Haaretz reports that Netanyahu will evacuate "outpost" settlements, so-called "illegal" ones, as a "gesture" to Obama. Emphasis mine:
The sources said [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak intends to dismantle a number
of outposts out of 26 illegal ones. "It is up to him entirely, and on
the time and circumstances he sees fit. Netanyahu won't make
difficulties. They're in sync," a source said.
Ministers, including those from Likud, said Wednesday that Netanyahu
probably promised United States President Barack Obama in their meeting
that Israel would dismantle outposts soon….
Barak added that the illegal outposts cause extensive
damage to Israel in the international arena, and even weaken the
settler movement. Therefore, he said, the problem of the unauthorized
outposts should be addressed first and foremost.
Don't you see; this government is owned by these radical landgrabbers. One sour word about settlements, and it falls. Thanks to Cole Krawitz.
RE: "Don't you see; this government is owned by these radical landgrabbers. One sour word about settlements, and it falls." FROM “THE INDEPENDENT” (U.K.): “Jews protect Palestinians in harvest of hate” – By Donald Macintyre in Awarta, West Bank, 10/10/08 Israelis cross religious divide to shelter olive farmers from settlers’ attacks (excerpt) …Last year, she was in a group in the South Hebron Hills confronted by settlers who fired shots from a pistol and an M16 assault rifle, despite the presence of the army and police. “Then one of the soldiers said, ‘Look, one of them is coming down with a jug of water for you’. The settler emptied the jug over me. It was full of human sh_t.”… ENTIRE ARTICLE - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-ea...
Dimantle the outposts as a gesture to Obama? Obama's not under occupation. He's the King of the world's super power. Natenyahoo needs to focus on giving the Palestinians positive signs and gestures that he really is a man of peace and not a warlord of the "Jewish State."
You are jumping the gun. This is TALKING. Wake me up when the number of settlements will reduce.
RE: "Either: 1, a meaningless gesture, or 2, an effort to strengthen the settler movement" MY COMMENT: Possibly both!
Do it is the correct response. Please don't dismiss or anticipatorily attack the proposal. (You do criticize the application of anticipatory attacks, don't you?)
Standard Israeli meaningless gesture. Sharon did this, as did several other Israeli Prime Ministers over the years. In many cases, the "illegal" settlement (all settlements are illegal under International law) consists of a single caravan or portacabin on a hilltop and is replaced within a few days.
If he dismantles all 26 and acknowledges that all the others are also illegal and must be dismantled eventually, it would be a step in the right direction.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1087110.html A friend of Israel By Gideon Levy Tags: Peace, Israel News, Obama It's already clear: the U.S. president is a great friend of Israel. If Barack Obama continues what he started this week, he might prove to be the friendliest president to Israel ever. Richard Nixon saved Israel from the Arab states in 1973, and Obama is about to save Israel from itself. Nixon sent us arms and ammunition at a critical time, and Obama is sending us, at a time no less critical, the substance of a complete peace plan, a plan that would save Israel.
Yes, do it, always keeping in mind that pressure to uproot the settlements has long been anticipated; in the past, Israel will make a token effort, highly publicized, and keep on grabbing more land, and expanding existing settlements–after all, you can't stop settlers from having babies–that's only natural (unless you are Palestinian, where the more babies you make, the less land you have to rear them on). The settlements, always expanding either in Uncle Sam's face, or behind his back, are all bargaining chips, facts on the ground. Here, we got rid of a couple of trailer camps up on the remote hill there, now you Pals merely have to concede our right to be where we are and do as we please eternally.
And at a cost of a few porta-potties and trailers. Obama gets to cast this as a great accomplishment towards eternal peace–after all, it's a sea change from Shrub's policy of blaming the Pals for everything wrong, and N gets the sly nod from his homeys–we've duped those goys yet again–is there any end to their childish antics? Give us more money! Pronto! And, BTW, also your highest tech weapons.
I've long since lost count of the news articles I have read which include "Israel will …", "Israel plans to …", "Israel considering …", "Israel might …", and other variations. We have all seen this song and dance before. Notice the sentence
Barak is trying to reach an agreement with the settlers on dismantling the outposts.
The Israeli government will pretend to be stern, colonial movement representatives will agree to the removal of the 26 hill-top youth trailer-trash camps, but will pretend to be shocked and affronted, none of the actual colonies that are preventing a two-state final status agreement will be removed or have their growth frozen, and within a month or two the 'outposts' will be back. Yawn. I hope the tough words on Iran Pres. Obama bartered for this meaningless gesture are just as disingenuous.