….In Israel of course. Olmert is claiming that he now needs a larger coalition after the criticism of his invasion of Lebanon, but instead of bringing in a more moderate politician, he has chosen instead to bring in the rightist of the right neo cons, Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beitenu and founder of Our Home Israel [http://en.wikipedia.org/...]. Lieberman represents a party that believes in further expansions in the west bank, then annexing all settlements into Israel and removing Palestinians from Israel proper. He has also been put in charge of a very sensitive area, Iran Strategic Defense. Olmert has been unsuccessful getting support for his aggression against Iran during his world tour, and since he has totally disregarded Bush’s Roadmap to Peace by continuing to build more and more settlements in the west bank, what makes anyone believe Israel cares one bit what the United States of America says. They seem to have both parties in their pockets anyway. UPDATED that is a very snarky comment, but I am leaving it to give context to comments down stream.
How do you Stir Iran anger and Palestinian anger on cue:
Olmert brings in far right
Olmert has reached a deal to broaden his shaky coalition by adding a far-right party that seeks to annex parts of the West Bank and reduce Israel’s Arab population.
The move is seen as an attempt to stabilise the faltering coalition Government, which has been struggling for months. But the new partner — Israel Beiteinu, or Israel Is Our Home — strongly opposes concessions to the Palestinians.
The deal signals that Mr Olmert is now more concerned with internal Israeli politics than with initiatives to deal with the Palestinians.
The agreement changes the complexion of the Government, which previously presented itself as centrist. The shift has been caused largely by the two military crises in Gaza and Lebanon. Polls suggest Mr Olmert would be heavily defeated in an election now by more traditional, right-wing parties.
The Prime Minister has already indicated that the central theme of his election campaign, a withdrawal from some Jewish settlements in the West Bank, has been put on indefinite hold. The latest development reinforces that notion.
http://www.theage.com.au/….
Hawkish Israeli party to join Olmert’s coalition
Far-right leader to take charge of dealing with ‘strategic threats’
(10-24) 04:00 PDT Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert moved Monday to shore up his unpopular center-left coalition by adding a far-right party whose leader has advocated annexing parts of the occupied West Bank.
Avigdor Lieberman, head of the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu party, announced the deal after meeting with Olmert. “We are joining the government,” he said.
Olmert said Lieberman will be given the rank of deputy prime minister and be put in charge of dealing with “strategic threats” to Israel, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
http://www.sfgate.com/….
What party does Leiberman represent?
Out Home Land read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/….
West Bank settlements expanding steadily: report
(AP)
24 October 2006
JERUSALEM – Jewish settlements are expanding in the occupied West Bank despite the building freeze demanded by a U.S.-led peace plan and sometimes in defiance of Israeli law, a paper said on Tuesday citing a government report.
The left-leaning Haaretz daily said the findings came from a secret two-year study that came across what the newspaper called `rampant construction’. The report accused some unnamed Israeli officials of intentionally deleting records from a settlement database in order to conceal the scale of the expansion.
`Construction there has been ongoing for years, in blatant violation of the law,’ the paper quoted the report as saying.
snip
Although Israel says it has the right to continue building inside existing settlements, Haaretz said construction had often been beyond the settlement boundaries and sometimes on privately owned Palestinian land.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/….
leadership couldnt get any more hawkish, war mongering and desperate to slaughter more innocent Arabs…..
I love the terminology in that newspaper headline above. If this were for example some central European party proposing to strip Jewish citizens of their citizenship simply because of their racial/religious origins we would call it for the fascism it is. But if it’s an Israeli proposing the same thing for Arab fellow-citizens, it’s not fascist but “hawkish”.
Also, the US rejects the idea of a Hamas-led government for the PA. At the UNGA earlier this month, the US squashed the idea of even a Palestinian unity government so long as it contained Hamas, on the grounds that we cannot deal with a government containing a party that does not recognise the right of a Jewish state to exist and will not renounce violence. So when will Lieberman recognise the right of a Palestinian state to exist? And if he doesn’t, and he is now in government, when does the blockade of Israel begin? (Rhetorical question of course).
And while I’m on the subject of mutual recognition as a prerequisite for government, let’s remember a few things about the manifestos of the parties that served in the Sharon governments of the last 5 years.
From the Likud party platform: The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel’s existence, security and national needs.
Not a lot of mutual recognition there.
From the Beteinu party platform: [The National Union] Absolutely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on ideological, historic and security grounds [and] views the voluntary transfer of the Palestinian population to neighboring Arab countries (particularly Jordan with its 60% majority Palestinian population) as the only sustainable solution to the crisis in the Middle East.
No Palestinian state in their vision of the future. No Palestinians either!
From the party platform of the National Religious party: Only the Torah can serve as a foundation for Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael, because the Torah is the foundation for all Jewish life…There will only be one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – the State of Israel. No independent national Arab entity will exist within the limits of the Land of Israel. No part of Israel will be given over to a foreign government or authority.
And the two state solution fits in with this how?
We didn’t have a word to say about any of those party manifestos, none of which would be acceptable to us if the names were changed and they represented the views of parties in a Palestinian government. We are pissing away any credibility we ever had to influence events in that conflict, and we don’t even notice it’s happening.
West Bank Settlers attack Palestinian farmers
(AP)
25 October 2006
NABLUS, West Bank – West Bank settlers on Wednesday attacked a group of Palestinian farmers with rocks and metal bars, wounding at least three people, in what has become an annual scene of violence during the olive harvest season.
Ibrahim Salah said about 30 family members were tending to their field west of Nablus when some 50 settlers descended on the area wielding rocks and metal bars, and some holding guns. He said his son Basel, 31, was hit in the head by a metal bar and taken to a hospital. Witnesses said four others were lightly wounded.
Israeli troops arrived shortly after the incident and dispersed the crowd, evacuating Salah to a hospital in an army jeep, the army said. There were no immediate details on his condition.
The incident occurred near Havat Gilad, one of two dozen unauthorized outposts the Israeli government has pledged to dismantle.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said three Palestinians and one settler were lightly wounded in Wednesday’s violence. He said the farmers did not coordinate with authorities or arrange an escort, as is customary during the harvest season.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/October/middleeast_Octo
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