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Israeli ministers committee votes to annex Jordan Valley

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MK Miri Regev (Photo:IsraelNationalNew/Flash 90)

In a move that would thwart the reported “security arrangements” in John Kerry’s draft peace proposal, a committee of Israeli government ministers today approved new legislation to annex the occupied Jordan Valley.

Kerry’s proposal is said to include plans to imprison Palestinians behind another wall on the border with Jordan and  provide Israel control of the border with Jordan for a few years before switching to a coordinated arrangement with Palestinians. And then gradually, with Israel’s approval, Palestinians would assume control, 10 to 15 years down the road. Mahmoud Abbas has already rejected this idea.

But many Israeli ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet believe even this loose arrangement affords too much leeway for Netanyahu to make concessions during the negotiations so as to get a deal. The new legislation is intended to hand-tie Netanyahu in consideration of the upcoming American proposal. It was first proposed last week by Miri Regev (a member of Knesset from Likud) and then approved today by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, by an 8 to 2 vote.

If the legislation becomes law it prevents Netanyahu from agreeing to any plan leading to eventual Palestinian control over the Jordan Valley or the border with Jordan.

Jerusalem Post, Ministers vote to annex Jordan Valley:

If the bill becomes law, Netanyahu would be unable to accept the American offer to put the Jordan Valley and border crossings into Jordan under Palestinian control, with IDF soldiers posted at the border and the US providing additional security.

“The ministerial committee’s approval of this bill now, when there are talks with the Palestinians, is a clear statement by the government that the towns in the Jordan Valley are a strategic and security asset of the State of Israel that must stay in our hands,” Regev said.

According to Regev, the Jordan Valley is the “safety belt” on the eastern border.

Eight ministers on the committee, all from the Likud, Yisrael Beytenu or Bayit Yehudi, voted in favor of the bill, while Hatnua and Yesh Atid ministers opposed.

Livni, Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Health Minister Yael German said they would submit an appeal of the vote.

Israel National News:

“It’s no secret that the towns in the Jordan Valley have tremendous importance in terms of defense and strategy…Ultimately, we have a responsibility to the citizens of Israel,” Regev declared.

“Not every round of negotiations has to end with land concessions and forcibly evacuating Israeli towns,” she added. “If this continues, eventually we’ll end up with just central Tel Aviv.”

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And tommorow they will apparently accept more settlements..

Just another day in the colonialist regime called Israel.

“The ministerial committee’s approval of this bill now, when there are talks with the Palestinians, is a clear statement by the government that the towns in the Jordan Valley are a strategic and security asset of the State of Israel that must stay in our hands,” Regev said.

The Jewish civilian prescence in the Jordan Valley is actually a security problem for the IDF, not an asset. No one with any military training wants to defend an isolated enclave in the middle of another state with vulnerable lines of communications. It’s an-age old recipe for disaster. The goal is to continue to occupy and control all of the surrounding Palestinian territory.

Anyone who has seen the video of Netanyahu bragging about killing the Oslo process knows this “security zone” or “military site” label was adopted for purely political, not military purposes:

Narrator: The Oslo Accords stated at the time that Israel would gradually hand over territories to the Palestinians in three different pulses, unless the territories in question had settlements or military sites. This is where Netanyahu found a loophole.

Netanyahu: No one said what defined military sites. Defined military sites, I said, were security zones. As far as I’m concerned, the Jordan Valley is a defined military site.

Woman: Right [laughs]…The Beit She’an Valley.

Netanyahu: How can you tell. How can you tell? But then the question came up of just who would define what Defined Military Sites were. I received a letter — to me and to Arafat, at the same time — which said that Israel, and only Israel, would be the one to define what those are, the location of those military sites and their size. Now, they did not want to give me that letter, so I did not give the Hebron Agreement. I stopped the government meeting, I said: “I’m not signing.” Only when the letter came, in the course of the meeting, to me and to Arafat, only then did I sign the Hebron Agreement. Or rather, ratify it, it had already been signed. Why does this matter? Because at that moment I actually stopped the Oslo Accord.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaIQHWfj5f4

In the big scheme of things these are good moves. It makes it hard for Israel’s enablers to hide behind the farce of two states. It shows the true face of Israel. How many times do you get a finger in your face before you realize your bring disrespected enough to slap it down…the interesting thing is even if the governments of the world continue to enable (mostly the US and Canada) the people of those countries care. I was in Costco and overheard a lady (white middle aged) take a pass on Sabra hummus because of the boycot…small but hopeful sign

Thank you Hostage for your fact laden posts which adds facts to support our outrage at the Supreme Evil which is the Zionist monster called Israel. Netanyahu is of the same breed of deceitful, duplicitous Prime Ministers who have guided this pariah state to where it is today. Those of us in the MW community must continue to educate the populace until finally It has had enough and Moral America will demand an end to this perversion with a cessation of funding and the U.S. Congress asserts itself.

Should the headline read ,”Ministers vote to steal The Jordan Valley”.

Hopefully we will see regev and co in the Hague sometime soon.