Israel widens Jewish settlement subsidies

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

4 August 2013 Last updated at 17:28 GMT

Israel widens Jewish settlement subsidies

Israel has agreed to subsidise several Jewish settlements that were regarded as illegal until recently.

Three out of 91 settlements designated as priority areas for development were legalised within the past year, the Peace Now settlement watchdog said.

Israel said the subsidies were needed for security reasons.

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the move would have a "destructive impact" on peace talks, which resumed last week after a three-year hiatus.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23569537

[dipsydoodle]

1. Confirmation that Israel fails to take the talks seriously.

.

[shira]

3. Nope, not if Israel offers something like the Clinton Initiatives (2000-01) or....

...Olmert's proposal (2008). Each offers just about everything the Palestinians say they want and settlement land can be negotiated. Israel can't force the Palestinians to accept a 2-state solution.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Do mean like providing sufficient space

for the 5 million refugees entitled to return ?

[shira]

5. Even Abbas says 1 million isn't realistic. Are you more Palestinian....

...than the Palestinians themselves?

Abbas: We can't expect Israel to take in a million refugees
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Abbas-We-cant-expect-Israel-to-take-in-a-million-refugees

BTW, Arafat regretted that he rejected the 2001 deal....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jun/22/israel

So if Arafat thought that deal was good enough, and Olmert offered even more in 2008, why would you be against?

[dipsydoodle]

6. UN accepts a figure of 5 million

Under UNRWA's operational definition, Palestine refugees are people whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.

UNRWA's services are available to all those living in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance. The descendants of the original Palestine refugees are also eligible for registration. When the Agency started working in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, 5 million Palestine refugees are eligible for UNRWA services.

http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=86

The key to it , like it or not , is that the descendants of the original Palestine refugees are also eligible for registration.

[azurnoir]

7. Lol still promoting Olmerts good deal let's take a dose of reality concerning that shall we -again

The one Israel's current representative to the Peace Talks ® Tzipi Livni rejected? The one Israels current PM said he would not honor? The one the Israeli government aid gave away more land than Israel was willing to give? And last but not least the one that would not be implemented while Hamas was in power in Gaza?

Netanyahu: I won't carry out an Olmert-Abbas peace deal if elected

Opposition leader favored by polls to sweep elections if held today rejects proposal to divide Jerusalem, says would toss out agreement between current PM, Palestinians

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3533242,00.html


Shaul Arieli of the Council for Peace and Security, which developed a map with a final border as part of the Geneva Initiative, said Israel's capacity to swap territory with a future Palestinian state is more limited than what Olmert reportedly proposed.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/haaretz-exclusive-olmert-s-plan-for-peace-with-the-palestinians-1.1970

Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas's spokesman, told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan showed a "lack of seriousness."

Under the proposal, Israel would return to the Palestinians 93 percent of the West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip, when the Palestinian Authority regains control over the Gaza Strip, which the militant group Hamas seized from forces loyal to Abbas in June 2006.

Olmert presented Abbas with the proposal as part of an agreement in principle on borders, refugees and security arrangements between Israel and a future Palestinian state

http://www.haaretz.com/news/pa-rejects-olmert-s-offer-to-withdraw-from-93-of-west-bank-1.251578

Livni tells France's Kouchner: I oppose Olmert's peace plan

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her French counterpart Bernard Kouchner that she opposes the agreement in principle that outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert has offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/livni-tells-france-s-kouchner-i-oppose-olmert-s-peace-plan-1.285402

[shira]

8. Arafat accepted the 2001 Taba deal. So obviously that was good enough for Arafat....

....and Olmert offered even more in 2008.

Let's face it, there's no 2-state deal no matter how good that you'd find acceptable. You'll bash the Jewish state because that's pretty much what you're all about.

[azurnoir]

9. If Arafat accpted the 2001 deal why is Israel still occupying the West Bank? n/t

[shira]

10. First, do you agree that Israel made a good, fair offer in 2001? nt

[azurnoir]

11. I'm not agreeing to anything but I take your non-answer as dodging the question

an answer in and of itself

[shira]

12. I know, you can't agree b/c then you'd have to blame Arafat, not Israel....

...for what transpired in 2000-01. You can't do that, ever.

But to answer you, the offer was no longer on the table. Different PM in Israel. Arafat even told Clinton he accepted and Clinton told him it was too late, take it to Bush.

[azurnoir]

13. o if Israel really wants peace as badly as we're being told

why the limitd time offers, could be interpreted as Israel isn't really all too concerned about so called Peace ®

[shira]

14. They've made fair offers. Apparently the Palestinians are the ones...

...in no rush to accept 2 states. They prefer the ongoing occupation/settlements, obviously. So how bad and evil can Israel be when the Palestinians would rather have the status quo than their own state. We're always told the Palestinians are so desperate for their own state, no occupation, no settlers.....



Hey, tell me how you do that registered trademark...

[azurnoir]

16. again if Israel so wants Peace®

why when Arafat said he accepted did they withdraw the offer

and for the ® symbol option + R

[Shaktimaan]

17. Entitled?

Please. Lay it out for me:

How is it that a Palestinian, born in Jordan with Jordanian citizenship (that was subsequently stripped away), living in the West Bank, under a PA elected government, born of a Jordanian mother and father, and a Jordanian grandfather, (all of whom held passports and IDs identifying them as citizens of Jordan prior to 1988), is ENTITLED to return to Israel as a citizen despite the fact that neither himself nor any of his ancestors were ever israeli citizens?

[MarkLaw]

19. The Palestinians were born in the West Bank, they remained Palestinian no matter who occupied the

land.

[Shaktimaan]

20. Soooo?

The Palestinians were born in the West Bank, they remained Palestinian no matter who occupied the land.

Which, naturally, is why they are "entitled" to Israel...??!?!?!?

Is this like how the moon belongs to America?

[Shaktimaan]

18. Sigh

You see this through only a single lens. Think broader.


Is it really "Confirmation that Israel fails to take the talks seriously!!!" Or could it possibly just be internal israeli politics playing themselves out? Ones that have no bearing at all on the peace process and are entirely just about political maneuvering?

Hint: one makes reasonable sense. The other is far fetched and absurd.

[azurnoir]

2. Sends a message it does

but at least Tzipi abstained from the vote, gotta keep up appearances and all ya know

[delrem]

21. oh yes, so much has been said and done

that I think Israel's acts and intentions are clear.

Imagine... one quick bite into the carotid artery, pulling away all of the meat and glorying in the win.