These headlines appeared this morning in the sometimes liberal Israeli newspaper, Haartez, about Netanyahu’s meeting on Monday with President Obama and the issues likely to be on the table, including Palestinian statehood, settlements, Iran, etc.
Anyone interesting in discussing them?
The Likud position has always been, no Palestinian state. Has anything really changed? A new Road Map is being offered by Netanyahu? What happened to the last one?
Netanyahu unlikely to back Palestinian state in Obama meet
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unlikely to state support for the establishment of a Palestinian state when he meets with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, an aide to the prime minister said.
However, in a bid to soften edgy relations with Washington, Netanyahu will propose that joint teams draft a new road map for the Palestinian peace process and a new strategy on Iran.
Anything to slow the process to peace. The key phrases in this mext article are, “slow down” and “long process.” Do these expressions mean Natanyahu will resort to the usual delaying tactics in order to keep the Israel’s colonization going?
ANALYSIS / Netanyahu is capable of reaching peace
(snip)
The prime minister has matured. He is less extroverted than when he first rose to power. But despite the packaging difference, the content is similar. In 2009, as in 1996, Netanyahu wants to show that he can come to the White House, voice his known stances from his days in the opposition and campaign trail, and remain in one piece. Again he will be hosted by a president who wants to accelerate the peace process, while Netanyahu will ask him to slow down. In Clinton’s days Netanyahu spoke of “reciprocity” in relations with the Palestinians. Now he is demanding that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish people’s nation-state.
(snip)
Obama issued several firm messages before Netanyahu’s visit, conveying dissatisfaction with the new Israeli government’s stances. He will make it clear that he will not give up the “two-state solution” and Israel must to toe the American line on the Iranian issue, not the other way around. Netanyahu will try to convince Obama to adjust the process’ pace to his coalition’s absorption ability.
Their meeting tomorrow should be seen as the first step in a long process, in which Obama will try to drag Netanyahu into a deal with the Palestinians and dismantle West Bank settlements. Netanyahu will seek a hard American line on Iran, and a resumption of political and security coordination between Israel and the U.S.
Uri Avnery recently called Shimon Peres, Israel’s president, a “political prostitute.”. Do we have a real change of heart here or is this another act of prostitution?
Peres: Time is ripe to advance Mideast peace
President Shimon Peres said on Sunday that the time was ripe to advance Middle East peace talks, speaking after talks in Jordan with King Abdullah II.
The President told reporters that the political gap between Israel and the Palestinians was shrinking. He also called for the advancement of the Arab peace initiative, which stipulates that all 57 Muslim states must recognize Israel.
Peres met with the Jordanian king in a bid to overcome the diplomatic crisis between the two states. The pair were to discuss how to advance peace with the Palestinians on the basis of the Arab peace initiative.
Settlements continue in spite of Obama’s request that they be stopped. Well, hasn’t every president made this same request? And the result was?
Peace Now: ‘Natural growth’ – Israel’s trick for West Bank expansion
Figures released recently by the Central Bureau of Statistics cast doubt on government officials’ claims of housing shortages for young couples living in West Bank settlements – the central argument Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to present to U.S. President Barack Obama against freezing settlement construction.
Figures for 2006-07 reveal that the housing shortage in settlements stems largely from “migration” from Israel proper to communities beyond the Green Line, as well as the addition of new immigrants from abroad.
The data show that in 2007, natural growth accounted for 63 percent of settlement population growth, whereas internal migration accounted for 37 percent. The previous year, they show an addition of roughly 5,600 residents (which accounted for those who arrived minus those who had left) across West Bank settlements. For every 10 residents leaving settlements that year, 15 others arrived.
Why Iran’s nuclear program is just Israel’s latest trump card or red herring for avoiding peace with the Palestinians is what this article is really about. Can anyone make a connection between Iran and Palestinian statehood? Obama recently asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but it refused.
Arab League: Israel’s nuclear program more worrying than Iran
Arab League Chief Amr Moussa on Sunday urged U.S. President Barack Obama to raise Israel’s ambiguous nuclear program onto the agenda for discussion, rather than focusing on Iran’s contentious uranium enrichment.
According to Moussa, Israel’s ambiguous nuclear policy posed more concern for Arab leaders than the program now underway in Iran.
The Arab League announced during a summit in March that member states would walk away from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if Israel ever officially acknowledges it has nuclear weapons.
So much for debate.
