Flash: Israel Announces Settlement Expansion As First Step Toward Settlement Freeze
Here is the first paragraph from a breaking New York Times story. No comment from me necessary. Except this: who in God's name do they think they are kidding?
JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, authorized plans for 455 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Monday, in a move aimed at placating Israel's pro-settlement camp ahead of an expected construction freeze demanded by the Arab world and the United States.
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My headline, and the story, could come out of the Onion.
September 7, 2009 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Business as usual, MJ, and more evidence, I think, that the two-state solution is stinking corpse.
September 7, 2009 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds reasonable to me. It's just like a bridegroom who's about to get married-- he's going to nail all the women he can "ahead of an expected sleeping around freeze demanded by the bride and her family."
September 7, 2009 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
When I was in Israel last month I kept hearing about this proposal to add 500 new units to the 2500 presently under construction. The theory was during the 9 month freeze while negotiations went no where, the 3000 homes would provide as much construction as could be feasibly built anyway. When the 9 months were up, construction could then continue without any lag time for retooling.
One of the things that surprised me is I saw lots of construction equipement in Maskiot, deep in the Jordan Valley. The settlers there believe they are included in these 500 new building permits and are ready to built 20 permanent homes. There is no way Israel is going to keep Maskiot within it's borders if there is a peace agreement.
As far as I could tell, it's still Likud's plan to ultimately provide the Palestinians 5 reservations and building up Maskiot is an indication this plan is still being implemented.
September 7, 2009 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
No worries, Mr. Fayyad, who we are told is "reasonable" (as all collaborators are), will in 24 months just declare a virtual state on virtual land for his people. And he will be rewarded with an overnight in Lincoln bedroom and nice digs at the next Davos conference. And, according to Ethan Bonner of the NYT, the Palestinians will at least have expresso machines.
I think Mr. Walt concisely explains the likely effect of the Obama Administration's complete collapse on this issue. See http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/04/netanyahu_throws_down_the_gauntlet
September 7, 2009 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
RE: "...who in God's name do they think they are kidding?"
MY COMMENT: Certainly not Obama, Mitchell etc. The Israelis and their neocon consorts want them to be all too aware that this is being forcibly rammed down their throats; thereby making them "submit" to Israeli/Netanyahu "dominance"!
REFERENCE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Sade
September 7, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
the final nail in the coffin will happen later this month. there will be a settlement freeze announcement at the UN meet up. abbas will be there with a shit-eating grin. netanyahu will be there with a triumphant smirk. obama will be there sans balls.
September 7, 2009 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you think that this was not agreed to by the Obama administration, then you are an even worse analyst of the ME than you let on. Obama knows that there is no way that he can impose a "settlement freeze" on Israel. He and his brilliant foreign policy team backed themselves into a corner on this issue. This is the solution that allows Obama to save face and say that he imposed a "settlement freeze", while at the same time allowing Bibi to maintain the coalition. Everyone wins.
September 7, 2009 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Everyone wins."
Sure, if you exclude the Palestinians from the group "everyone," but that's the point, isn't it?
September 8, 2009 8:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
This global play-acting is becoming tedious.
As I have pointed out hundreds of times, LIKUD POLICY IS FOR A GREATER ISRAEL extending from Eilat to just south of Bent Jbail on the Lebanese border. And everything in between.
Again. THAT IS THE LIKUD OBJECTIVE. It always was, from the time of its progenitors, LEHI and the Irgun, through to now, 2009. It has never changed.
All else is commentary and play-acting. The only way to ensure a Palestinian state is either by economic pressure or by force.
Problem is AIPAC who decides US foreign policy, and the massive nuclear arsenal in the Negev.
The optimum methodology would be to stop all US aid and all bilateral trade with the US and the EU.
BUT WHO IS LISTENING? No one! It will come to pass, but probably now only after the nuclear war to come.
September 8, 2009 4:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think any of this will lead to nuclear war, but the rest of your analysis is spot on. The "peace process" and the "two-state solution" and the "roadmap" are just charades that the Israelis now use as cover for their fairly obvious policy of taking as much land as possible while keeping the local Arabs in miserable conditions. The goal is really twofold: First, grab as much land as possible without angering the international community. Second, continue with checkpoints and blockades and other restrictions until the average Palestinian is so demoralized he decides to take his family and leave for some more hospitable territory. The Israelis seem willing to pursue this strategy for decades, even centuries. And since the rest of the world either doesn't care or is willing to be duped, I assume the strategy will work.
September 8, 2009 6:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
One other minor point: AIPAC doesn't really control US foreign policy, but it (and other pro-Israeli groups) do significantly affect our policy toward Israel-Palestine in particular and to the Middle East in general. I don't think there's much we can do to change that. The pro-Israeli groups are highly motivated to the point of obsession and are willing to spend untold hours and dollars to advance their agenda. The rest of us are busy with other things and just don't care enough to get in the way of that runaway train.
September 8, 2009 6:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
In a move rivaling the Today Show’s hiring of Jenna Bush, the NY Times has hired Alice of Wonderland, to write stories that can be held up to a mirror, upside down, for the dyslexic to understand!
September 8, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink