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A BRIBE TOO GOOD TO REFUSE
Decades of Israeli/Palestinian/US relations prove nothing from Washington or Tel Aviv can be trusted, their word never their bond
By Stephen Lendman
- Hillary offers Bibi a package of incentives for a 90 days settlement freeze
When all else fails, offer money, or in this case weapons for peace (a clear oxymoron) via for a three month settlement construction moratorium in name only. In fact, new building is unimpeded, Obama’s offer a facade to hide reality on the ground. More on the deal below.
Last December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the moratorium, saying he hoped it would launch meaningful peace talks. They’re entirely fraudulent ones, a grand illusion even Netanyahu once called “a waste of time.”
Two earlier articles on them can be accessed through the following links:
Another covers Netanyahu’s sham moratorium (never called a freeze):
Decades of Israeli/Palestinian/US relations prove nothing from Washington or Tel Aviv can be trusted, their word never their bond.
On November 13, PeaceNow.org said since late October, the end Netanyahu’s moratorium, “settlers (began) build(ing) 1,629 housing units, and even (dug) foundations for 1,116 of them. (Work began) in 63 settlements, 46 of them east of the Separation (Wall) and 17 on (its) western side.”
Moreover, throughout 2009, “according to the Israeli CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics) data,” work began on 1,888 units. It continued virtually unabated during the moratorium, and goes on steadily every day.
In addition, whatever Washington/Tel Aviv deal is stuck, East Jerusalem is off the table, a November 13 AFP report saying “Israel plans to (sell) 3,000 new Jewish homes in Jerusalem next year, including in Arab areas,” according to a municipality official.
On November 9, Netanyahu’s office, in fact, said:
“Jerusalem isn’t a settlement – Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Israel has never put any sort of limits on construction in Jerusalem, where some 800,000 people reside, and didn’t do so during the 10-month settlement ‘freeze’ in the West Bank either….Israel does not see any connection between the peace process and the building and planning policy in Jerusalem, which hasn’t changed for 40 years. Every Israeli government in the past 40 years has built in all parts of the city.”
East Jerusalem is also the Palestinian capital, a right no PA leader will relinquish. Moreover, honest observers see no connection between the “peace process” and peace. Negotiations have been still born from inception, a charade assuring no peace because neither Washington nor Israel will tolerate it. It’s one of many unspoken dirty secrets, explaining why conflict and repressive occupation have raged unabated for decades.
Obama’s Offer – F-35s for Peace
In fact, 20 F-35s (America’s most advanced fighter jet) will be added to an existing Israeli order under a $2.75 billion contract. On November 10, Haaretz’s Amos Harel called a deal too good to refuse, along with:
“other gifts the US administration is willing to offer to Israel in exchange for three months of construction freeze in the settlements….”
It makes Harel think “someone has gone mad.” Nonetheless, a “political and ideological headache for Netanyahu” may be too enticing to turn down. He suspects “much broader and substantive issues” are involved, including on the Iranian question.
According to an unnamed senior Israeli defense source, “The Americans have put forth an excellent proposal,” a gift. “It will be a big mistake not to take it….If we do not implement this deal, we will suffer in terms of defense.” Israeli weapons, in fact, are for offense, not defense. No nation anywhere threatens it. Claiming so is duplicitous fear-mongering, the last refuge of belligerents.
Reportedly, Israel also took delivery of the first batch of 1,000 new US 250-pound GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs), F-15s, F-16s, and F-35s able to carry them. They’re extremely powerful, able to penetrate eight feet of concrete, an ideal weapon against underground targets.
Waiting for Netanyahu
On November 10, Haaretz headlined, ” Netanyahu awaiting written offer from Obama on settlement freeze,” saying:
Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said “We still do not have a final proposal in writing that can be discussed in depth.” Netanyahu’s communications advisor, Nir Nefetz, said he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reached “understandings on the matter,” but formulating a written proposal will take time.
On November 14, New York Times writers Ethan Bronner and Mark Landler headlined, “A 90-Day Bet on Mideast Talks,” saying:
“The vote by Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet on (Obama’s) proposal is expected to be very close but (it’s) likely to pass by at least one vote, analysts said. Likewise, while the Palestinians have objected partly because the proposed construction freeze does not include East Jerusalem which they want as the capital of their future state, that is not considered an issue likely to dissuade them from rejoining the talks.”
New York Times and other major media writers are clueless on East Jerusalem. Palestinians don’t want it as their future capital. It’s non-negotiably theirs now, what neither The Times or other Western media will acknowledge, showing one-sided support for Israel.
A Final Comment
Another illusory construction halt is bad enough, especially by avoiding the real issue – an unconditional ban on new building as a starting point for negotiations. Worse still is the sham peace process when conflict rages daily. Numerous reports explain why.
On November 13, Israeli forces raided Bil’in village for the fifth time almost in as many days, invading homes late at night, randomly shooting, using concussion grenades, reigning terror on peaceful civilians, a process repeated regularly throughout the Territories.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden earlier this past year
On November 14, B’Tselem said Israel’s Separation Wall is strangling al-Walajah village in southwest Jerusalem, half of it stolen for a settlement. The Wall, in fact, surrounds the village, causing enormous damage, and isolating it from the city and West Bank, an act of war by other means.
Another report said Saffa Palestinians are prohibited from farming. Five international activists were arrested trying to escort residents to their land, accused of entering a closed military zone. One was beaten and injured. Israel has earmarked Saffa for annexation, another belligerent act.
Two other reports said extremist settlers destroyed trees in Surif and burned olive trees near Nablus. A third headlined, “Military Repression of Non-Violent Demonstration in Nabi Salih as the Army Lays Siege to the Village,” saying:
Israeli soldiers closed all roads and “negligently used dangerous high-velocity tear-gas projectiles,” able to cause serious injuries or death. Similar attacks occur regularly throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as frequent Gaza incursions by land against civilians, including farmers; sea against fishermen; and air against neighborhoods, communities, and other non-military targets.
This Week in Silwan headline reported “clashes, raids, arrests, and demolition orders,” its residents regularly attacked. Another cited Israeli troops raiding and looting a house and commercial property belonging to a Palestinian resident. One more reported Israeli artillery and navy randomly shelling parts of Gaza and raiding Hebron homes and a mosque, arresting three. Eleven others were arrested in Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Hebron raids.
Assaults, incursions, air attacks, home invasions, demolitions, land seizures, targeted killings, crop destruction, arrests, torture, and other abuses happen regularly, the daily reality putting a lie to the sham peace talks, whether or not they resume.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. Listen to his cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening at his blog site: sjlendman.blogspot.com He can be reached at: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=60985
Posted by Debbie Menon on Nov 18 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Israel, Palestine, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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to all in general…
This whole thing is a waste of time and money. There is no such thing as making peace with the devil. If America is really interested in peace they would sever all aid and support to Israel.
Jerusalem translated: The City of Peace?
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didn’t Israel already sell the blueprints to the f-35 to china and russia? The billion dollar bird was made useless in 2 seconds flat by these guys.
so, we are giving them 20 useless multi billion dollar bird for a token gesture of a freeze which will never, ever happen. again, more dog and poney show with the USA and Israel.
Well, I read a comment on the Stephan Walt Foreign Policy blog saying:
“….I saw it in a New York Times article by Ethan Bronner, where he quotes an (unidentified) US official explaining that the military hardware is the bribe that will be presented when Israel signs a final peace agreement.
Up for a day, maybe two, and then pulled, to be replaced by a co-written fluff piece that could have come directly from Netanyahu’s press spokesman.”
hmm…makes you wonder what the real deal is ?
Rachael, they’re now going to have to expand more settlements to store all these weapons of mass destruction. And don’t be surprised if they threaten to use those weapons on us if we ever quit cooperating with them.
john, “they” already have threatened to use them on us.
Americans are the most indebted nation of the world. Can you imagine? The earners of the highest per capita income are the most indebted. Indebted to whom? Indebted to the Federal Reserve. Who is Federal Reserve? They are bunch of Bankers and owners of Financial Institutions who have made the life of the Americans mortgaged for the money they have loaned to the American Government. What the hell did the American Government do with the money they mortgaged their entire life for? The Governments in succession spent to make the Corporations, the Bankers and the ones who lobby for them, to keep these corrupt politicians in power, more resourceful. With whose money? With the money of the Federal Reserve, borrowed for this purpose. Where did the Federal Reserve get this money? They either printed it or credited in the accounts of the Government to be spent, without any collaterals. I am writing this and I am getting hic-ups, I don’t know how the general readers will feel about it?
AMERICA’S MOST WANTED:
1. Rothschild Banks of London & Berlin
2. Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris
3. Israel Moses Seif Bank of Italy
4. Warburg Bank of Hamburg & Amsterdam
5. Lehman Bank of New York
6. Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York
7. Chase Manhattan Bank of New York
8. Goldman Sachs Bank of New York
The foregoing list of BANKSTERS derived from “Monitions of a Mountain Man: Manna, Money & Me”, by David E. Robinson; 2009 copyright; maine-patriot.com
Since the GOBALISTS want NO BORDERS/BOUNDARIES they WILL NOT be able to hide from extradition…extradition will be a moot point.
John: they already have threatened us and Europe. Its called the Sampson option. 911 was just the appetizer.
frank; keep an ear, that hears, to the wind…”they” are whisperers.
Obama don’t break our law’s with this Bribe. Its time to put your Boots On.
I know O B was never in the Military. “But” as Commander and Chief he should suit up put on his combat boots and follow the lead of one of this Country’s Greatest President’s, Eisenhower. A past Army General and His knowledgeable Secretary of State,John Foster Dulles. O B Just tell the Zionist SQUATTER state to follow UN. Resolutions in getting off Palestinian Lands as Ike did in the 1956. Suez killing War of attempted land theft. Or You will not Receive our Dollars or Military Weapons……………………..
As for our current quisling Secretary of State Clinton. Dose she even understand “wear’s the “Beef” is or is she just giving it to the Squatters as there blind serving girl?
Click here: Hillary’s Pathetic Pandering to (AIPAC) for Help & Votes By Ronald Douglas Kennedy
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2007%20Opinion%20Editorials/February/10%20o/Hillary's%20Pathetic%20Pandering%20to%20AIPAC%20for%20Help%20&%20Votes%20By%20Ronald%20Douglas%20Kennedy.htm
Zionist are not Settlers there Squatters. There two separate meaning’s as Webster’s will show.
I appreciate Ronald’s go get’em call to action. But every modern U.S. President has the same bazooka pointed at them. It’s just NOT that simple folks! The money controls and those who control are pulling the strings.
Hilliary is a pragmatic champion of rights. She’s an excellent leader but she’s NOT foolish either. She clearly understands who’s pulling the purse strings and knows what the limits are…..She flexed back in the 90s when she was the first U.S. leader to call for a Palestinian state and she got the call…..
You see, taking a stand against Zionism head on is, at the very least, political suicide, and at worst, a death wish in the USA.
To root out the filth will take a massive public revolt so angry that mobs storm the Capital and drag every Zionist and their assigns out by their legs with tar and feathers screaming down 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I mean, it must be so that if anyone moves against the people of the USA, they get put in jail including Israeli Congressman Eric Cantor who like to pose in his Halloween “Look I am an American” costume!
In other words, Zionist may purchase but if one sides against America, you get pwowned! We are dealing with the most serious and notorious infestation of gangsters on the planet. They wear blue and brown and they OWN the Clampdown!
Johnny, “they” are merely of this world.
Everybody has heard the biblical story of Sampson and Delilah.The Israeli doctrine ,The Samson Option,was named after this figure head.Or maybe the TV favorite,The Sampsons.(sic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option
Johnny, that’s a nice dream but Americans lost the courage a long time ago. They counted their nickels and said “we’re all eating here, so let’s not rock the boat”. Americans have sunk to the immorality of the people who rule them.
john, not ALL Americans. Don’t lump us ALL into the “immorality” category, thank you.
While conscientious souls have endeavored to discover and improve Reality, it is becoming obvious that the “nwo” is in place, engineered by historically coordinated power elites through the technology of violent aggression, recently consolidated by instruments of electronic control. Perhaps now a more insightful acknowledgement of the predator paradox– the formation of ruthless biosocial dominance hierarchies (even) in “sentient” species, can inform scientific, religious, and practical discussions of the human condition. Various popular cultural mythologies justifying or denying exploitation and brutality can be evaluated and discarded due to their pernicious and self-destructive use. The wisdom and leadership to revitalize viable alternatives encouraging an infrastructure of holistic, symbiotic “common good” will be unprecedented in a cyber-cultural milieu on a global scale. An essential question is whether notorious human ingenuity can be refocused on eco-communal well-being in spite of the entrenched, exclusive, “individualized” violence of the status quo. All other speculation is ultimately inane.
The money of Israhell controls the bastards in Washington D.C. The state of Washington and the people of America are ( PATHETIC ) MOST Americans could care less about their country. i would beleave if America was attacked again with Nuclear Missile’s she would do nothing. just like the pathetic Ex- President George Bush did. Americas days as a super power are gone. Israhell knows this. and she takes advantage of this. what israhell needs is a good ass kicking. she will make a big mistake in attacking Iran. i hope the Arab Nations blow israhell off the map.
That offer when it first surfaced, was made by Ross. Those who followed previous Peace Talks scams” must know that Ross, a Neocon, Israel first American was in charge of the Clinton peace effort. It took some close scrutiny, and it might have escaped me if a Reporter, on CNN I believe, had not invited the first Palestinian Authority Representative as the result of the Oslo Agreement to appear on TV to discuss the forthcoming Peace Conference sponsored by the Clinton Administration. The Palestinian arrived first and the host asked him about their expectations an hopes for the Conference. David Ross had been selected as the the US representative Negotiator. It is unclear if Ross knew who he was going to meet but his anger on seeing the Palestinians was all over his face. The TV guest, after greeting him, stated ” we were just discussing what are the Palestinians expectations for this Conference…” As the Palestinian began to answer, Ross glared at him and said “you shut up we will decide what you get not you!….” The embarrassed host closed the matter.But the issue here is that our administration selected a member and officer of the Holocaust Museum who could not even contain his hatred and anger of sitting with a Palestinian Representative . Nothing came of that conference, it was never meant to except that each time Israel received consolation compensation for failure it always blamed on Palestinians.
Now 2008: Obama prepares for the new conference and Hillary assembled the same people as requested by Israel with Ross again as head of negotiations. The moment that got out Obama was informed from various sources that Ross, a close friend of Netanyahu, was once again embarking on a protracted killing of the conference with generous compensation for the effort. Obama appointed Mitchell, Israel was furious, Hillary the appointed Ross as her personal adviser. Obama assigned him to Tehran to keep him out of Mitchells way. Are you with me? How did someone assigned to Theran and so flatly rejected for the Peace Conference ended up with personally presenting to Netanyahu that crazy offer even Netanyahu did not really belied and rightly so because Obama let it be known via the press “I didn’t sign that proposal and letter…”
Obama, again, has been operating via a staff that, be it the Health Care or Foreign Affairs, completely sabotages Obama’s proposals supported by a Congress and old Democratic insider who switched Obama’s pledges to the people to the traditional priorities of the Party. So much so that when Obama resisted, Pelosi and Reid had no problems getting cooperation from Neocon like Cantor, Lieberman and etc and release position papers written by the Jewish Lobby stating that Congress fully supported Netanyahu position, that in contradiction to the President declared position.
We now have a Congress that fully abuses their authority and the division of power established by the Constitution, Therefore if we want to take back our government ans set it up as intended by the Founders it is up to us to inform our respective representative who they have been elected to serve and for what.
It is time both parties learn we elected Obama for his values and ideas not the standard Democratic Platform they try to force on us and failed. Nor do we embrace those phony “Value Based” claims the Republicans advance to continue supporting those Corrupt criminals that ruined this nation. Will Obama be a one term president? What else is there, if he would find his backbone to stop kissing the like of McConnell who is so obviously motivated by a prejudice that combines race hatred and elitism, a very powerful rejection to overcome, not unlike the Zionist attitude toward the Palestinians and the world. Perhaps they should admit this to themselves and create less enemies around the world. Hopefully those enemy know how to hit the guilty target.
So it is everyone in The United States of Israel.
Johnny –As you know our FINEST face that “Bazooka” daily in the field. Nixon not always being one of my favorites had one thing right for sure “If you cant stand the heat in the kitchen get out”. President’s ,Senators & Congressmen are supposed to be part of that “fine edge” of our Finest in the field and not hiding as sewer rats looking to bring shine treats back from K. street
Hopefully this link will bring up Ms. Clinton Secretary of state lack of addressing the Factual Issue’s on the International dinner table to be resolved. If a working peace agreement is going to be served to a world tiring of this “sickening zionest contagion”.
Click here: Hillary’s Pathetic Pandering to (AIPAC) for Help & Votes By Ronald Douglas Kennedy
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2007%20Opinion%20Editorials/February/10%20o/Hillary's%20Pathetic%20Pandering%20to%20AIPAC%20for%20Help%20&%20Votes%20By%20Ronald%20Douglas%20Kennedy.htm
Equalizer, true, and I’m glad of that fact. Howevet, on the “whole”, American morality is definately not what it once was.
MAMA MAMA PLEASE, NO MORE FRRE WEAPONS TO ISRAEL!
more total garbage from Stephen Lendman, notorious self hating Jew and Palestinianazi stooge. Anything out of this guy’s piehole is total anti-Israel hate.
[...] Lendman, a Research Associate of the Center for Research on Globalization reported in Veterans Today that the New York Times gives its typical pro-Israel slant on Clinton’s [...]
[...] Lendman, a Research Associate of the Center for Research on Globalization reported in Veterans Today that the New York Times gives its typical pro-Israel slant on Clinton’s [...]
[...] Stephen Lendman, a Research Associate of the Center for Research on Globalization reported in Veterans Today that the New York Times gives its typical pro-Israel slant on Clinton’s [...]