Now we see the results of the Obama administration’s incredibe naiveness towards solving the Arabs’ conflict with the Jews. With Washington’s foolish ploy in trying to force preconditions on Israel concerning its settlements, the Obama aministration set itself up to look like the fool. Not only is Israel correct in its understanding over the legality of the settlements, and what it’s agreed to in verbal and signed agreements, but Obama’s insistence on demanding something that can’t be delivered, unwittingly or not, unleashed the Arabs’ appetite for yet more demands.
It’s all a mugs game anyways, because there is no such thing as a “peace process”, there is either a true desire for peace by both sides (on the Israeli side there is) or there is no realistic prospect for peace. It’s really that simple. But yet the West believes in the mythical unicorn of the peace process so doggedly, that it throws all common sense out the window when viewing the region, and much of the fault for that, the Tundra Tabloids places at the feet of the advisors and “think tanks” like the Finnish UPI, which is full of simpletons who profess a knowledge of the reagion, but in reality, don’t know their arse from a hole in the ground. KGS
JERUSALEM (al-Reuters) – Pointing an accusing finger at the United States, the Palestinians on Sunday said Washington’s backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, buoyed by new-found support from the Obama administration, urged the Palestinians to “get a grip” and drop their settlement freeze precondition for restarting talks suspended since December.
On a one-day Middle East visit on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Israel’s view that settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank should not be a bar to resuming negotiations — contradicting the Palestinian position.
Netanyahu has proposed limiting building for now to some 3,000 settler homes already approved by Israel in the West Bank. He does not regard building in occupied East Jerusalem, annexed in defiance of international opposition, as settlement.
U.S. President Barack Obama himself, after persuading Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in September to meet Netanyahu in New York, called only for “restraint” in settlement, not the “freeze” he had previously proposed.
Stung by Obama’s about-face and Clinton’s remarks, the Palestinians voiced their frustration.
“The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel’s intransigence and America’s back-pedaling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said
