Israeli settlements undermine peace prospects, warns Clinton - Ewen MacAskill - The Guardian UK
tdny
Israeli settlements undermine peace prospects, warns Clinton
Secretary of state reaffirms 'rock-solid' commitment to Israeli
security but says US has responsibility to tell friend the truth
* Ewen MacAskill in Washington
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 22 March 2010 16.24 GMT
Hillary Clinton addresses the AIPAC conference in Washington
Hillary Clinton at the AIPAC conference in Washington.
Hillary Clinton today warned Israel against any further
new Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory, saying
they undermined prospects for Middle East peace negotiations.
In a speech to 7,500 people at the annual conference in
Washington of the biggest pro-Israeli lobbying group,
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
the US secretary of state reaffirmed her personal
"rock-solid" commitment and that of the Obama
administration to Israel's security.
But she ended her speech by directly confronting the
issues that led to the biggest US-Israeli rift in decades.
"As Israel's friend, it is our responsibility to give credit
when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed," Clinton said.
The row began when Israel unexpectedly announced
new construction in East Jerusalem, leading Palestinians
to pull out of proposed US-brokered peace talks.
Clinton told the conference:
"New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank
undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity
talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations
that both sides want and need.
It exposes daylight between Israel and
the United States that others in the
region could hope to exploit.
And it undermines America's unique ability to play a role -
an essential role, I might add - in the peace process."
When she was a senator for New York,
Clinton was a favorite at Aipac conferences.
But her strong words for Netanyahu over the
last fortnight left a coolness in the hall.
Instead of the regular enthusiastic standing ovations
she could have expected a few weeks ago, she was
given only occasional applause.
One skeptic questioned why the hall was clapping
someone who had had such harsh things to say
about Israel, and dismissed Clinton's hopes for a
comprehensive Middle East peace settlements as unrealistic.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,
has flown to Washington for the Aipac meeting
and is scheduled to meet both Clinton and Barack Obama.
Last week, under pressure from Clinton, Netanyahu offered
various concessions to smooth the way for Palestinian entry
into negotiations and promised that these negotiations would
be on substantive issues: the future of Jerusalem, borders and
the status of Palestinian refugees.
Clinton's phone call with Netanyahu last week was private,
but it is believed he also gave an undertaking that there
would be a freeze on settlement building in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
Clinton told Aipac that the status quo was
not an option and that "dynamics of demography" -
Palestinian population growth outpacing that of Jews in Israel -
would eventually force change, as would more efficient weaponry.
"There is another path.
A path that leads toward security
and prosperity for all the people in the region.
It will require all parties - including Israel -
to make difficult but necessary choices," she said.
On Iran, she said the US was working towards
the imposition of sanctions that would bite.
docremington
tdny wrote:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/22/hillary-clinton-warns-israel-peace
> Israeli settlements undermine peace prospects, warns Clinton
>
Lying like a pornstar undermines her credibility.
tdny
"docremington" <docrem...@safe-mail.net> wrote in message
news:3cd3e7a1-99f7-4c9e...@30g2000yqi.googlegroups.com...
Hillary Rodham Clinton, might be USA President, one day soon.
Her husband and Mr. Netanyahu had their fair share of shouting matches.
Netanyahu has had a problem with USA Presidents, in the past.
Netanyahu behaves as though he owns the USA,
and because AIPAC has such a stranglehold on our politicians,
he may be right.
But his strutting style behaviour rubs our presidents the wrong way,,
with President Barack Hussein Obama, being the latest run in, but not the
first.
docremington
tdny wrote:
> "docremington":
> > tdny wrote:
> >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/22/hillary-clinton-warns-israel-peace
> >> Israeli settlements undermine peace prospects, warns Clinton
> >
> > Lying like a pornstar undermines her credibility.
>
> Hillary Rodham Clinton, might be USA President, one day soon.
> Her husband and Mr. Netanyahu had their fair share of shouting matches.
> Netanyahu has had a problem with USA Presidents, in the past.
> Netanyahu behaves as though he owns the USA,
> and because AIPAC has such a stranglehold on our politicians,
> he may be right.
> But his strutting style behaviour rubs our presidents the wrong way,,
> with President Barack Hussein Obama, being the latest run in, but not the
> first.
>
Funny drivel.
Doug
news:VOedndWGsdtTQDrW...@earthlink.com...
Hillary whores herself out to any islamofascist regime willing to flip
the bill as the tens of millions of dollars paid out to the Clinton
foundation
by soddy barbaria, UAE, Oman attest.
dsharavi
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/22/hillary-clinton-warns-isr...
> Israeli settlements undermine peace prospects, warns Clinton
Do they really?
> Hillary Clinton today warned Israel against any further
> new Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory, saying
> they undermined prospects for Middle East peace negotiations.
ettlements have never been an obstacle to peace.
* From 1949-67, when Jews were forbidden to live on the West Bank,
the Arabs refused to make peace with Israel.
* From 1967-77, the Labor Party established only a few strategic
settlements in the territories, yet the Arabs were unwilling to
negotiate peace with Israel.
* In 1977, months after a Likud government committed to greater
settlement activity took power, Egyptian President Sadat went to
Jerusalem and later signed a peace treaty with Israel. Incidentally,
Israeli settlements existed in the Sinai and those were removed as
part of the agreement with Egypt.
* One year later, Israel froze settlement building for three
months, hoping the gesture would entice other Arabs to join the Camp
David peace process. But none would.
* In 1994, Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel and
settlements were not an issue. If anything, the number of Jews living
in the territories was growing.
* Between June 1992 and June 1996, under Labor-led governments,
the Jewish population in the territories grew by approximately 50
percent. This rapid growth did not prevent the Palestinians from
signing the Oslo accords in September 1993 or the Oslo 2 agreement in
September 1995.
* In 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to dismantle dozens
of settlement, but the Palestinians still would not agree to end the
conflict.
Settlement activity may be a stimulus to peace because it forced the
Palestinians and other Arabs to reconsider the view that time is on
their side. References are frequently made in Arabic writings to how
long it took to expel the Crusaders and how it might take a similar
length of time to do the same to the Zionists. The growth in the
Jewish population in the territories forced the Arabs to question this
tenet. "The Palestinians now realize," said Bethlehem Mayor Elias
Freij, "that time is now on the side of Israel, which can build
settlements and create facts, and that the only way out of this
dilemma is face-to-face negotiations."
> "As Israel's friend, it is our responsibility to give credit
> when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed,"
> Clinton said.
"Clinton said" - that's funny.
> Clinton told the conference:
> "New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank
> undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity
> talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations
> that both sides want and need.
> It exposes daylight between Israel and
> the United States that others in the
> region could hope to exploit.
> And it undermines America's unique ability to play a role -
> an essential role, I might add - in the peace process."
Evidently Hillary forgot Oslo, the DoP, and that famous handshake on
the White House lawn, despite Rabin's commitment to further
"settlements"[SIC], i.e.:
"The coming years will be marked by the extension
of construction in greater Jerusalem."
"The government will continue to reinforce Jewish
settlement along the confrontation lines, because of its
importance for security, and in metroplitan Jerusalem.
There is no disagreement in this house concerning
Jerusalem's being the eternal capital of Israel."
"Jerusalem, whole and unified, has been and forever
will be the capital of the people of Israel under Israeli
sovereignty, the focus of every Jew's dreams and longings.
This government is firm in its resolve that Jerusalem is
not a subject for bargaining."
"Israeli settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza will
remain under Israeli rule with no change in their status."
"In whatever negotiation, we will be firm in our stand
that Jerusalem is and will continue to be united and our
eternal capital. From our perspective, Jerusalem of Gold,
of Copper, and of Light - is ours."
- Yitzhak Rabin, July 1993
In fact:
"[The Palestinians have made] the following assurances
to Israel: Unified Jerusalem shall remain under Israeli
control, and the body that will be the [Palestinian]
authority in the territories shall have no authority
there."
"Israeli settlements in Judea, Samaria, AnD GAZA
will remain under Israeli rule with no change in their
status. The [Palestinian] authority will not apply
to any Israeli in the territories of Judea, Samaria
AND GAZA. The IDF will continue to bear overall
responsibility for the security of Israeli settlements
in the territories, and for every Israeli when
present in the territories."
- Yitzhak Rabin, September 1993
"Yitzhak would never have offered Palestinians control over
parts of the Old City of Jerusalem"
Leah Rabin, September 2000
Deborah