
June 08, 2009
Also listen to the Scott Horton interview with Ray McGovern on www.antiwar.com/radio/, re; the attack on the USS Liberty . Very disturbing.
It has to be equitable, says Yishai, rubbing his hands. It must be equitable. God, the image that comes to mind. People like him make it very easy to be anti Semitic.
UNSC Resolution-242 rules.
I can understand why Caesar dispersed these folks in the first century and
Saint Thomas Aquinas called them "cruel and avericious" in the 13th century.
,
It's out in the open........This Zionist Regime is totally committed to aggressive territorial expansion. They will expand over the dead bodies of the Palestinian peoples. They are stealing the water resources, not only of Gaza and the West Bank; but the water resources of Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt.
Unless stopped now,....ten years from now, Israel will have taken over all of the Near East. These mad Zionists dream of a 2nd Davidic Empire.....built on blood and war.
President Obama must STOP ALL U.S. Taxpayers Dollars from funding the State of Israel, and HALT All Military Aid Packages.....IMMEDIATELY
Make Israel live or perish, on its own. Stop enabling the illegal settlements' expansions.
Stop enabling the War Crimes of the IDF, and the Israel government.
,
News Flash.. Israel has Neocons too!
While Zionism differs little with its "We Are the World" theme as any organized, religiously-superior complex, they appear to have discomfort for being exposed for what they've always been, a militaristic (artificial) state.
And now that Israel's "understandings" are shown to conflict with actual agreements they have made, but have yet to fully honor, they respond as children do by whining and crying foul.
I wonder what nation has enabled this behavior..?