It’s encouraging to see Pres. Obama and Sec. of State Clinton telling the Israelis to stop building illegal settlements in the West Bank. And no exceptions — no “natural growth,” no outposts, no nothing. Stop means stop, period.
As Clinton put it:
With respect to settlements, the president was very clear when Prime Minister Netanyahu was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements – not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions. We think it is the best interests of the effort we are engaged in, that settlement expansion cease.
It’s about time the US developed some backbone on this subject. Turning a blind eye to Israel’s continuing land grab in the Middle East cannot have helped our standing in the region or anyone’s efforts to negotiate a peace there. It cannot have done anything but inflame the Palestinians, who on a daily basis have seen more and more of their land, their potential new state, settled by Israelis practicing their own version of eminent domain (map).
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Previously on Pied Type:
Israelis plan yet another West Bank settlement
This is a futile effort. Since when has Israel listened to reason?
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Like so many other sticky wickets in politics, the principals will make a show of talking it to death and end up doing nothing. Not that I consider the US a principal in this issue. Seems to me it’s up to the people in the Middle East to find and implement whatever solutions they, not we, think are necessary.