Having spent most of the day stressing "his personal love for the Jewish state as well as the 'unshakable' commitment of the United States to Israel's security," Vice President Biden in return was granted a special surprise by Israel's right-wing religious Interior Minister, Eli Yishai - the announcement of 1,600 more housing units to be built at the Ultra-Orthodox settlement of Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem.
Having recently been dragged into negotiations with Israel kicking and screaming, the Palestinians were naturally apoplectic.
Nabil Abu-Rudeina, spokesman for the Palestinian government, called the new housing announcement “a dangerous decision that will torpedo the negotiations and sentence the American efforts to complete failure,” adding that “it is now clear that the Israeli government is not interested in negotiating nor is it interested in peace. The American administration must respond to this provocation with actual measures, as it is no longer possible to just turn the other cheek, and massive American pressure is required in order to compel Israel to abandon its peace destroying behavior.”
The White House, clearly upset, had press chief Robert Gibbs condemn the move.
Applying the usual diplomatic slap on the wrist for such actions, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Tel Aviv said "the United States opposed unilateral actions that prejudiced the outcome of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed at creating two states, and this was such an action."
Biden, perhaps realizing he had been obviously humiliated by the extremist Yishai, felt compelled to release the following statement:
I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem. The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel. We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them. This announcement underscores the need to get negotiations under way that can resolve all the outstanding issues of the conflict. The United States recognizes that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue for Israelis and Palestinians and for Jews, Muslims and Christians. We believe that through good faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem and safeguards its status for people around the world. Unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations on permanent status issues. As George Mitchell said in announcing the proximity talks, "we encourage the parties and all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions which may inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks.
The text may have started out strong, but sounded rather Bidenesque by the end.
Ethan Bronner of the New York Times seemed stunned in his report, writing that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly embarrassed at the move by his interior minister." As one of the commenters here remarked, "Bronner on the Biden Insult: Gee, how embarrassing! "
Earlier in the day, Biden expressed America's "absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel's security." At one point he turned to Prime Minister Netanyahu and declared,
"Bibi you heard me say before, progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the US and Israel. There is no space between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel's security."
Whether there is any space between US and Israel, what is becoming obvious to everyone but the Obama Administration is that there will soon be no space left in East Jerusalem for a Palestinian capital, Netanyahu's imaginary freeze notwithstanding.
Not knowing what was later in store for him, Biden tried to end the day on a sentimental note. "Netanyahu gave Biden a certificate saying that a ring of trees was planted in memory of his mother, Catherine Eugenia Jean Finnegan Biden, who passed away in January at the age of 92." Biden received the certificate with these words,
"My love for your country was watered by this Irish lady, who was proudest of me when I was working with and for the security of Israel."
If true, his mother must have been smiling on Joe today. But Eli Yishai had the last laugh of the day.
This is so painful to watch. The Israelis feel totally free to humiliate Biden today and Obama last year. And there is nothing that we can do. The lobby has its talons so deeply embedded in our government, that all the US can do is to apologize to the Israelis for causing them discomfort. Our only option is to lower our heads in shame. Absolutely amazing — the worlds only super power can only cower in the face of this irresistible force. Some day this war will end.
If it had been any other country, the right wing would have erupte in a xenophobic frenzy.
Complain: 202-456-1111 White House Comment Line.
These results go to the Prez.
We’re fucked. Get ready for World War III, people, because Obama’s abject failure to reign in Israel has pretty much guaranteed that they perceive they have the green light to bomb Iran.
Obama’s abject failure to reign in Israel stems, as I’ve said many times, from Obama’s abject failure to regain control (any control) of the US military and “intelligence” agencies.
And I would say your assessment is spot on.
RE: “Obama’s abject failure to reign in Israel has pretty much guaranteed that they perceive they have the green light to bomb Iran” – Kaos4700
SEE: Mullen Wary of Israeli Attack on Iran, By Ray McGovern, CommonDreams.org, 03/07/10
(EXCERPTS) Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came home with sweaty palms from his mid-February visit to Israel. He has been worrying aloud that Israel will mousetrap the U.S. into war with Iran.
…Last time, in mid-2008, Cheney and Abrams were arguing for an aggressive military posture toward Iran but lost the argument to Mullen and his senior commanders, who — in the final days of the Bush administration — won the backing of the President.
When former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seemed intent on starting hostilities with Iran before Bush and Cheney left office, Bush ordered Adm. Mullen to Israel to tell the Israelis, in no uncertain terms, don’t do it. Mullen gladly rose to the occasion; actually, he outdid himself.
We learned from the Israeli press that Mullen went so far as to warn the Israelis not to even think about another incident at sea like the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, which left 34 American crew killed and more than 170 wounded. With Bush’s full support, Mullen told the Israelis to disabuse themselves of the notion that U.S. military support would be knee-jerk automatic, if Israel somehow provoked open hostilities with Iran….
…It is altogether likely that Netanyahu has concluded that Barack Obama is — in the vernacular — a wuss…..
…..The Israeli Prime Minister has found it possible to thumb his nose at Obama’s repeated pleas for a halt in construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories — without consequence. Moreover, Netanyahu has watched Obama cave in time after time — on domestic, as well as international issues.
Netanyahu styles himself as sitting in the catbird’s seat of the relationship, largely because of the Likud Lobby’s unparalleled influence with U.S. lawmakers and opinion makers — not to mention the entrée the Israelis enjoy to the chief executive himself by having one of their staunchest allies, Rahm Emanuel, in position as White House chief of staff….
…And so Mullen continues to worry — not only about “unintended consequences,” but about intended consequences, as well. The most immediate of these could involve mousetrapping Obama into committing U.S. forces to war provoked with Iran….
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to commondreams.org
That was before an IDF volunteer was the Chief of Staff of the White House, of course.
ALSO SEE: Is There a Mideast Solution?, By William Pfaff, 03/10/10
(EXCERPT)…Despite Adm. Mullen’s warnings, the Obama administration perversely continues to encourage Israeli belligerence through its failure to react to the calculated insolence of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, displayed this week with the announcement of 1,600 new housing units to be constructed in East Jerusalem. This deliberate humiliation of the Obama administration is undoubtedly intended to reinforce the Israeli prime minister’s domestic political position, and that of the Likud Party.
In addition, and more important, the function of this contemptuous treatment of the vice president and of President Obama is meant to demonstrate to the Palestinians, and to the Arabs generally, that Likud’s political blackmail of the American administration and the U.S. Congress can withstand any Israeli excess. The first news Vice President Biden received when he arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday to launch a new American negotiations initiative (and give a university lecture on U.S.-Israel “solidarity”!) was that the Defense Ministry had already authorized 112 new residence units in an existing ultra-Orthodox settlement on Palestinian land – an “emergency case.” The 1,600 came afterward…
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to original.antiwar.com
Ramat Shlomo was built using one of Israel’s classic settlement tricks. As long as the land was owned by Palestinians (at least in part by a Palestinian teachers’ pension fund), it was zoned as “green”- despite a Palestinian housing shortage and its close proximity to the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina. As soon as Israeli Jews bought it, for a pittance (poor, rocky soil, used mostly for grazing), it was zoned for housing, with generous government subsidies.
Please. As though Biden and Co. are actually shocked. This stuff is staged and scripted. Biden knows his part well.
Rosenberg at HuffPo:
Consider this. Pre-’67 Israel (that is without the territories occupied during the June 1967 war) constitutes 78% of historic Palestine. The West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, which Palestinians insist must be their Palestinian state, equals 22% of historic Palestine. So every settlement built — and every town declared not negotiable — comes out of the 22%. In fact, when it is claimed that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Arafat 90% or 95% of the territories, we are talking about 90% or 95% of the 22%.
Bottom line: there is very little left of Arab Palestine to negotiate over. And every time the United States winks when another settlement is announced, there is even less.
Thanks for pointing that out, Citizen. Settlement construction is not a side issue and it is not contingent on having a Palestinian “partner” or on Palestinians “behaving themselves”. It is a clear indication that Israel is not and has never (even under Rabin) been serious about a two-state solution or peace of any kind. US policy used to recognise at least that much.
As long as we’re talking about actions speaking louder than words, 62 years of Israeli discrimination against the country’s Palestinian citizens is a clear indication that “Jewish and democratic” is a lie; pretty words – whether in the DOI, political campaign promises or Haaretz editorials (the latest one just the other day) – notwithstanding.
Okay. “Historic” Palestine. Does that mean the British mandate of Palestine circa 1948 or the British Mandate of Palestine 1920? Because if it means 1920, then 76% of that was given to the current King of Jordan’s grandfather. I guess the definition of “historic” Palestine is 1948 pre war Palestine. So why not say pre 1948 Palestine instead of “historic” Palestine?
(I know, Shmuel, that I sound like the Irgun “two sides to the Jordan, this is ours and this side too.” Not my point. The use of the term historic is an attempt to make Palestine sound like an ancient nation with ancient borders. Whereas the name is ancient, thank to the Roman desire to obliterate the name of Judea and the existence of the Plishtim, the borders of Palestine are by no means ancient. Ask Syria. I know all this is semantics. Sorry in advance. Certainly democracy is a more important word than “historic”. You are right.)
WJ,
The word “historic” wasn’t mine, and it is of course (as you recognise) beside the point. The figures 78% and 22% refer to the area between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.
The whole argument over which name is more authentic or original, Judea or Palestina (both assigned by the Romans, and not necessarily corresponding geographically to the earlier kingdoms/peoples that inspired them) is rather silly, and a case can certainly be made for use of the name Palestine – by Jews and non-Jews alike – prior to the British mandate.
Regardless of which name came first, referring to which territory precisely and as what kind of polity, a two-thousand-year-old vague national claim, based on a somewhat common religion (2nd-Temple Judah, Galilee, Samaria, etc. were religiously diverse, as was “Judaism” itself at the time) and partial genetic descent (the conversion factor – to one extent or another) is certainly more tenuous than national and personal claims based on living memory, official documents, physical presence and definite genetic descent. As Zeev Sternhell put it, the only possible legal/moral Jewish claim to the Land of Israel is the fact that Israel and Israelis currently exist.
and a case can certainly be made for use of the name Palestine – by Jews and non-Jews alike – prior to the British mandate.
Referring to the land west of the Jordan that is. To the extent that the term Palestine did not always correspond precisely to the area claimed by Palestinians today, neither does the term Judea correspond to any of the various possible borders claimed by Israel or Zionists today.
Surprise, surprise, WJ defaults to the racist “There’s no such thing as Palestinians / Land without a people” argument.”
I hope I live long enough to see Zionists appear in the same chapter of the history books as the Nazi party and the KKK.
As Uncle Sam talks about the parties talking about sitting down to divide up what’s left of the pizza pie (less than 22%), Israel is eating it. The pizza roller blade Israel is using to cut
off ever more was a gift by Uncle Sam, and it is sharpened periodically by Israel, again the sharpener gifted by Uncle Sam.
Total sham. Biden has to travel to Tel Aviv, make his requisite pledge of allegiance to Israel and declare USA “unvarnished,” “unshakable,” “unbreakable” US-taxpayer-supported apartheid/ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The world looks at the US as a duplicitous ass-clown in foreign policy. Is it any wonder?
Biden traveled to Jerusalem not Tel Aviv. You might not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the US doesn’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but nonetheless the government of Israel meets in Jerusalem.
The whole fucking world doesn’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. As far as I’m concerned, this was Biden making a campaign pledge junket.
Hey, did they make Biden sit in the little boy chair?