Bruce Wolman writes from Norway:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier demanded an end to all settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in an interview with the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, published on Saturday, and then widely distributed by the German Press Agency, DPA.
Steinmeier stated that it is "not acceptable" to found new settlements or expand existing ones. He made certain to add that Germany and the United States are in agreement on this point.
Only stating the obvious. Germany of all European countries would not get ahead of the US in criticizing Israel. The Foreign Minister's statement indicates that the US is serious about going toe-to-toe with the Israelis on settlements, and that it is gathering its European allies on board.
Moreover, Steinmeier insisted that the EU and the United States must "speak with one voice" when it comes to the Middle East peace process, as if Europe hasn't subordinated itself to the US for at least the last sixteen years when it comes to reaching a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. The last independent effort was Norway's, which helped the two parties negotiate the Oslo Accords.
We should learn more about the European Union's future intentions (and hence the Obama administration's I-P strategy) after the EU's foreign ministers meeting on June 15th. The ministers are gathering to reach "a new joint position on developments in the Middle East." Steinmeier is in favor of involving the entire region in the effort, including countries such as Syria and Lebanon. "Regionally embedding talks between Palestinians and Israelis is crucial to the chances of success," Steinmeier said, concluding that failure is not an option.
Whether the settlement issue is a smokescreen by which the US hopes to give Middle Eastern allies cover to accept efforts to halt Iran's nuclear program, or a serious step towards pressuring the Israelis to accede to the establishment of a Palestinian state, remains to be seen.
Yes, remains to be seen–however taking a clear and unified stand against the settlement expansion is good as far as it goes–notice that nobody is even asking simply to go back to 2001 on the settlements, so it seems whether its only a tactic to gain consensus to eventually bomb Iran or a real peace pursuit, Israel is only being asked to stop settlement expansion by any means as of May, 2009–that assumes all the settlements since 1967 through now are not up for negotiation, that is uprooting, under the developing Obama plan. Or no?
Again, it is important to remember that this demand is nothing more than asking Israel to abide by its previous agreements under the Roadmap, not some new condition as implied in the press coverage. Israel supporters and the MSM never tire of demanding that the Palestinians — and especially Hamas — uphold "past agreements," but the equivalent requirement is never put to the Israelis.
Bruce, this must be part of a longer European process: „State Building for Peace in the Middle East“ http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&client=fire...
Reminds me of when I said that if a US president ever even whispered…."no more unconditional support for Israel"…it would be the "whisper heard round the world". Obama has said two things……"NO settlements, no expansions"..and…his now famous statement.. "Israel's actions are NOT in America's interest". All other countries will now publicaly join in. One would hope that Bibi and Israel get that Obama has cancelled their get out of jail free holocaustcard.
BTW….I noticed in the international press that almost every European country has released an official statement on Israel parroting Obama's policy. I have no idea how Obama or the world will back this up…with holding aid, sanctions on Israel maybe? The US and Europe are Israel's are the majority of Israel's market, ….. they could easily be starved out. I doubt jewish contributions, even if they were allowed under such cirmstances, could make up that difference. The main fear when it comes to Israel is that they do will do something suicidal and send the region into WWIII. I am not so sure any countries would defend Israel this time around though. I think everyone has had enough of their madness. My take is there are no governments elsewhere that want a new war in the ME.
Not necessarily. Getting them to stop expanding their illegal settlements is a completely reasonable first step. Once that's accomplished, we can worry about getting them to dismantle the settlements entirely. One important thing to note, as the Israelis were not slow to realize, is that preventing even "natural growth" basically means the settlements are non-viable as long-term communities, because as the population grows due to births, the only choice is to endure greater crowding or move elsewhere. If small settlements cannot grow even "naturally", they might as well be abandoned; they serve only a symbolic purpose, and cannot function as self-sustaining communities in the long term.
Perhaps the latest German generations are no longer burdened by a sense of guilt. It is easier to think of your grandfather or even great grandfather as an accomplice in a collective crime than to put your own father in the dock. The young don't feel involved. It has all become historical. When Goldhagen toured the country now thirteen years ago he had a huge success, especially among the young, even though he had accused the whole German nation of complicity in the holocaust. By the same token there were recently demonstrations of tens of thousands of people against Israel's latest crimes in Gaza..
Awareness of the history of one's people is laudable, but crimes committed by the dead do not require culpability for the past or tolerance of contemporary injustice in some weird attempt at repentance for crimes one has not committed. Israelis are, quite correctly, no longer seen as victims anymore than anyone else is, but as the aggressors. There is really no way to sugar coat creeping ethnic cleansing (measures to induce emigration: house demolitions, confiscation of farmland 'for security purposes', race-based evictions and permit issues, arbitrary internal 'security' checkpoints, Jewish-only roads, etc) followed by colonization backed up by the guns of the IDF with the approval of the state.
People can be the victims in one situation, the agressors in another. I would hate to think collective victimhood is the sum total or most important facet of Jewish identity, such as it is.
While this is probably a good thing, it is also somewhat disheartening to see how weak and spineless current German foreign policy actually is.