The success of Biden's middle east visit...getting the finger

[Kratos]

Israel Gives The Finger To Biden And The U.S.
Vice President Joe Biden met with top Israeli leaders today to convey the U.S. Government’s positions: the U.S. remains a close ally of Israel and will support Israel if it takes risks for peace; the U.S. does not want Israel to attack Iran over its nuclear program; and Israeli settlements must cease in order to make it possible for peace negotiations to resume.



The Vice President got an immediate and unexpected response from Mr. Netanyahu and his government—the finger! Israel delivered it publicly, without even waiting for him to get out of town, in what has to be one of the worst instances of trying to humiliate a public figure.



In an unbelievable intentional affront to Mr. Biden and the United States government, and knowing full well that the U.S. position was that all settlement activity had to be ended by Israel in the interest of peace and pending negotiations, Mr. Netanyahu’s government announced approval for 1600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. Israeli Interior Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said the new homes would be built in Ramat Shlomo, an existing neighborhood for ultra-Orthodox Jews. Israel captured that area in the 1967 war. It annexed East Jerusalem and despite its Palestinian residents, considers it to be part of its undivided capital. The annexation is not internationally recognized and its several neighborhoods are recognized as settlements by the United States and other countries than Israel.



So the Israelis made their point. They took Jerusalem by force. They are going to keep it regardless of the United States, regardless of the Palestinians, regardless of peace. If they occupy East Jerusalem it will be impossible to give it up in any peace agreement. They are going to drive any remaining Palestinians out of Israel and out of territory they control despite international law. They will occupy it despite any reasonable sense of what is right in a situation where the Palestinians were uprooted from their lands to salve the conscience of Europe after World War 2 and give Jews a homeland. It was a bad decision at the time, although understandable, but through the years we have come to see how bad a decision it really was. It has created an insoluble problem and we are stuck with it.



On the one hand we have a displaced Palestinian people who want at least some of their lands back in a two-state solution to the crisis. On the other we have an intractable Israel that is not content with the land it was given but is intent on taking whatever else it wants because it believes that Jews are the people of god and are entitled to the ancient land of Palestine regardless of anyone else.



Netanyahu is an evil man. He represents a political party of extremists. It was obvious when he was elected that there would be trouble ahead for any possibility of peace, and he has demonstrated that our judgment was right—he does not want peace except on his terms, and he does not want a two-state solution. He wants the Palestinians subjugated and under Israeli control.



I have said previously and I repeat here that there is a very great danger in allying U.S. interests so closely with a nation whose national interests and priorities are increasingly divergent from our own.



We give billions of dollars to Israel each year, thanks to the Jewish lobby and those dual US-Israeli citizens who serve in our government and compromise US interests in favor of Israel’s unreasonable and irrational policies. Israel is a largely socialist state with health care for all, free public education including university education for all, subsidized housing, and it is paid for by the U.S., which won’t provide the same for our citizens because we can’t afford to provide for our citizens what we provide to a foreign nation.



Our troublesome welfare client needs to change its ways.

http://blogs.alternet.org/christianh...n-and-the-u-s/

[Kratos]

Not the literal finger, clearly for anyone who reads that the wrong way.

but he's there trying to promote peace talks
and they announce 1600 units of new illegal development

[FranciscoG]

Our troublesome welfare client needs to change its ways.

Probably one of the funniest lines ever.

[Kratos]

I think it shows that Israel is no longer interested in peace talks. At least not at this time.
They expect to maintain everything they have now, and aren't going to give anything up for this administration at least.

They aren't interested in dealing with Obama or letting him win political points in the US at their expense.
Until thier is a new more Israel friendly administration, don't expect any cooperation from Israel. And that may be a long time to wait.

[Flagg]

You know, I can accept people saying how the UK and Blair were the Bush administrations bitches and that we blindly did what we were told, but does the USA really want to be Israels bitch, because thats the impression I got from that article.

Where will Israel draw the line? After every Muslim state surrounding it is subserviant to the West?

[Ernst]

Where will Israel draw the line? After every Muslim state surrounding it is subserviant to the West?

After every Muslim state surrounding it has been annexed.

[MuscleScience]

If there was no israel there would be some other place in the middle east that would be the center of fighting an hatred. You could bet that the US would have it's hand in there somewhere too. Sunni or Shiite, Turks or palastinines.ect.

[Kratos]

Where will Israel draw the line?

After every Muslim state surrounding it is subserviant to the West?

I think it's pretty clear that what Israel wants is no Palistine.
Somehow they want all Muslims out of the West Bank so they don't run into a demographic problem.

Not sure what would happen to Gaza, maybe Egypt would take it back at that point.

Clearly a country with a country in the middle islolating the other half (2 state soloution) is a pretty strage idea to begin with.

Beyond that I don't think they have any greater ambitions of world domination other then their own security. They don't have to be subserviant to the West to decide not to go to war.

If Muslims could accept that the Jews have a small peice of land, and probably the shittiest peice of land on the planet at that...I think things would be fine...but that's never going to happen.

If it takes 1000 years, Israel will go back to a desert with no economy and no religion but islam. I doubt it will take 1000 years though.