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Israel Authorizes 455 New Settlement Units
JERUSALEM - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the construction of more than 450 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank, his ministry said in a statement on Monday.
A bulldozer clears rocks at a construction site in the Har Homa settlement in east Jerusalem. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has authorised the construction of more than 450 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank. (AFP) "Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the construction of 455 housing units in settlement blocs" in the occupied West Bank, it said after an earlier statement that he had approved 366 and would later approve more units to bring the total to 450.
The move -- which comes just days ahead of a planned visit to the region by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell -- is likely to spark further criticism from the Palestinians, the United States and Europe, which have already warned that it could endanger a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.
Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would approve a burst of settlement construction before considering a US-demanded halt, in a move that analysts say is aimed at appeasing pressure from the right-wing of his hawkish Likud party.
Washington has for months pushed Israel to freeze all settlement activity and for Arab states to take steps towards normalizing relations with it in order to revive Middle East peace talks suspended late last year over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has blasted the plans to build-and-halt as unacceptable, and warned that if Israel goes ahead there will be no point in holding a three-way meeting between him, Netanyahu and Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.
"We will not go back to the negotiating table before a halt to the settlement building," Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP on Monday in Saudi Arabia where the president is holding talks.
Amid media speculation that some Arab states may answer Obama's call and agree to normalization steps with Israel, such as the issuing of visas, Abbas called "for a unified Arab stance in face of Israel."
Construction within Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank -- considered illegal by the international community and one of the thorniest issues in the decades-old Middle East conflict -- requires the go-ahead of the defence minister.
According to Israeli media, Netanyahu is mulling agreeing to what his allies said would be an "easing" of settlement construction, but any moratorium would exclude some 2,500 homes already being built in the West Bank, as well as any building in annexed east Jerusalem.
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27 Comments so far
Show AllUntil the US and UK show the World that they are prepared to openly criticise Israel, and the US stops giving them billions of dollars in aid and military assistance, then there will be no end to the "Palestinian problem".
I would go so far as to say that this should be called the "Israeli problem".
There will be no peace in the Middle East until certain countries are prepared to adopt an even handed approach, and demonstrate a genuine resolve to putting an end to the conflict.
Obomba must just sit down and say that Israel must start treating the Palestinian's like humans or the checks stop right now..Course Obamba was in front of the Israel Pack the day after he was nominated and bowing down and kissing their feet so we would say the chances of that are indeed slim.. Any one know when the next U.S. election is?? can't be soon enough.
One more nail in the US coffin.
Twenty minutes ago I have canceled the flights of me and my wife of our El Al round trip Amsterdam to Tel Aviv next October. I have been and am critical of our President's handling of Israel's land stealing but I will not spend money on the airline of a country whose leader spits into the face of the President of our country and of the remainder of the civilized world. This cancellation was not easy because we were going to visit at Kibbutz Yakum the Jewish friend who hid in our house in Amsterdam where my family lived during the German occupation. He understands.
Many thanks, and all good wishes, for your integrity in canceling your trip to Israel. The only thing that will end Israeli apartheid and land stealing is the combined force of millions of acts like yours, as we boycott, divest, and sanction Israel.
Hear! Hear!
What a tragic decision to have to make. You have my deepest respect.
Thankyou for adding your voice to this thread. Anyone who has experienced or known anyone well who has experienced grave injustice, as you say, 'understands'. It boggles the mind and breaks the heart to witness such lack of understanding in so many Israelis whom one would think might have a particular gift FOR understanding the follies of such impunity. It is hard to practice forgiveness or patience with the immaturity and blindness of those who continue the folly, but heartening that 'refuseniks' of all ages are hanging in there, doing what they can to uphold human decency in the face of such willful ignorance and cruelty. And occasionally, getting through the crusty hardness of hearts closed off to the suffering of the 'enemy'. May you and your friend find solace in the ever-expanding friendships near and far that are aligned with the truth of who we all are and what mankind CAN be: a brotherhood and sisterhood in compassionate wisdom and justice.
The underwriting of Israel's policies is largely done by the USA, and Israeli policy serves the interests of the US Empire (while undermining the interests of the people of the US, of course imperial interests and citizens interests are two different matters). Israel can be seen as a proxy state, or an heavily armed imperial garrison state. Make no mistake, Obama et al. knew about this in advance and unoffically approved. The USA and its mini me, Israel, can blatantly break international law and all moral codes at will with impunity.
However this is an unsustainable situation and Israel and its imperial enabler shall not prevail in the end. Apartheid is doomed, and as with all empires, the US Empire is doomed.
Ethnic cleansing. Now occurring and being paid for on Obama's watch.
What happened to that speech in Cairo earlier this year in which he called for a new beginning? Oops, that was just for theatre.
Was that before or after Netanyahu gave him the finger in the Oval Office?
Netanyahu is living in an unlawful home in occupied Palestine.
Who keeps sending these Ethnic Clensers billions of our tax dollars?
I'll not vote for them.
Recent thoughts of an American potential settler contemplating his "return" to Israel:
Details on government grants available, housing allowances etc were laid out. It seems like a very well organized process...There seems to be great excitement that the "Arab problem" is about to be solved by the election of Likud with the cooperation of Yisrael Beiteinu. A majority of the people we talked with felt that the new government would formally establish the Palestinian "reservations (economic zones)" leaving Israel to expand into the gaps...one thing is not hyperbole and that is a dramatic increase in public hatred of Arabs. It used to be Jews were seemingly embarrassed to vocalize such sentiments and would usually do so only after 6 or 8 glasses of wine. Now at campaign rallies, at shul and just about everywhere you hear cries of death to the Arabs, move'em out etc...Meanwhile settlement activity continues to grow. The construction in the E-1 corridor is amazing and soon Ma'ale Adumim will extend all the way to Jerusalem cutting off most Palestinian access.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/jdledell/2009/02/my-israel.php
No surprise here. And I agree with m156 that a new threshold of hatred seems to have been reached as a way of justifying the continuing ethnic cleansing. Here's a further link reproducing an Israeli article (of the left, of course) on this subject:
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/jerusalem-belongs-to-us-jews/
Has anyone else noticed that MoveOn.org never takes a position on Israel? That organization claims to be the voice of the progressive community, but it has never, as far as I can tell, spoken out against any of the policies of Israel.
Isn't it clear now that the US does not control what Israel is doing...
This is a direct challenge to Obama at a time when he is being hit hard by the health debate in the US.
Likud is no friend to the US and imo is using the US for its own gains....and many American Jews and AIPAC are letting this go.
Israel is a nation and should remain a nation...but there should be no support when it breaks international laws.
In my opinion this is all for show, as it has been in the past. The Americans put up a feigned protest with no teeth. If the US were serious about curtailing settlements and dismantling the rest of the colonies, all need be done is a UNSC call for economic sanctions, and then the US Congress could cut off funding and Israel would be in serious trouble. The only thing protecting Israel from the rest of the world and international law is the USA.
Israel obviously serves US imperial interests in the region; it is a proxy garrison state for the Empire.
Besides, the US is the chief war criminal, so it has absolutely no moral authority.
Please, not another cent of my tax $ to Israel! This is the atrocity committed against native Americans all over again. We are not only just watching it, but aiding and abetting it! Isn't that some kind of a crime?
Perhaps this may wake some of the Goyim up to the way the AIPAC system works.
Immense pressure put on US Politicians and Obama to support this blatant illegal theft of land and water.
America is run by AIPAC -- get used to it -- or make it known to the American goyim -- yes wake up America --- if you care about your country ???????
Everyone felt the sorrow for the Jews of the Holocaust, gave in to their request to occupy land of the Palestinians, but then the Jews became the arrorant ones, who continued to steal more, and more land, and massacred the people. Yes, we should stop funding their cause, and sending weapons that may be used against the US in the future. Most know it was Wall Street who helped get Obama elected with the blessing of the GOP, who will only let Obama go so far. Israel was, and is good friends with the previous Bush regime, and sides with the Jews. Israel never wanted peace from day one, only land they are obscessed with, like all the Arab land from Syria to Iran. I still think Israel is holding something over our heads. Food For Thought!
The US must cut off all aid---military and otherwise---to Israel! Stop the insanity now!
Brazen bastards. There really is no salutary end to this iniquity, driven by a collective Zionist psychosis rooted in "chosenness" and a resulting arrogance, greed, guilt, insecurity, success in manipulative, state-terroristic, murderous et al acts without accountability, and on and on. Cannot the Jewish people (those unencumbered by Zionism) themselves perceive that this will all end -- after millions upon millions of more innocents die -- with another, "final solution" holocaust against them? Must that be the ultimate accountability imposed on them?
Hey Obama...what happened to your TOUGH TALK??? So, you are going to let Israel put you in your place???? You to chicken to withdraw money and aid to Israel??? Is Rham Immanuel running the show there in the White House or are you???
COWARD!! SELLOUT !!!
BOYCOTT ISRAEL....NOW !!!!
Pro-Semite - Palestine for Palestinians.
Anti-semite - Supporter of Israel and it's racist zionist regime.
I have no problem with Judaism. I have no problem with Jews. I have no problem with a Jewish state. I do, however, have a problem with Israel as it behaves as a rogue nation.
The Palestinian "reservations" (or however you choose to describe them) are not significantly different from say... the Warsaw Ghetto. The continued theft of Palestinian land for "settlements" for Israelis is the moral equivalent of Kristalnacht. The oppressed have become the oppressors.
Any and all protest by US authorities rings hollow in light of the fact that we FUND the murder of Palestinian children. Unless and until we make further aid dependent on the cessation of these land grabs, and the "scorched earth" retaliations for the acts of Palestinian radicals, we will not end them and in fact are complicit in them.
Well stated, bpollen!
You speak for me.
And the Hasbarist "anti-Semite" slur had a good run, but has lost its potency through over-use-- it doesn't go away because either users genuinely believe it, or got nothin' else. (Stay tuned!)
· Yr Obd't Servant
Did you guys know that Israel is a world leader in warrant less surviellance software for internet and phone call spying.And that the USA is one of the largest contracters that buys this software.
Everyone that makes a comment about Israel is flagged.
I love it, your all on watch lists. Welcome to my world, if you live near a major military base, and you start to notice you are never alone from the second you leave your house, till the second you get home, you are under surviellance by your local community watch network and a Fusion Center.Stazi network built buy Bush, and Obama has not flagged these fusion centers for shutdown.