Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumUS questions Netanyahu's commitment to peace
State Department spokesperson expresses 'deep concern' over expedited settlement construction, emphasizes US opposition to unilateral steps on Jerusalem.Yitzhak Benhorin
Latest Update: 10.27.14
WASHINGTON The US State Department said Monday that recent Israeli actions are not reflective of an administration pursuing peace. During the daily press briefing, spokesperson Jen Psaki stressed that Israel must lower tensions and take the proper steps towards living in peace.
"We view settlement activity as illegitimate and unequivocally oppose unilateral steps that prejudge the future of Jerusalem," she said.
The State Department expressed concerns following reports of expedited construction beyond the Green Line. Psaki told journalists that the US is in high-level contact with the Israeli embassy to receive more information about the proposed move.
She emphasized the US position on the settlement construction's illegality and its general opposition to unilateral moves by either party.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4584974,00.html
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)The only peace Netanyahu wants comes from a total capitulation of the Palestinians and annexation by Israel of most of the West Bank.
He doesn't give a damn what any US administration says about it. He knows AIPAC can keep the congress in line. And on that he is correct.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Request, on behalf of Palestinians, comes after Israel announces settlement construction plan as violence in area escalates.
By The Associated Press and Jack Khoury | Oct. 28, 2014 | 10:30 AM
A spokesman for Jordan's mission to the United Nations said on Monday his country will request an emergency UN Security Council meeting on behalf of the Palestinians, who have written to the council president about "dangerously escalating tensions" in East Jerusalem.
Laith Ibrahim Obeidat confirmed the request in a message and said his country, a council member, will ask the council president to set a date.
Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that he was pushing forward plans for 1,060 new housing units in Jewish neighborhoods beyond the Green Line, including in East Jerusalem, despite stiff international criticism and recent rising violence between Jews and Arabs in the capital. He then told lawmakers that he was "committed to construction in every part of Judea and Samaria [West Bank]."
The U.S. and the European Union condemned the decision, with State Department Spokesman Jen Psaki saying Washington was "deeply concerned" by reports of Netanyahu's plans.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.623128
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Amid mounting tensions between the United States and Israel over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Irans nuclear program, Obama administration officials are bluntly expressing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assailing Netanyahu as a chickenshit and a coward.
Those jibes come in a new piece by Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg, who concludes that the U.S.-Israeli relationship is in a perilous position. Goldberg points to the comatose peace process and Netanyahus strident opposition to a U.S. deal with Iran over the Islamic republics nuclear program. With an impending November deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement and a very real possibility that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will seek full United Nations recognition of Palestinian next year, the coming months are all but witness an escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Israel. And administration officials are scathing in their assessment of their Israeli interlocutor.
Referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, a senior Obama administration official told Goldberg, The thing about Bibi is, hes a chickenshit.
The administration, Goldberg reports, doesnt read too much into Netanyahus public bluster. They see him more as a man preternaturally obsessed with his political survival a no-vision small-timer, as Goldberg puts it, whose primary focus is placating his right-wing political coalition. (Hence actions like yesterdays announcement that Netanyahu had fast-tracked the construction of more than 1,000 new apartments in East Jerusalem.) When it comes to Netanyahus threats of military action against adversaries like Iran, however, the administration sees Netanyahu as all bark and little bite.
http://www.salon.com/2014/10/28/hes_a_chickenst_obama_administration_official_unloads_on_benjamin_netanyahu/
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Again, how that translates for the Palestinians in the end, is the worry.
Thanks for posting.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Every time I chew it over in my head, I realize I have no idea what is going on.
There is a revolution going on in Yemen, near as I can tell, and Iran seems to be tight with the revolutionaries, who are Fiver Shi'ia. And we are helping the revolutionaries by droning AQAP forces the revolutionaries are fighting. This ought to freak various people out. But nobody seems to be paying much attention.
Perhaps we have reached the maximum number of crises that any one person can pay attention to.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)When it comes to the I/P issue, I keep coming back to the weakness of the ME which
prompted Kerry's plan in the first place and things are even worse in the ME now than
two years ago. I doubt very much Obama is going to walk away from this opportunity
with Bibi. Kerry and Obama both equally too smart to pass on it. As always, the concern is how
it ends up, a viable state or not. EU wants it over too, real bad.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)That's going to upset a lot of applecarts. But on the other hand you wonder why it took so long too.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)"I'm not questioning it. I'm denying it's very existence!"