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Special Mideast representative Tony Blair, in Jerusalem today, endorsed last night's U.S. decision to stop opposing Israeli settlement expansion.
After taking a hard line on settlements for three years, the Obama White House gave up, seeing no chance that Israel's cabinet would go along with a settlement freeze.
Blair’s statement, which he gave in East Jerusalem:
"In respect of the peace process overall, let me again first of all say that I think that the decision that was announced last night is a sensible decision in light of the impasse that we reached and I just want to make two points on it.
"The first is that, despite this decision, there is no doubt at all in my mind that there remains a fixed determination, on behalf of the United States, the Quartet, and most important of all, in respect of the Israeli Government and the Palestinian leadership to make sure that we find a way to get a credible and serious negotiation back on track again.
"I think the decision to step back from a way of proceeding based around the moratorium is a sensible decision in light of what has happened. But I would not take that as a diminution in any way of people's determination to get this process going. It remains there and it remains the fixed resolution of everyone to make sure that we put this back together again in a way that is going to allow us to succeed.
"And secondly, this underscores and underlines once again the cardinal importance of the state building exercise of the Palestinian Authority, of the need to support that, of the need to get real change on the ground, because it is that change both in the West Bank and Gaza that gives us the best prospect of supporting a credible, negotiated peace.
"So I hope very much as well as the attempts to put this negotiation back together in a credible way over the coming weeks, we will see real change on the ground, and that's why incidentally the announcement today by the Israeli Cabinet on Gaza is also important."
According to the AP, U.S. officials insist that the administration is not giving up efforts to broker an Israeli/Palestinian peace deal, noting that negotiators from both ides will visit Washington next week for consultations.
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So, almost two years of sucking up to the Muslim world, going horizontal at the waist on anyone in sheets, or a Burger King costume, belittling/walking away from our friends, etc. - accomplished nothing?
What a surprise.
And the Obama hits just keep coming.
bob-1805084
So, almost two years of sucking up to the Muslim world, going horizontal at the waist on anyone in sheets, or a Burger King costume, belittling/walking away from our friends, etc. - accomplished nothing?
What a surprise.
And the Obama hits just keep coming.
======================================================
Hey Bob and so does Israel. They still building settlements, striking out in fallacious ways; for examples the Flotilla strike and the Hezbollah war. And they kept taking our monetary aid.
Obama can't even handle the extreme in the minority Republicans. You see how angry he gets over them.
How can anyone expect him to deal with the Mideast problems?
And we're still waiting for his response to the North Koreans. Maybe he wrote them a letter?
We need a Lance Armstrong type to resolve these problems. Instead we got a guy that still uses training wheels.
Is it just me or is Bev losing her ability to speak (write in) English?
I'm sure she meant "[t]hey still be building settlements" (emph. added), and i love her use of "fallacious."
Israel sucks up to the Muslim world? Nah - Israel has a pair.
Anyway, they don't go horizontal for anyone. They are a democracy (how many are there in the Mid East Bev) and we tend to support and help freedom loving democracies. They have been a friend. BTW - isn't it funny,that according to WikiLeaks, even Muslim leaders respect Israel's "pair" and want Israels help with Iran.
Building settlements? Another crock pot of liberal crap. The new construction argument is apartments in their nation's CAPITAL city.
The Flotilla? Who in the world other in than a bleeding heart/brain, suck face, willfully blind/deaf/dumb progressive would fall for the Hezbollah Hoax?
Any money that goes to Israel is better spent than giving to unions, buying clunkers for our neighbors, the clunker idea of giving money to GE to buy but Volts, etc., etc., etc.
JoAnnaSmith and Spanky,
I think we might have messed up. It only takes one on us to handle 20-30 liberals. I know it's slow, buy what are 3 of us doing wasting time on 1.
I think I'll take the rest of the afternoon off i.
Israel spies on us, takes our money and flips us the bird whenever possible. And they're friends...
and we arm their Arab enemies...no wonder we can't broker a peace deal in the region.
But, the Arabs would welcome us as liberators!
Israel is no better than the terrorists we say we want to control.
What happens to Presidents is that groups of media opposing their views build a narrative so extreme, so damaging and repeated so often that a President eventually gets accused of being who they are.
President Obama looks to build concensus and is willing to give up his ethical qualms to achieve that concensus. His opposition media (on both ends now) scream and howl over this and create a narrative in which Obama is either spineless or a socialist incompetent.
President Clinton effectively changed this narrative by daring the majority Republicans to shut down the government and look like extremist children not yet ready to sit at the adult table. Of course, his sexual misconduct changed all that in the last two years of his term. But the lesson is instructive.
Even more instructive is that President Obama refuses to learn from it. He seems at once to act to confirm the worst parts of the narratives (no moral spine--too much government) while refusing to push back against the narrative.
This leads me to my observation on the Israel settlement issue. By giving up on limiting Israeli settlement building, Obama shows how little spine he has. This is simply another example of his 'cave to pressure' mentality. He doesn't realize, that is refuses to learn, that standing up for something--standing up for anything would immediately improve his political prospects.
Caving to Israel this early on settlements also shows that Obama is afraid of his chances in 2012. He doesn't want to appear anti-Israel in any way. It's too bad, because until Israeli policy changes, no peace in Palastine is possible.
There are proposals from former Israeli Prime Ministers Olmert and Livni that are close to resolving the conflict and establishing a free, independent Palestine. There is the Saudi 2002 peace plan for the Middle East which has been praised by former Israeli and some USA leaders as having merit. Abbas has made specific proposals over the last year that Netanyahu leadership has failed in responding.
It is not the Palestinians that are preventing negotiations. It is current Israeli leadership under Netanyahu that has been intransigent, deceitful and at time inflammatory. No specific plans or strategies have been offered by Netanyahu. Instead he has assured the Jewish settlers they will not have to move even though their settlements are illegal. He harps about the need for Palestinians to recognize the Jewishness of Israel, but only Israel can attest to its Jewishness. He constantly threatens erosion of Palestine with settlements and the IDF military occupation.
There needs to be a firm timeline for Netanyahu and Israel to perform. Otherwise this will go on for another sixty years with the Palestinian Arabs then huddled together into small ghettos like Gaza. The settlers and the IDF will then violently attack and punish the Palestinians at will to fulfill the Israeli objective of "transfer" of all Arabs. This has been and will continue to be ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Netanyahu has a choice. He can demonstrate bold, courageous leadership and create an Israel envisioned by the original Zionists, namely a land where Jews and Arabs, both Muslim and Christian, live together in peace. It was Ben Gurion, the founder of modern day Israel, that stated fifty years ago that Israel will be judged by how it treats the Arabs. Israel's history has gotten it to the point where it is now suffering from world opinion that recognizes Israeli abuses of the Palestinians. Rather than developing partnerships with the Arab nations against common enemies, Israel has obsessed over Jewish settlements and suppression of a Palestinian state. Palestine is not our enemy. Israel's enemies are one's that also threaten the Arab nations, namely Iran, Muslim and Jewish extremists. Israel needs to move forward using the work of Olmert, Livni and the Saudi 2002 plan to submit a specific proposal in the next thirty days. It is the future of our grandchildren that is at stake.
Much like Kosovo and if Israel fails to act honorably, it is time for the UN with leadership from the Quartet to declare the independence of Palestine in the UN Security Council.
the Palestinians should say the hell with the US and the hell with Israel and chuck as many rockets into jewish territories as they can !!!