The first insult was Joe Biden’s in Jerusalem last week; the second insult was directed at Obama personally, while Netanyahu was visiting the White House yesterday. And the timing was perfect.
As Netanyahu was talking to Obama in the White House, an announcement was made in Israel informing that another East Jerusalem housing project had been approved. Can there be any excuse that Netanyahu was taken unawares, especially after the timing apology for the Biden faux pas? Don’t think so.
The Haaretz report of this new incident (New east Jerusalem homes approved hours before Netanyahu-Obama meet) makes that clear: “The local planning council initially approved the plan in July, a move which angered Britain and the United States and prompted them to call on Israel to cancel the plans.” The plan was approved last Thursday and announced the day of Netanyahu’s White House visit.
The Ynet headline, East Jerusalem construction project approved as Netanyahu visits White House, was similarly offensive.
YNET’s Ronen Medzini has an explosive expose, just as Netanyahu is in the White House to mend fences over his last week’s Biden blunder. Here is the gist of it:
The construction project in the Shepherd Hotel site in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, had been given the final go-ahead by the Jerusalem municipality, just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting US President Barack Obama.
The project, which includes 20 flats and a parking lot, was given a general permission by the local housing and planning committee in July 2009, triggering a diplomatic row with the United States. Israeli ambassador Michael Oren was summoned for a reprimand, and the Obama administration made clear it expected all preparation for building works on the site had to cease.
However, the approval at the time was general and subject to various constraints. Last Thursday, the project was given the final go-ahead, an official notice on the Jerusalem Municipality website said. This means work can begin at any time.
Allow me to stress something here: This is not some hitherto anonymous residential ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in East Jerusalem. This is a project Israel had been pointedly warned about by the US just 10 months ago. It seems Netanyahu is not content with presenting Biden with broken glass – he now expects Obama to chew on it, as well.
If anyone believes that Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was aimed at defusing the crisis that began during the Israel visit of Vice President Joe Biden, think again. Yesterday, Netanyahu went well beyond Joe Biden’s embarrassment to thumbing his nose at President Obama while visiting the White House.
In a further development, the Jerusalem Post just reported on a new lobby group inside the Israeli Knesset, comprising right wing party members including Likud, called the Lobby for Greater Israel.
Sabbah’s Blog published a summary:
On February 2, 2010, the Israeli Knesset held the inaugural meeting of The Lobby for Greater Israel. According to Knesset members Arye Eldad (National Union), “This kind of lobby should have been unnecessary … We could have expected that after disengagement [from Gaza and parts of northern Samaria in 2005] all talk of creating a Palestinian state would have been taken off the table and that no one would try to get rid of settlements … Instead, we are once more hearing about a two-state solution and a [construction] freeze. I am certain that with this unity we can save the Land of Israel”. Made up of 39 Knesset members, out of which 12 from Netanyahu’s Likud party and others from Shas, Israel Beiteinu, Habayit Hayehudi, the National Union, United Torah Judaism and Kadima, the lobby aims at acting as a “protective wall against any threat to the settlements”. Minister-without-portfolio Bennie Begin (Likud) went further than the official mission of the lobby, suggesting that the creation of a Palestinian state threatened Jewish security and rights to the Land of Israel. Yoav Sorek and Moriya Taassan, representing The Israeli Initiative, expressed a similar sentiment during the meeting: “We hope that this important lobby will grow to support Eretz Yisrael and help stop the discrimination against Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria”
(Read further at any of the above links)
Apartheid is inevitable.
as you’ve pointed out. The question is what comes next for the Palestinians. Acceptance? Expulsion? Citizenship?
Right now I have no sense of where this will end up.
The talk is all about the options if two states is not achieved: a “one state” solution, in which the Palestinians fight for equality, voting rights, and eventually live together with Jewish Israelis, or “Apartheid”, in which a long battle ensues where one hopes, along with Jeff Halper’s dim vision, that the Palestinians are not decimated by the military forces which surround their bantustans, because they will not relent for freedom and independence in their own state.
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(TPM) – Pelosi: “It is an honor and privilege, once again, to welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu to the Capitol of the United States. I’ve had the privilege of meeting with the Prime Minister in Israel on many occasions over the years and to welcome him here before.
He is a strong leader for the Israeli people, a man prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of peace and security of his country. The long friendship between the United States and Israel is founded on common values of democracy, pluralism, and freedom, and common hopes for peace and security for our children. We in Congress stand by Israel, something we have a joint bipartisan commitment — no separation between us on this subject. In Congress, we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel.”
Natanyahu before meeting Obama: "Jerusalem is not a settlement -- it's our capital."(AP) – “We in Congress stand by Israel,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, assured Mr. Netanyahu at an all-smiles appearance before the cameras. “In Congress we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel.”
“We have no stronger ally anywhere in the world than Israel,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican. “We all know we’re in a difficult moment. I’m glad the prime minister is here so we can have an open dialogue.”
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Irving MoskowitzMrs. Pelosi and Mr. Boehner both pointed to the threat from Iran as a top concern, as well as an area in which the United States will cooperate with Israel.
Shephard Hotel and E-Jerusalem Settlements
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."What an embarrassment. It’s inevitable that assorted Congresscritters will stick their noses into foreign policy in unhelpful ways, but this press conference is just bizarre coming on the heels of the second outright insult to the country in a week.
Republican Leader Boehner. “We have no stronger ally anywhere in the world than Israel.”
Stronger than Canada? Germany? the UK?!? Uh, no.
Speaker Pelosi. [Netanyahu] is a strong leader for the Israeli people, a man prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of peace and security of his country.
That’s just beyond laughable.
Didn’t we hear the same words last year, and the year before that, and so on. Pelosi, for all her work on HCR, has her nose up Israel’s ass, and given recent events, is no help at all in regard to Middle East peace. She personally put down Jimmy Carter on the publication of his book, and then took up the fight against Judge Goldstone’s UN Report.
Ah yes! The annual AIPAC Grovel-Fest!
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(IsraelNN.com) – U.S. President Barack Obama met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu twice behind closed doors in the White House Tuesday evening, at virtually the same time Jerusalem announced final approval for another building project in united Jerusalem. (See Daniel Pipes on “When Obama Met Netanyahu.”)
The meeting also coincided with another spate of Arab stoning attacks on Jews in Judea and Samaria with the intention of causing fatal accidents. Neither the United States nor Israel referred to the continuing attacks, which the Palestinian Authority is committed to halt, along with all other violence and incitement against the Jewish State.
Eric Cantor, the Republican party’s sole Jewish member in the House of Representatives, criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for missing an opportunity to hold a press conference and put an end to the public spat between the two allies. It has escalated since President Obama’s “reaching out to Muslim” speech last June …
The outcome of the visit so far is “agreeing to disagree.” Prime Minister Netanyahu has made another concession by agreeing that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority can bring up all issues for discussion, meaning the status of Jerusalem and the Arab demands for the immigration of Arabs claiming ancestry in Israel.
[During the talks, Natanyahu conferred by telephone with his coalition partners in Israel – Oui]
President Barack Obama appeared to carry on a policy of intentionally humiliating Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week, by ignoring custom and abstaining from any public appearance with him during Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
Barak and Netanyahu meet with Biden (Photo White House)"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."here.
A much better title for this diary, I think. Thanks for the reference.
Just in case anyone missed it.
Top Ten Reasons East Jerusalem does not belong to Jewish-Israelis
Thanks for that link. Excellent and comprehensive presentation by Juan Cole.
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(Haaretz) – The two leaders met for around 90 minutes. The White House had no immediate comment on what they discussed.
At the end of the meeting, Obama departed to his living quarters at the White House, while Netanyahu met with his advisers for over an hour in the Roosevelt Room. Netanyahu then requested another meeting with the U.S. president, and the two spoke again, one-on-one, for a half an hour.
“President Obama and the prime minister met privately for an hour and a half, the atmosphere was good,” Netanyahu spokesman Nir Chefetz said in a statement several hours after the meeting ended.
He said the two leaders’ advisers “continued discussions on the ideas raised at the meeting” and would hold further talks on Wednesday.
In spite of attempts on both the Israeli and American sides to bring the crisis to an end, there is still lingering tension and lack of trust within the Obama administration toward Netanyahu.
An American source close to the administration said that Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have decided to “test” Netanyahu and see whether he will carry out his promised gestures of good will toward the Palestinians.
According to an Israeli source who has discussed the matter with senior U.S. officials, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the president are dissatisfied with a letter given to them by Netanyahu, in which he detailed steps he is willing to take to restore American confidence in his government.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia lashed out Wednesday at Israeli government policy, asking major powers involved in Middle East peace-making for “clarifications about Israel’s arrogant policy and its insistence on defying international will.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Netanyahu Faces Choice: Peace Or Settlements
(Replace settlements with Apartheid, and we hve reminisences of Jimmy Carter’s warning.) From STEVEN GUTKIN, AP via Huffington Post: