US drops demand for Israel to freeze settlement building

[Hannah Bell]

The US government has dropped its demand that Israel halt the building of new Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. An editorial in the British-based Guardian noted that the Middle East “peace process died a quiet, undramatic death” with this announcement.

Some half-a-million Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the Six-day War in 1967. The figure has tripled since the Oslo Accord was signed in 1993. Settlements now control some 42 percent of the West Bank, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. All the settlements on occupied land are in violation of international law.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) had insisted the building of settlements be halted before it sits down to face-to-face negotiations with the Israeli government. The Obama administration initially backed this appeal. In a speech at Cairo University in 2009, Obama insisted that building should cease.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/isra-d20.shtml

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. it's just not that important anymore, i guess

[Ghost Dog]

2. Time to establish the Palestinian State.

The "international community" will have to recognise that these settlements fall under Palestinian jurisdiction.

And the "Jewish State" will have to be recognised as an apartheid regime.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. It is truly unfortunate that a final deal wasn't reached in 2000. Bill Clinton really tried.

What a shame, that those responsible for sinking that thing at the last minute didn't display more vision for their people.

[howard112211]

4. They are working hard to kill the "two state solution" deader than dead.

[Selatius]

5. At the current rate, the notion of a Palestinian State will become unworkable rather quickly.

There will be too many parcels of land controlled by Israel for there to be a functional state for Palestinians. Such a state would be fragmented geographically, with each piece surrounded either by Israeli access roads connecting the colonies or the colonies themselves. It would therefore be almost entirely dependent upon Israel for access to the outside world. It would bare some resemblance to the bantustans of South Africa during Apartheid.

[Recursion]

6. Carter says that ship sailed already

In '05/'06.

[Still a Democrat]

7. Well, sorry we asked so much

We'll try to come up with something easier in exchange for our billions. :sarcasm:

[bvar22]

8. One of the very few times I have had the opportunity to praise President Obama

was when he took a firm, unambiguous STAND against further expansion of Israeli settlements.

...just more words? :shrug: