Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Palestine Photo:Lewis Larsson
Haaretz reports The Church of the Nativity has been added to Obama’s itinerary on the Palestine portion of his trip to the region.
Obama is expected during his trip to pay a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Friday, March 22, members of his delegation told Israeli government ministry representatives on Monday.
According to a high-ranking Israeli official, that stop was added to his itinerary only in the past few days. UNESCO recognized the Church of the Nativity as a Palestinian World Heritage Site in June 2012, several months after Palestine became a full-fledged member of the organization.
What they don’t say and what is significant; U.S. congress pulled funding for UNESCO the day after Palestine became its 195th full member on October 31. 2011:
Cheers filled the hall at Unesco’s headquarters here after the vote, with one delegate shouting, “Long live Palestine!” in French.
Defying a mandated cutoff of American funds cost UNESCO 22% of it’s budget, around 70 million dollars. This is a very telling decision by President Obama, who sought a waiver that would allow the U.S. to continue supporting UNESCO. And the US, along with Israel, is on record as opposing UNESCO’s decision to grant the Church of the Nativity world heritage status.
Regarding the rest of Obama’s schedule, the Washington Post echos the familiar saber rattlings of Netanyahu’s first visit to Washington after Obama was elected president.
Analysis: Iran, Palestinian talks, Netanyahu ties to dominate Obama trip to Israel:
Israel views a nuclear armed Iran as a threat to its existence, and Netanyahu has hinted at launching a pre-emptive military strike on the Islamic Republic to set back its nuclear program. Tehran has already enriched enough uranium to 20 percent purity for the country, should it decided to do so, to quickly move toward levels needed for a bomb……Netanyahu, thus, will want more public reassurances from Washington.
….
There have been hints, but only hints, that Netanyahu might be ready to again call a halt to expanding settlements — part of a potential deal that would leave those around Jerusalem in place in return for a land swap elsewhere. That’s a bitter pill for the Palestinians, but one they might swallow if the deal were sufficiently sweet. And the Israeli government quickly knocked down such reports on settlements.
….
The hope is that Obama reassurances on Iran will give a politically weakened Netanyahu the needed cover for a move back toward talks with the Palestinians, who are worried that Obama will do too little during his visit to pressure the Israeli leader on the need to resume negotiations.
Analysis? This is exactly what we’ve been hearing for years. When is someone going to be honest with us? The ‘threat’ of a nuclear holocaust coming from Iran, a country that doesn’t even have a nuclear weapons program, according to our intelligence, is being used by Israel to buy time and expand the settlements. And American-led ‘peace talks’ without any enforcement means inevitably lead to Israel’s expansion (which is why Palestinian youth groups are demonstrating against returning to negotiations.)
Benedict at the Wall (photo: Mahmoud Illean)
Will Obama visit reprise the amazing optics of Pope Benedict’s visit four years ago? From the Times:
Just yards from the barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians, Pope Benedict XVI expressed solidarity on Wednesday with “all the homeless Palestinians who long to be able to return to their birthplace, or live permanently in a homeland of their own.”
It was not the first time the pope had endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, but the location, with the concrete-and-barbed-wire barrier and a checkpoint towering in the background, was deliberately chosen to strengthen his case. Benedict called the structure, which is loathed by Palestinians but which Israel says is key to its security, “a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached.”
Any chance that “Jesus is a monkey” graffiti in Hebrew is still up and along O’s route?
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/04/13651687-jesus-is-a-monkey-daubed-on-jerusalem-monastery-wall?lite
Nah, but if it were, it would make interesting TV.
Relatively speaking though, surprise itinerary changes are good. They’re like looking into your neighbor’s plank-fenced back yard. No telling what you might see.
“The hope is that Obama reassurances on Iran will give a politically weakened Netanyahu the needed cover for a move back toward talks with the Palestinians, who are worried that Obama will do too little during his visit to pressure the Israeli leader on the need to resume negotiations.”
Analysis? This is exactly what we’ve been hearing for years”….annie
Right….give Netanyahu cover to move toward talks?….rotflmao!
Netanyahu was never and is never going to move toward REAL peace talks or ANY settlement except making Palestine totally Israel’s.
I don’t know why I even read the continuing claptrap analysis on I/P.
There is only one valid analysis for anyone not caught up in the Israel-Zio Cult—There will be no peace, Palestine will not get their land back, Israel will keep doing what it’s doing until it is forced to stop.
No Force Against Israel = No Palestine.
That’s the bottom line reality.
Yada,yada,yada, natter, natter, blah,blah blah, simpering lip service……right on to the end.
From haaretz today…Now the game has ended and real life will begin. The third Netanyahu government has one clear goal: enlarging the settlements and achieving the vision of “a million Jews living in Judea and Samaria.” This magic number will thwart the division of the land and prevent once and for all the establishment of a Palestinian state. The defense, and housing and construction ministries that are relevant to this issue will be given to Likud MK Moshe Ya’alon and Habayit Hayehudi MK Uri Ariel. They won’t be assuming these positions in order to freeze settlement construction, but rather to implement the Levy report which determined that Israel was not legally-speaking an occupying power in the West Bank and the Habayit Hayehudi platform; or in other words, to gradually absorb the West Bank into Israel….Netanyahu’s key task will be buying some quiet on the Palestinian issue to permit the expansion of the settlements at the small price of international condemnation. He will continue with the successful ploy from his previous term: threatening an attack on Iran and Syria, which are drawing American attention. Barack Obama is busy with calming the Iranian front and preventing an eruption in and around Syria, and is ignoring Israel’s actions in the territories. This is the deal that Netanyahu will strive to achieve with Obama during their meetings next week in Jerusalem.
Annie, you’d be more likely to try pull the gun than a settler, and then pass the blame onto them. Your “insight” is rabid; Israel would have everything to lose if there’s any attempt on anyone in the entourage, by an arab or a Jew. Annie, have you ever spent serious time in Israel, talking to Israeli Jews (and arabs) across the opinion spectrum? Have you studied Jewish history, or the history of Jews in the Holy Land, with any seriousness or depth? One wonders, who finances the looney anti-Israel and anti-Jewish articles that “grace” this website? Your “bite” can get quite nasty when you don’t have facts to support your fantasies. Will you let this in?
Ms. Robbins-the IAEA has significant evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, and one that’s tied into the North Korean one as well. Oh, they didn’t fill you in on the latest? Not an expert on centrifuges? Why should you be, but why deny the obvious? No mention of the repeated-multiple times, by the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad-threat to annihilate Israel, to wipe it and its people (no wonder the PA doesn’t like them; they’d get hit just as well) off the face of the world? What motive do you have by ignoring these obvious threats? Don’t take them seriously? Why should many estranged wives feel threatened by bullying husbands-maybe they are overreacting, too? Get real!