Israel's response to the U.N.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-okays-west-bank-settlement-construction-163700464.html

Israel okays new West Bank, East Jeruselum settlement construction

By By ARON HELLER and KARIN LAUB | Associated Press – 15 hrs ago

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Friday approved the construction of 3,000 homes in Jewish settlements on Israeli-occupied lands, a government official said, drawing swift condemnation from the Palestinians a day after their successful U.N. recognition bid.

The Palestinians reiterated their refusal to resume negotiations with Israel while building continues. With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently poised for re-election to another four-year term and insisting that any negotiations begin without preconditions, prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian partition deal appear to be going into deep freeze.

The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as a non-member observer state on Thursday, setting off jubilant celebrations among Palestinians.

Israel fiercely objected to the U.N. upgrade, saying Palestinian statehood could only come from direct negotiations and unilateral moves would harm that prospect. The Palestinians said the U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war was an attempt to salvage a possible peace deal.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to negotiate with Israel while settlement construction continues, saying Israel's settlement expansion on war-won land was making a partition deal increasingly difficult.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned Israel's announcement, saying it was "defying the whole international community and insisting on destroying the two-state solution." He said the Palestinian leadership is studying its options.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh also insisted earlier Friday the Palestinian position hadn't changed, saying settlement building "is not just illegal, it's against the resolution."

More than 500,000 Israelis have moved to the West Bank and east Jerusalem since 1967. Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but continues to partially control access. The Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory from Abbas' control in 2007 and recently gained popularity after holding its own following an eight-day Israeli military offensive aimed at stopping rocket fire.

The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly, said Israel decided to build 3,000 apartments for Jews in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. He said the government also decided to begin preparations for construction in other areas of the West Bank, including the so-called E-1 corridor that connects Jerusalem with the settlement bloc of Maaleh Adumim.

Construction there would pose a major obstacle for Palestinian statehood by cutting off east Jerusalem from the West Bank. Successive U.S. administrations have pressured Israel not to build in E-1 where a development plan calls for at least 3,500 homes.

Danny Seidemann, a lawyer for Ir Amim, an Israeli group that supports coexistence in Jerusalem, said construction did not appear imminent and the Israeli announcement contained "quite a lot of drama."

"There's an element of sticking it to the Palestinians," he said, adding that plans in E-1 were not only a slap to the Palestinians but to the Americans who oppose them too. "E-1 is the Judgment Day weapon," he said of the strategic impact of construction in that area.

Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, called the Israeli decision "collective punishment" and called on Israel to retract its move.

"Israel should have understood by now that such behavior ... will no longer be tolerated by the international community," the group's executive director, Haim Erlich said.

Earlier this month, Israel said it was pushing forward construction of 1,200 new homes in Jewish settlements, in an apparent warning to the Palestinians to rethink their U.N. plan. Israel fears the Palestinians will use their upgraded status to confront Israel in international bodies and pressure it to make concessions.

Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the one-time chief negotiator with the Palestinians, also slammed the decision.

"The decision at the U.N. on a Palestinian state is bad for Israel and so is Netanyahu's response," said Livni, who this week formed a new party to compete in Jan. 22 parliamentary elections. "The decision to build thousands of housing units as punishment to the Palestinians only punishes Israel ... the unnecessary statement only isolates Israel further."

In the U.N., only nine states opposed the Palestinian bid, including Israel and the United States, while 138 supported it.

The vote granted Abbas an overwhelming international endorsement for his key position: establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Netanyahu opposes a full pullback to the 1967 lines.

The Palestinians turned to the U.N. after two decades of on-again, off-again talks.

Netanyahu dismissed the U.N. vote as meaningless and accused Abbas of delivering a "defamatory and venomous" U.N. speech "full of mendacious propaganda" against Israel.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

So what we know is that there isn't going to be any fantasy of going back to pre 1967 borders. It's called war. To the winners go the spoils. You don't see the US giving all the land back to the Indians do you? Also forget the notion of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem. That isn't happening. Jerusalem will eventually be restored as the rightful capital of Israel as it should be. The West Bank and Gaza are going to continue to shrink. The next big rocket barrage is going to mark the end of the Hamas terror organization. The two state solution went down the tubes after several wars between Israel and it's Arab neighbors. You can't lose several wars to your opponent and then expect to get every thing back that you lost to said opponent. It doesn't work that way. Israel was nice enough to give the Sinai back to Egypt. That went above and beyond goodwill. They can make the Sinai the new Palestine.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Netanyahu continues to be devoted to the one-state solution... nothing new there.

Next stop: "Avigdor Lieberman, red-faced and sweating, banging his shoe on the podium at the UN defending Apartheid and yelling at the world"

[bigdog 376]

Unfortunately I think the problems will only increase.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

A European diplomat described the Israeli move as “breathtakingly brazen” and “outrageous”.

...

According to Shimon Stein, a former Israeli ambassador to Berlin, the UN vote was indicative of a long-term erosion in Israeli-European relations. “I think the writing has been on the wall for quite a long time. Something has been going wrong for quite a few years,” he said.

...

A similar point was made by Barak Ravid in an article for the Haaretz daily that described the UN vote as “a humiliating diplomatic rout” for Israel: “Germany, France, Britain, Italy and other friendly countries delivered a message to Israel with their votes – their patience with the occupation of the West Bank has worn off, they have had enough of settlement construction and there’s no faith in Israeli declarations of . . . desire to advance towards a Palestinian state.”

...

Israel’s apparent lack of urgency in working towards a Palestinian state, however, has become a clear focal point for divisions. “What you can say is that there has been a shift in mood. That is clear. And you can see it on many fronts, for example with regard to Israeli settlements or the fact that we now talk about international humanitarian law [with regard to Israeli policies in the West Bank],” said one European diplomat on Friday.

“The frustration with Israel is incredibly high, and that is the case almost everywhere in Europe.”

The diplomat added that at least part of that frustration was linked directly to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister: “I would be surprised if you found anyone [in European diplomatic circles] who believes that Netanyahu wants a two state solution. And that was different a year ago.”

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e5102cf4-3b0b-11e2-b3f0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2DoZyOU7X

[decocker 7,198]

typical pigheadedness.

[Karee 4,190]

Why doesn't the IDF just round up all the Palestinians and send them to the gas chambers? Not like any country would stop them including the U.S.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Why doesn't the IDF just round up all the Palestinians and send them to the gas chambers? Not like any country would stop them including the U.S.

They would rather try attrition. However, if you bottle a large population into what is in reality a high density prison, and give them nothing else to do, they have no choice but to plan ways to frustrate their prison guards, and have sex, in order to relieve the boredom. Than means Israelis are breeding more angry Palestinians everyday they maintain the Occupation, not exactly a winning strategy.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

They would rather try attrition. However, if you bottle a large population into what is in reality a high density prison, and give them nothing else to do, they have no choice but to plan ways to frustrate their prison guards, and have sex, in order to relieve the boredom. Than means Israelis are breeding more angry Palestinians everyday they maintain the Occupation, not exactly a winning strategy.

Just about everything the Israeli government does is self-defeating and self-destructive. Just sit back and watch it implode.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I don't see Israel imploding, but I would not be able to argue that Netty is not a Nutty. This announcement of new settlements was breathtakingly stupid.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I don't see Israel imploding, but I would not be able to argue that Netty is not a Nutty. This announcement of new settlements was breathtakingly stupid.

Yes, you can thank Beebs for driving Israel off the one-state cliff.

Israel may be able to control the land, but it is not able to empty it of its 6.1 million non-Jews, the overwhelming majority of whom are Palestinians. They now outnumber the 5.9 millions Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean (1 million of whom don't even live there on a permanent basis.)

And the Palestinian population continues to increase at a higher rate than the Jewish population.

Time ran out for ethnic cleansing. Israel was given several windows of opportunity. But it still couldn't overcome Mother Nature. Even after forcibly altering the demographics of Palestine, driving nearly a million Palestinians out and importing millions of non-Middle Eastern Jews - the tide inevitably shifts back to its natural position.

How long do Zionists think Israel's Jewish minority will be able to rule over the Palestinian majority they control, denying them their rights ?

The Jewish Majority is History

http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/the-jewish-majority-is-history.premium-1.470233

[mawilson 2,133]

Netanyahu continues to be devoted to the one-state solution... nothing new there.

Isn't that what you want?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Isn't that what you want?

One state with equal rights for all :dance:

[^_^ 5,021]

Well, this is one way to make the point that unless the UN is willing to put blue helmets on the ground, it doesnt have real power. Paper is just paper. Brick beats paper every time.

Edited December 1, 2012 by ^_^

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

[quote name=' timestamp='1354389095' post='5850092]

Well, this is one way to make the point that unless the UN is willing to put blue helmets on the ground, it doesnt have real power. Paper is just paper. Brick beats paper every time.

Didn't take force to persuade South Africa.

In fact, military force is not the most persuasive tactic that the UN has - it has access to better. Military force rarely works in the modern world. This is the lesson that Israel has not learned, being stuck in the past (on many different levels.)