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U.N. head: Press Israel to freeze settlements

In an Op-Ed in Forbes, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon pushes for a unified Palestinian government and international pressure on Israel to freeze settlement construction. He writes:

Open crossings [at Gaza's borders], as envisaged in international agreements, remain essential if any ceasefire is to hold and much-needed humanitarian and reconstruction assistance is to reach the people. If we are to restore a properly functioning crossings regime, Israel's legitimate security concerns will need to be addressed, and the Palestinian Authority should be in a position to assume its responsibilities under these agreements. This, in turn, requires the Palestinian people to be reunited under one government committed to the principles of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

I have stated that the United Nations will work with a united Palestinian government that brings Gaza and the West Bank under the authority of President Abbas. I urge all Palestinian parties, and all regional and international players, to support the process of Palestinian reconciliation.

If anything, the crisis in Gaza underscored the depth of the political failures of the past, and the urgent need to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace for all peoples in the Middle East. Just as we need a unified Palestinian government committed to the peace process, we need an Israeli government that will uphold its commitments. Just as we need the Palestinians to address security issues--as the Palestinian Authority is doing so commendably in the West Bank--we need the Israelis to implement a genuine settlement freeze.

Settlement expansion is illegal and unacceptable and does so much to undermine confidence in the political process throughout the Arab world. I am urging all international partners to make this issue central to renewed international peace efforts.

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03/02/09 05:07 PM

This is an example of a well-meaning yet ignorant person succumbing to the influence of mainstream media. All he has to do is to ask himself a simple question: if Arabs are allowed to live in Israel, why having Jews in the “arab” parts is such a problem? If the “two-state” solution were to be implemented, the Jews living there would simply become a minority, like the Israeli arabs are.  The real problem is that the Arabs don’t want a two-state solution - they want a “final solution”.

03/02/09 07:13 PM

Israel should offer to freeze its settlements if the Palestinians offer to reduce their six child per family birth rate.

03/03/09 06:43 PM

The creation of a terrorist apartheid state cutting into Israel is unthinkable!  The ‘peace process’ is a farce; it has made demands only of Israel with Abbas refusing to disarm and disband terrorists who are committed to the destruction of the Jewish State.  It is time for the UN / international governments to stop dictating to Israel where her citizens may live; no other country has such demands made of her. 
The world must understand that Israel is at the forefront of the same battle against the network of international terrorism that has unleashed its venom against the West.  Removing her from a ‘Muslim only’ region - their goal - is only the beginning of a plan for the destruction of Western civilization and a worldwide caliphate ruled by sharia.  A brief backward glance at the history of the region shows that Jordan - 78% of the original League of Nations promise of a Jewish homeland - was created as ‘eastern Palestine’ - for Arabs only.  ‘Palestine’ as we know it - the 22% west of the Jordan River- was left for the Jews.  In less than 100 years, even this has been whittled down by the same UN that today is continuing to make outrageous demands that Israel make suicidal concessions to those who would obliterate her!  Enough!

03/04/09 05:16 AM

Ban ki moon, you should be banned to the moon!  We all know this statement for what it is---propaganda.  You must think ordinary people have no sense or discernment at all.  Your so-called “international agreements”, are not international, nor are they agreements, except in the sense that certain nations with an agenda for the destruction of a democratically established nation ---Israel-- have formed alliances and concocted schemes to actuate their desires against that one tiny nation.  In my opinion, it is the united nations that should be disbanded and pushed into the sea.  All of the corruption and lying theivery of that organization in the past persists today and I speak to you with these words --- begone!!  You accomplish nothing, you protect no one, you are a hireling, a non-entity and you save all your ineffective venom for the smallest most inoffensive group on earth ---- Israel
Elijah

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