Bibi was besieged by settlement talk
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn't only hear about settlements from the president last week, but Congress also pressed him over the issue, according to an Israeli newspaper report.
According to a translation of a Yediot Ahronot article provided by Americans for Peace Now:
John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: The United States expects to receive from Israel a commitment to solve the problem of settlements, to stop construction in existing settlements, to remove unauthorized settlement outposts and to stop saying that construction is for purposes of natural growth.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, a veteran Jewish legislator and chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said to Netanyahu: The issue of settlements is a matter of principle for the administration and Congress. It must be dealt with in conjunction with addressing the Iranian threat. Other members of Congress said similar things to Netanyahu. No one took a favorable line towards Israel on this matter, with the exception of Eric Cantor, a Jewish Republican Congressman from [Virginia].
A senior Israeli official who was present at the meetings defined them as “a fight” and “mutual arm-wrestling,” with Netanyahu trying to put an emphasis on the Iranian issue, and the members of Congress insisting on returning to the issue of the settlements. The senior official emphasized that there was full coordination between President Obama and the members of the Democratic majority in Congress. Netanyahu discovered yesterday how much Congress had changed, the senior official said. In 1996, Netanyahu recruited the Republican majority that existed in Congress against Clinton, the Democratic president. Today, this is impossible.
APN lauded Congress for its focus on the settlements issue:
Americans for Peace Now today sent letters to congressional leaders praising them for making clear to visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States expects Israel to follow through on its commitments to stop settlements. ...
"It's hugely significant that Netanyahu heard the same message from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue: Settlements must stop," said Debra DeLee, President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. "Settlements undermine the two-state solution, which is the best hope for peace for Israel. It is also a clear U.S. national security interest," she added.
According to one media report, the only Member of Congress not to speak out against West Bank settlements during his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu was Rep. Eric Cantor. "I sincerely hope that this report is wrong, and I urge Rep. Cantor to act as a true friend of Israel and speak out clearly against West Bank settlements," said DeLee.
APN's letter to Rep. Cantor expressed concerns about this account.
J Street also praised Congress for conveying the settlement message in a release yesterday in which it also said it was "deeply dismayed" by Netanyahu's statement that he would not stop the "natural growth" of West Bank settlements:
J Street is deeply dismayed by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks Sunday in which he rejected both a full settlement freeze in the West Bank and limitations on Israeli expansion in disputed areas of Jerusalem.
Just last week, the Prime Minister heard clearly from President Barack Obama and from other American political leaders that settlement construction and expansion must end. We share their concern that further growth of any kind only diminishes the prospects for peace and for the two-state solution that is essential to Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic homeland.
J Street commends Rep. Gary Ackerman, Chairman of the House Middle East Subcommittee, and the delegation of Committee Members he is leading for carrying this message strongly to Israel’s leadership during a visit this week.
The President, Vice President Biden, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry and these members of Congress all agree that a serious push for a two-state solution – as well as broader peace negotiations between Israel and her neighbors - must begin with a full freeze of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.
In speaking out against settlement expansion, these American leaders have widespread support in the American Jewish community. Our recent poll shows that some 60 percent of American Jews firmly oppose the expansion of Israeli settlements, recognizing it as being detrimental to the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab peace efforts, which they overwhelmingly favor....
The Washington Post noted over the weekend that efforts to press Netanyahu to stop settlements are complicated by a "secret agreement" President George W. Bush made with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon:
While in Washington, Netanyahu argued that Israel already dismantled settlements in the Gaza Strip, going beyond the road map, and was rewarded with the takeover of Gaza by the Hamas militant group and hundreds of rockets raining on Israeli towns, Israeli sources said. Still, shortly after he returned to Israel, the government tore down an unauthorized outpost, Maoz Esther. Israel is committed under the road map to remove about 26 such outposts, typically small groups of rudimentary structures with a few families. Settlers began rebuilding Maoz Esther almost immediately.
Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said there are no plans for a full settlement freeze. "The issue of settlements is a final status issue, and until there are final status arrangements, it would not be fair to kill normal life inside existing communities," he said.
Regev said the Israeli government is relying on "understandings" between former president George W. Bush and former prime minister Ariel Sharon that some of the larger settlements in the occupied West Bank would ultimately become part of Israel, codified in a letter that Bush gave to Sharon in 2004. In an interview with The Washington Post last year, Sharon aide Dov Weissglas said that in 2005, when Sharon was poised to remove settlers from Gaza, the Bush administration arrived at a secret agreement -- not disclosed to the Palestinians -- that Israel could add homes in settlements it expected to keep, as long as the construction was dictated by market demand, not subsidies.
Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security adviser who negotiated the arrangement with Weissglas, confirmed the deal in an interview last week. "At the time of the Gaza withdrawal, there were lengthy discussions about how settlement activity might be constrained, and in fact it was constrained in the later part of the Sharon years and the Olmert years in accordance with the ideas that were discussed," he said. "There was something of an understanding realized on these questions, but it was never a written agreement."
Regev said Israeli and U.S. negotiators are discussing the degree to which the terms of the 2004 letter will apply under the new administration, but U.S. officials indicated that Obama wants to move beyond the 2004 letter and hold Israel to its commitments under the road map. "The bottom line is we expect all the parties in the region to honor their commitments, and for the Israelis, that means a stop to settlements, as the president said," a senior administration official said.
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In the US, Americans respect private property. Allowing Jewish settlements to infringe on the property rights of Palestinians remains an anathema to most Americans and a violation of our Judeo-Christian values and laws. It violates two the Ten Commandments directly – thou shall not steal; and thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house or anything that is thy neighbor’s. No American would tolerate such behavior by someone else toward their own land or accept the excuse “it’s mine now” or “I have to have land so I’m taking yours.” Americans call people who do that, squatters. In the old Wild West days the land owner would give the squatters so many minutes to get off their land and if they weren’t gone they would start shooting/killing anyone who remained on their property. Even when there was plenty of land, people did not have a right to just come in and settle on land owned by someone else. If they did the property owner had a legal right to defend his property.
It seems many Israeli’s still fail to appreciate just how strongly Americans feel about private property rights issues and how adamantly we feel about unwarranted Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. Yet, the settlements continue and some in Israel continue to feel they have a right to take whatever land they want. So long as that attitude remains and the Israeli government gives its tacit approval to this behavior the relations between Israel and the US will grow more and more strained. There is absolutely no negotiation on this point. Settlements are an act of expropriation of land already owned by someone else. If Israeli’s want the land they need to purchase it from its present owners, not simply take it over. If the Palestinians don’t want to sell the land, Israeli’s can’t simply ignore the rights of Palestinians and steal their land from them. If they continue to do so they will find themselves without any US support.
Perhaps the Israeli community needs a reminder of how Hitler regarded German expansion prior to WWII. It was called “Lebensraum” or living room. Germany needed to expand and thus had a right to take over neighboring countries. The Western world has not forgotten either the justification or the consequences of this aggressive behavior by Germany. The Germans had a sense of entitlement to take what they wanted not because it had a legal right to do this, but because it had the power to do it. The Western world has not forgotten the outcome of that behavior. As we now turn our attention to Israel we see this behavior being repeated on a smaller scale, but repeated none-the-less and with a similar justification and outcome.
These settlements do nothing but increase the tension, hate and anger of Palestinians. Americans can empathize with the Palestinians on this issue because our laws have been based for over 200 years on Judeo-Christian beliefs of respecting private property rights. These settlements reflect a behavior that most Americans find completely unacceptable. They reflect acts that by design signify “I don’t care what you want, it’s all about what I want and I’m going to take what I want because I can.” That attitude will never be accepted by the vast majority of the US public. It will always be seen precisely for what it is – an act of aggression and exploitation. The Obama administration has passed that message on to Netanyahu and made it clear this issue is one that is not negotiable. Settlements either stop or US support for Israel will be significantly curtailed. The US is not going to support a rouge nation. The US can’t if it intends to work with others and support greater cooperativity among all nations..
Israel will be signing a death warrant for their people if they do what Obama and Washington wants them to. Obama does not care about Israel. He just wants to look good to all the Arab countries at any cost. He does not care. Bibi needs to understand this. If he gives up this land to the PA, Israel will not have peace and he of all people should know this. Bibi needs to tell Obama and Washington to Shutup and but out, all of them. They are trying to black mail him into doing what they want and believe me it is to make them look good. Why doesn’t Bibi insist that Obama sign a document that he will come to Israel’s defense if they give up land and get bombed or have rockets coming down on them all day every day. See what he has to say about this. All of Israel needs to PRAY about this as the real true Christians in US are PRAYING about this.
I want to clear up something about this land that Peter is talking about. This land belonged to Israel before it belong to anyone. The Arabs took it away from Israel and Israel was scattered from one end of the earth to the other. GOD promised that in the last days Israel would be brought back to their land and they would occupy that land until JESUS returns. Just read the BIBLE and you will see that this is the COVENANT GOD made with Israel. So this land rightfully belongs to Israel and when JESUS returns Israel is going to occupy all of the land with JESUS as their KING. And all those who have parted his land are going to be taken care of also.
Yikes Mr. Wedland - what property rights are you talking about.
The Palestinians (and others) declared war on Israel - they lost - and they thus lost that land - they have no rights to that land.
If you really believe what you wrote then you need to look at this map which shows what America would look like if it gave back all the land it won:
http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/when-bibi-meets-obama.html
Thank G-d we finally have a president who DOES care about Israel, and is willing to push both the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table. Unfortunately, Obama now has a right-wing government in Israel to contend with, as well as a terrorist Hamas organization in charge in Gaza, both making his task that much harder. All lovers of peace and a strong Israel need to support Obama’s efforts to end this conflict.
Eight years of Bush/Cheney were a disaster for Israel and the Palestinians. Many Israelis now want to leave their country. We finally have a president who is willing to help save the Palestinians and Israelis from themselves.
This disagreement is very simple. No one is telling Israel what it HAS to do. Every nation is capable of making its own decisions. North Korea is doing that right now and its closest ally China will deliver its own message to Kim Jung II, I am sure of that. Obama hasn’t told Netanyahu what he HAS to do. Obama has merely informed him if Israel wants US support, Israel needs to stop the settlements. There is a strong reason for this US position I tried to explain, but it is an Israeli decision whether Israel wants to listen and cooperate with the US and understand our position and reasons or not. The US position is simple, it is based our respect of private property and our belief that when you don’t respect the rights of others you are not encouraging cooperation and peace but rather hate, anger and fear. Other than some fringe element, most in the US are not going to accept a position that God gave the land to Israel 3000 years ago so it still belongs to the Jews. Possession is 9/10th of the law. Can any Jewish settlers trace their family history and land ownership back 2,000 years?
I don’t personally care if Israel cooperates with the US or not. You are welcome to do whatever you want as an independent country. The US isn’t going to take Israel on or invade Israel because it isn’t cooperating with the US peace efforts or doing what we think it should. Rather, the US will simply take that $3 billion/yr in aid to Israel to pay off our national debt or redirect those resources toward nations more interested in working and cooperating to find solutions to conflicts. The US will stop supporting Israel in the UN Security Council when it feels the actions and behaviors of Israel do not warrant its support and/or hurt peace efforts. Israel can go its own way without further US help, I don’t think any US citizens would have a problem with that at all. Just don’t assume the US should blindly support Israel both with foreign aid and diplomatic help while Israel simultaneously does virtually whatever it wants regardless of how it impacts the peace efforts in the Middle East. If Israel decides to go find its own solution to the problem, please do. Just don’t expect to receive any US help when your solution creates additional problems and concerns in the region. There is a path to peace and a path to more conflict. You choose the path you wish to take. Most responsible nations believe the settlements are a deal breaker with regard to the peace efforts.
It is true that Europeans did take over America after the Native Americans already controlled it. Native Americans did not have any legal system for defining property rights, but certainly their presence was a justification for their legal claims to the land. Most of the Europeans came in and divided North America up into areas they controlled. The US actually purchased a large portion of that land from France in 1803. Florida was purchased from Spain in 1819. The US also purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. The only land that is part of the Continental US that was taken by war is the southern part which we took from Mexico in the Mexican-American war in the late 1840’s. I know of no one who would argue that >150 years ago power and force were not the basis for making decisions about who controlled or owned what. In spite of that, the US didn’t take most of the land we occupy now we purchased the vast majority of our present land mass from Europeans.
If your argument is that the policy of might makes right is still in effect today, I think most major nations in the world would disagree with that notion. The leading powers in the world may be unable to enforce the land rights of nations, but most would not agree that a country has the right to conquer its neighbors and take their land. This was the basis for US action in the first gulf war after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Since WWII, the US has practiced an official policy of returning land taken from other nations and leaving nations when asked to leave by their elected officials. The US has returned both Yokohama and Okinawa back to the Japanese that we took in WWII. We removed our navy from the Philippians when that was requested of us by that government. We have offered Puerto Rico independence on more than one occasion.
Israel needs to decide now which is worse, going it alone in the world, or trying to work with others like the US. The fear mongering and the constant efforts to proclaim Armageddon should this or that happen needs to stop. There is only one reason to encourage fear and that is to discourage open thinking and discussion of issues. Obama is not trying to ruin the security of Israel. He is trying to help Israel be more secure by finding a cooperative peaceful solution to the conflict. Israeli’s can be part of the solution or they can be part of the problem. Each nation makes its own choice. I am confident the US will provide a detailed picture of how the choices Israel makes will affect the choices the US exercises as well. We are talking cooperation, not control. Work with us or work against us that is Israel’s choice. Just don’t think you can do whatever you wish and expect the US with a population more than 40 times that of Israel will simply say okay, whatever you want to do is fine by us we will support you. This is the Obama administration, not the Bush administration.
I agree with Joyce. I have written a strong commentary on Rabbi Sacks in England who is concerned about these matters. If Israel gives up East Jerusalem for peace, as proposed by President Bush and now apparently President Obama, they will instead be starting a war of substantially increased intensity over the terrorist war now in progress. This could occur because the proponents of the 2-state solution do not take reality into consideration. If you allow the PA to take over East Jerusalem you give them high ground and an area wrapped around New Jerusalem that will allow them to attack on all sides with mortars and rifles, as well as the rockets now raining on Sderot from Gaza. East Jerusalem contains the Temple Mount and the sacred areas of Christianity there, such as the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ. The Moslems have been desecrating many of the ancient sacred sites of the Jews and Christians in such areas as Bethlehem, Jericho and Hebron.
In addition to this security consideration, Hamas has taken over Gaza after Sharon turned it over to the PA. The same thing would happen to the PA in the West Bank because of the backing of Iran for their puppet, Hamas. Iran would then increase its efforts to destroy Israel, as they have threatened and as Hezbollah and Hamas have been attempting. The conclusion must be that the West Bank cannot be turned into a Palestinian state with its own sovereignty until Iran is dealt with and its aggressions stopped. It should be possible to stop Iran from providing the support for Hamas and Hezbollah that negates any nuclear threat through the superior airpower of both Israel and the U. S., but not Israel alone. Israel does not have the assets to defeat the defenses of Iran without great losses. The U. S. must act in a surprise attack with their specialized and highly efficient stealth capability and Israel and the U. S. can then defeat the Iranian aircraft defenses through their overwhelming numbers and superior aircraft and pilot capabilities. The U. S. should not force Israel to take on the Iranian air defenses alone. They are not prepared for this and would take great losses.
The negotiations with the Arab neighbors of Israel and the Palestinians should initially arrive at a Palestinian state that is under Israeli sovereignty, then, after the U. S., Arabs and Israel build up a friendly state that is compatible with Israel and will control terrorism, the Palestinians can take over sovereignty.
There is another problem that the present U. S. government does not understand. The Jews must be able to rebuild their sacred Temple on the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem in preparation for the prophesied End Time prophecies. Christians, Jews and Moslems all believe that the End Times are in progress, or about to occur. A large body of Christian believers in the U. S. are involved in these beliefs. The prophecies call for rebuilding of the Temple on the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem, but with the Moslems retaining their presence on the Temple mount with their Mosque and Dome of the Rock edifice. This can be done with construction on the only site that could have been the threshing floor that King David purchased for the Temple construction in about 1,000 BC. This is the site north of the Dome of the Rock.
Israel must also control all of the Christian and Jewish sacred sites in the West Bank. We have addressed this in some detail in the comments about Rabbi Sacks in England. The Jews and Moslems must agree to occupy the Temple Mount together in a way that will prevent interference with each other. The way this can be done is covered in the Rabbi Sacks commentary. The Moslems must not occupy East Jerusalem but they could have a walled or tunnel access to the Temple Mount from the West Bank outside of East Jerusalem.
The Jews have a full right to insist on their security and means to gain peace without U. S. political pressure and interference with their program for peace. Yet, the U. S. should immediately plan a strike on Iran with Israel to remove their nuclear capability. When Iran is no longer an effective supplier and supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, true peace can be established with this incremental program to build up the West Bank economy and security from Iran and Hamas.
I agree with Peter. The best thing that could happen is that we, Israelis stop taking blood money from the US and tell them to go to hell. with Jstreet and the rest of the traitors
I should have stated that I was a carrier fighter pilot in the U. S. Navy with combat and test flying for 29 years, retiring as a Navy Captain. I was second and third senior to the 3-star Admiral who commanded the carrier task force in Viet Nam, earning the Legion of Merit and a recommendation for ADVANCED promotion to the rank of Admiral.. I engineered and analyzed the aircraft needs of the Navy in regard to their carrier aircraft and missile requirements. I managed the initiation of the F-14 Tomcat aircraft that was the top gun aircraft in the movie with that title. I actually helped establish the top-gun tracking systems that trained Navy fighter pilots. I managed and wrote the analysis studies that started the F-18 fighter program for the Navy by Mcdonnell and Northrop Aircraft. Retiring to accept a position with Northrop aircraft, I worked with new fighter systems in the Northrop advanced design departments, managing the critical design areas of the aircraft and analyzing Navy requirements. I have earned the degrees of BS in Naval officer and aviator training, BS in engineering, AE in engineering from CalTech and MBA in business management and finance from UCLA; over 11 years of academic studies in top universities.
I have been a Christian believer all of my life. after 25 years of intense study of the logic of Christianity and the End Time prophecies of the Christian and Jewish Bibles, I have written the book, “Omega Chronicles”, available on authorhouse.com. The prophecy studies indicate that the End Times have begun when Israel returned to their land and are now well along, with specific prophetic passages indicating USA wars with Iran, Russia and China and their allies, in succession, over a 7-year Apocalypse.
I am Captain William Mohlenhoff, U. S, Navy, Retired, now President of a joint venture entrepreneurial high technology enterprise that has developed a system to strengthen masonry buildings against earthquakes, winds, bomb blasts and deterioration.
Pen-name is Will Hoffmill, author of the book, “Omega Chronicles”, that details the Bible prophecies in a logical way that is not fictional but is essentially a plan of the Creator and the opposing Archangel, Satan. The Creation and the entire history of man is summarized and the essence of Christian belief is given in logical format.
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Paul Jeser
05/27/09 03:57 PM
I wish that members of APN & J Street would move to Israel. Until then they should just shut up.
They don’t pay Israeli taxes, they don’t fight in its wars - yet they think they have the same ‘rights’ as Israelis! They make me sick to my stomach!
The fact that they don’t understand that the only ‘settlement’ the Arab nations want destroyed is the settlement of Israel proves how out of touch with reality they are.
These people do nothing but strengthen those trying to destroy Israel and have blood on their hands. They should be ashamed of themselves!