AFTER A STORM of criticism hit Israel for the plan it announced to expand settlements in the occupied territories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back. “Israel will continue to stand for its essential interests,” he declared, “even in the face of international pressure, and there will be no change in the decision it has taken.”
But the “international pressure” that Netanyahu too easily dismisses has come to consist of more than mere expressions of diplomatic displeasure — and poses a profound threat to his country’s “essential interests.” Israel has often displayed an anxiety about becoming “delegitimized.” That concern acknowledges that nations — at least democratic nations — must always pay what Thomas Jefferson called “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” A government’s duty to maintain the physical security of its people is matched by the obligation to safeguard its moral standing among nations. Yet Israel’s Likud-led government is fatally undermining that standing.
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Israeli Zionism is building a 21st century Crusader State ... is there anyone familiar with history who does NOT know the fate of Crusader states ?? And the US will wage World War III over this?? yeah, sure
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Carroll, like most mainstream liberals, misses the point. The Israelis approved these housing permits to prove a simple point: they're in control, not the United Nations, not Ban Ki Moon, not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, not Iran, not even the United States.
If the U.N., implicitly supported by the Europeans, decides to override Israeli objections and arbitrarily promote an organization that refuses to even discuss the matter with Israel, then Israel will proceed to make arbitrary decisions as well. Negotiations require two or more parties; the Arabs can't outflank the Israelis by obtaining some meaningless U.N. decree that contributes nothing to the peace.
It's also worth noting that no Arabs are being displaced. On the contrary, the goal is to allow Jews to live on ancient Jewish land, land that's going unused at the moment. So if Israel is truly "apartheid", what are they doing placing Jews amongst Arabs who want a Jew-free zone in their territory? That's integration, not separation. The apartheid regime in the area is the PA and Gaza which both want judenrein -- no Jews. Where's all the outrage and moral superiority over that?
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There's some ancient indian land in your town that's unused, so the Wampanoags will be building. No problem, right?
Over the decades, Israel seems to have made no freinds in the region. It's neighbors want to wipe it off the map. Did this situation just appear from a vacuum? It has to be said that, in part, Israel shares responsibility. Arab countries are not going anywhere soon. Poking them in the eye with a stick doesn't seem to be the right methodology.
"The Israelis approved these housing permits to prove a simple point: they're in control" Well that's one thing on which I can agree with blisterpeanuts. (The Hyena is beyond redemption). The Israelis are in control, have been for sixty years and have not been able to achieve an understanding with their neighbors. It's a complicated story, to be sure, and many errors have been made. But what seems to have happened over time is that Israel took as gospel it's right, not only to exist, but to expand. The original grand ploy of the Likud came crashing down. They could not push the Palestinians into Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria When the Arabs came around and offered recognition of the original Israeli borders...well, the goal posts got moved. As noted above, the Israelis are in control...and responsibility should follow. It can be hoped that the President's recent discovery of his power to say no to the Right domestically will be followed by something similar in foreign affairs. It is amusing to see the illiterate Hyena accuse Carroll of anti-Semitism.
Blisterpeanuts: “The Israelis approved these housing permits to prove a simple point: they’re in control.” That being so, the Israelis are the ones who ultimately will control whether there is to ever be a just peace with the Palestinians. Unfortunately, that is not something that any Israeli government has EVER wanted. The entire world knows, except apparently the vast majority of Americans, that Israel has NEVER wanted peace with the Palestinians unless that peace gave them every inch of the West Bank. The issuance of permits for E-1, in defiance of overwhelming world opinion, is just the next step towards that goal. Although not reported in the main stream media in America and history books, this fact has been acknowledged repeatedly by Israel’s leaders:
David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first prime minister:
--“We must expel the Arabs and take their places and if we have to use force to guarantee our own right to settle in those places--then we have force at our disposal” (1937)
--”I support compulsory transfer. I do not see in it anything immoral…The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making that happen, such as war” (1937)
--”I favor partition because when we become a strong power we will abolish partition and spread throughout Palestine.”
--”Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country.
--”Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves…we are the aggressors and they defend themselves.”
Menachem Begin, Israel’s 6th Prime Minister: “The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be realized…It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it and forever”
Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister from 2001-2006: “It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is no Zionism, colonization {sic} or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands” “Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours.”
Israel’s actions over that past sixty-five years clearly reflect its leaders’ statements. Israel’s current government, which is equally (if not more) extreme than many radical Islamist governments, is gobbling up Palestinian land at a record pace with no apparent intention whatsoever of giving it up. Absent a 180 degree change of course on Israel‘s part, no amount of negotiations between it and the Palestinians is going to peace, must less a just peace. In that regard, it is important to note that the charter of the Likud party, which Prime Minister Netanyahu leads, explicitly states that they will never allow for the creation of a Palestinian state. Moreover, the slate of candidates elected just two week by the Likud to run in Israel’s national election this coming January is far more extreme on this point than ever before. Gone from the slate are the few voices of moderation that had existed in the Likud up until this time. Compared to the rest of the candidates, Netanyahu looks like a dove. The radicalization of the Likud is furthered by its new alliance for the upcoming elections with Yisrael Beytenu, a party even further to the extreme lead by Israel’s infamous Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.
The suggestion by Blisterpeanuts that the Palestinians refuse to negotiate with the Israelis is typical Zionist hasbara. It totally stands the truth on its head. Israel has been offered peace in exchange for compliance with international law many times and repeatedly rejected it. For example, in the mid-1970s the PLO endorsed a comprehensive peace with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza. Israel rejected it. In March 2002, the Arab League proposed not only peace but normal relations with Israel in exchange for an end to the Occupation and a “just solution” to the refugee problem. That offer was be re-extended on many occasions, every time rejected by Israel. Why all of these rejections? Because the die-hard Zionists who run Israel know that any just would mean an end to their dream of a Greater Israel. The continued pursuit of that dream underlies the Israelis’ cynical use of “negotiations” over the last 45 years as a smokescreen to advance its theft of Palestinian land. So too have they used on many occasions its invasions of Gaza to divert the world’s attention away from their march to take over the entire West Bank. During every major invasion of Gaza, with the world’s attention consumed, the Israeli government has radically stepped up its settlement efforts in the West Bank.
Rather than address the FACTS above or that contained in Mr. Carroll’s piece, the detractors resort to raising the spectre of anti-Semitism. My comments will undoubtedly subject me to the same ad hominem attack. In addressing that point, one must consider that “anti-Semitism” is a prejudice. As with any prejudice, it rears its ugly and ignorant head when one PRE-JUDGES a person or group based on “who” they are (i.e. a Jew), rather than judging the person or group based on their actual actions (i.e., his or their actions vis-à-vis the world). The overwhelming majority of people that are summarily labeled “anti-Semitic” by Israel’s supporters are not PRE-judging Israel. They have formed their judgments based on Israel’s actions. And, although we can debate all night what adjectives are appropriate to characterize those judgments, “anti-Semitic” is not one of them.
Those countries in the UN General Assembly who voted against Israel and in favor of upgrading the Palestinians status at the UN did so with 45 years of experience from which to judge Israel’s actual behavior and its true intent. It is disingenuous to claim the vote was motivated by some prejudgment of Israel or anti-Semitism. Now one can only hope that the world will wrest control of the situation away from Israel (and the US) and translate its judgment into actions. I suggest that the world’s approach to apartheid era South Africa provides many lessons in how to accomplish this goal.
I care DEEPLY about the survial and security of Israel. I eschew ANY policy that compromises that. More than any other issue placing roadblocks to peace it is the settlements. It is a stick in the eye to any hope there can be compromise with Palestinians for a two state solution. As long as these settlement remain and indeed expand it can be equated with Palestinian steadfast continuance to threaten Israel, bomb it or to even recognize the Jewish state.
The two sides are INTRACABLE in the effort to compromise. Compromise -- it's NOT nor should it be a dirty word and may just save your existential life!