It’s curious but not surprising that this has been first announced by the JTA and also by Ha’aretz before the NY Times or the Washington Post sent it out. So apparently there has been no change in the White House’s priorities. The big question is what will Obama give Netanyahu when the two meet? Netanyahu already has the keys to the city and to Congress. How about Air Force One equipped with bunker busters?
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Yep. Netanyahu has only conceded that Israel made a mistake in the on-going PR campaign to assure both the US and Israel look good (like actual humanitarians) in their treatment of the sub-human Palestinians. The tiny concessions he has agreed to peform will be made to grease the
status quo kiss with Obama next Tuesday. Gives the US MSM something to brag about
concerning our special ally; in turn, to keep the US funds and vetoes at the UN Sec Council coming. It’s a bad joke. Too bad the average American still has no clue–of course
that’s part of the plan.
Thats funny, 2 out of the 3 Israel publications on the web had the headline “Netanyahu Caves to US”
You forgot to mention the easy of the blockade in Gaza and the final status issues to be discuss right away when indirect negotiations start. or were these the ‘tiny concessions’ you were referring to?
Yonira, the Israeli publications are “earning their keep,” by making the offer look big and bawdy – of course, I would not expect you to understand or acknowledge this fact. The only proposal that makes sense is to cease not ease the blockade, and act like this is an immovable “fact on the ground.” At this rate there are so many atrocities against the Palestinians taking place, that if one small thing at a time is taken care of it would take 50 years – which is the plan. By this time all of the territory is swallowed, and Israel either becomes a bi-national entity (or whatever you want to call it) or they complete their genocidal process against the Palestinians.
act like this is an immovable “fact on the ground.”…or act like the blockade is an immovable fact on the ground, like it is some acceptable process.
By this time all of the territory is swallowed, and Israel either becomes a bi-national entity (or whatever you want to call it) or they complete their genocidal process against the Palestinians.
Where would a two state solution fit in w/ your predictions here?
Israel is not working to achieve a 2 state solution.
By expanding settlements in the OPT and particularly in East Jerusalam (the future capital of a Palestinian state) the Israelis are make it loud and clear that a viable 2 state solution is completely off the table.
Israel is not working to achieve a bi-national state nor the genocide of the Palestinian people either.
I guess I don’t see your point?
Since you think that Israel is not working to achieve a bi-national state nor the genocide of the Palestinian people, what has it been doing for 42 years by expanding the settlements, and by telling the US that it will not stop settlement expansion, but rather continue on its course of the last 42 years?
What is Israel’s point, and yours?
Israel has totally destroyed the possibility of a contiguous state in any sense of the word for the Palestinians, there has never been a plan by Israel for the Palestinians to have a viable state – they have not only said this, but they have done everything in their power to make sure it never becomes a reality. Secondly, to address your equally spurious second post, every precursor to genocide in now in full swing against the Palestinians – the same activities that took place before the extermination in earnest by the Nazis. The confession of would be Israel from the beginning, both spoken and written is to inhabit the “promise land” from sea to sea. The population in Israel of Palestinians have been repeatedly threatened with expulsion (or whatever), and never given the freedoms necessary to viably exist – and the occupation of the territories along with the no-class citizenship of “Palestinian citizens” is complete murderous colonial activity. In other words Yonira, you have no leg to stand on with your empty quips, not only would the Palestinians be idiots to believe anything the Israelis say, but so are you.
Actually Yonira, you are a thinly veiled full supporter of Israel, and every post that comes out of you is completely disingenuous nonsense.
It is true that we may not know what the “official” Israeli policy is or how they envision their end game scenario.
However, that does not mean that we can’t analyze the “facts on the ground,” or current Israeli actions.
According to current Israeli policy, the Israelis are hemming the Palestinians into smaller and smaller enclaves in the West Bank, stealing their land, denying them access to their water, and forcing the Palestinians to become more and more dependent on Israel and the international community for sustenance.
Israel achieves these aims through a system of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and by continuing their brutal military occupation of the Palestinian people.
Furthermore, Israels insistence on expanding settlements (the chief impediment to a 2 state solution) while “peace negotiations” are supposed to be ongoing is all we need to know about how the Israeli government feels about actually going through with a “viable” 2 state settlement in which the Palestinians would receive merely 22% (at best) of their historic homeland.
Israel has implemented, rather fully, a version of a “one-state solution”. It’s intention seems clear — to make impossible any version of a “two-state solution” which could be acceptable to the Palestinians (especially with the refusal to repatriate the Palestinian refugees).
The status quo IS a “solution”. It is just a bad one. It is bad in two ways. First, it is anti-democratic and apartheid and oppressive of human rights (now increasingly of Israeli human rights w.r.t. dissent). Second, as widely noted, it TENDS to make any “two state solution” impossible.
I say “TENDS” because the US and EU and UN have the power to require Israel to remove the settlers adn the wall and to SHARE THE WATER and etc., etc. even to readmit the refugees (and lose the present Jewish majority within pre-1967 borders of Israel. (Israel has already lost its majority status within the boundaries of expanded-Israel.
The US has the power but does not seem “pissed off” enough, just yet, to call for any of these VERY SIGNIFICANT sea-changes in policy. AIPAC meeting begins today. Stay tuned.
from what i’ve heard obama doesn’t do “pissed off”. not seeing bibi when he is in town would be a slap in the face. i’m hoping obama will lay it on the line and give him the talking to he deserves! wishful thinking but that’s my hope.
Thanks, Annie Your hope and mine.
“Pissed Off” was the wrong term. These are “affairs of state” and it may be (who knows?) that Gen. Petraeus speaks for a lot of military (and thus speaks with a lot of authority) when he says, in effect, “this thing has got to be solved in a way that does NOT leave the USA looking to the world like Israel’s agent.”
If the “US National Interest” is recomputed to include such a new input from the military, the AIPAC crowd may get a quiet but nevertheless disheartening message. “The time has come for justice for the Palestinians and a resolution to 43 years of occupation and 62 years of exile that will seem fair and just not only to the Palestinians so that they will accept it, but to the entire world (i.e, Muslim and Arab).
That would be the statesmanlike response, assuming that the matter is indeed resolved in Obama’s mind. If he is presently dithering, the result (this week) will be otherwise.
We share our wishful thinking.
if enough of us, quickly enough, send concise messages to our congresspersons that they have a choice: our vote in their next election, or their presence at the AIPAC love fest, maybe one or two courageous congresscritters will chose to represent America rather than pay obeisance to Israel.
The gonocide has been taking place since 1948 Yonira.
Apparently the shipment of bombs was underway and Obama put a stop on it.
or, the US plans to use them. They’re in Diego Garcia whose residents were “freed” by the US military and dumped in other countries.
Oh, I’m sure the US has plenty of bombs on hand for all occasions.
Actually, the British expelled the residents before they leased it to the USA.
Much tidier that way.
Now the British say they can’t let the people return because of the terms of their lease.
For Yonira, if one believed what has been written in the Israeli press over the years, and I have many articles in my paper files going back years, that preceded the internet, the Israel-US relationship would be very different than what we see today, particular from 1991, after Bush Sr. blasted the “lobby” and Israel in his national press conference. One and all, left and right, in Israel, believed the sky was caving in on them. As we see, unfortunately, it didn’t happen. One day, yes, but not then, and not now.
Re, the bunker busters reportedly denied Israel. According to reliable news reports, not only does Israel not have any planes capable of carrying and delivering these bombs, the US bombers that would be capable have to be specially refitted in order to do so because of their size.
I’m sure Mitchell will offer as a carrot for some small Israeli concessions for PR purposes, that we will pay for Israel to make their planes said bomb-capable, or even given them new planes for free, and that we will also simultaneousy promise Israel we will make our own bombers so bomb capable.
“we will also simultaneousy promise Israel we will make our own bombers so bomb capable. ”
And the refitting job will be given to an Israeli company.