"Natural Growth": Netanyahu's Road Map to a Mid East Roadblock
Amb. Marc GinsbergFormer US Amb. to Morocco
Posted: June 2, 2009 02:57 PM
Taking on the sacred cow of Israeli settlements construction in the West Bank has historically been a fool's errand for American presidents.
Caught between Israel's concerned supporters at home (many of whom do not appreciate the complexity of the issue) and domestic Israeli politics, no amount of presidential arm-twisting between strong allies seems to have slowed their growth or stopped their spread, even though successive Israeli governments since 1993 have pledged to ice the construction.
Both Labor and Likud leaders have talked the talk, but rarely walked the walk away from that ever so tantalizing next hammer swing. But each swing of that hammer has only dealt another blow to the vision of a viable Palestinian state, as well as a safe and secure Jewish and democratic state of Israel.
I commend President Obama for demanding a deep freeze on settlement construction. Unlike his predecessors, Obama appears no longer willing to engage in the vexing winking and nodding that has characterized American attitudes to settlement growth in the past.
I take that stand as a passionate Zionist dedicated to Israel's freedom and security, who just as passionately believes in the right of Palestinians to have their own state living peacefully and viably side-by-side with a Jewish and democratic state of Israel.
One only need know first-hand the true situation on the ground in the West Bank to understand why these two beliefs inherently are at peace with each other.
When I undertook the first Congressional assessment of the plight of Palestinian refugees for Senator Kennedy's Senate Subcommittee on Refugees back in 1973, I realized then, as I know now, that the construction of settlements, let alone their so-called "natural growth" is patently self-defeating to Israel's desire for Palestinians to drop their demand for the so-called "Right of Return."
How can Palestinians establish a viable homeland if there is no land on which to resettle refugees on the West Bank?
All one need do is to visit those squalid camps to appreciate how important it is to get those thousands upon thousands of Palestinian refugees resettled into normal lives and out from the poverty-provoking extremism that is bred through every open sewer that permeates so many refugee camps - thanks no less to a Palestinian leadership, particularly Arafat, who found it politically expedient to maintain the camps.
On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu characterized President Obama's demand to freeze all settlement construction east of the so-called Green Line as "unreasonable," thus needlessly putting his government at risk for creating a first, public breach of confidence with the new President.
"Unreasonable?"
What appears to many "unreasonable" is an Israeli leader arbitrarily instigating a rift with the White House for purely domestic political calculations at a time when President Obama is packing his bags for a critical trip to the Middle East to rebuild support for a two state solution which would reduce the region's threats to Israel.
What is even more "unreasonable" is failing to incentivize those settlers who demand "natural growth" to do so back inside Israel if desire bigger homes. How about some subprime mortgages for those willing to resettle back inside Israel? LinkHere
Posted: June 2, 2009 02:57 PM
Taking on the sacred cow of Israeli settlements construction in the West Bank has historically been a fool's errand for American presidents.
Caught between Israel's concerned supporters at home (many of whom do not appreciate the complexity of the issue) and domestic Israeli politics, no amount of presidential arm-twisting between strong allies seems to have slowed their growth or stopped their spread, even though successive Israeli governments since 1993 have pledged to ice the construction.
Both Labor and Likud leaders have talked the talk, but rarely walked the walk away from that ever so tantalizing next hammer swing. But each swing of that hammer has only dealt another blow to the vision of a viable Palestinian state, as well as a safe and secure Jewish and democratic state of Israel.
I commend President Obama for demanding a deep freeze on settlement construction. Unlike his predecessors, Obama appears no longer willing to engage in the vexing winking and nodding that has characterized American attitudes to settlement growth in the past.
I take that stand as a passionate Zionist dedicated to Israel's freedom and security, who just as passionately believes in the right of Palestinians to have their own state living peacefully and viably side-by-side with a Jewish and democratic state of Israel.
One only need know first-hand the true situation on the ground in the West Bank to understand why these two beliefs inherently are at peace with each other.
When I undertook the first Congressional assessment of the plight of Palestinian refugees for Senator Kennedy's Senate Subcommittee on Refugees back in 1973, I realized then, as I know now, that the construction of settlements, let alone their so-called "natural growth" is patently self-defeating to Israel's desire for Palestinians to drop their demand for the so-called "Right of Return."
How can Palestinians establish a viable homeland if there is no land on which to resettle refugees on the West Bank?
All one need do is to visit those squalid camps to appreciate how important it is to get those thousands upon thousands of Palestinian refugees resettled into normal lives and out from the poverty-provoking extremism that is bred through every open sewer that permeates so many refugee camps - thanks no less to a Palestinian leadership, particularly Arafat, who found it politically expedient to maintain the camps.
On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu characterized President Obama's demand to freeze all settlement construction east of the so-called Green Line as "unreasonable," thus needlessly putting his government at risk for creating a first, public breach of confidence with the new President.
"Unreasonable?"
What appears to many "unreasonable" is an Israeli leader arbitrarily instigating a rift with the White House for purely domestic political calculations at a time when President Obama is packing his bags for a critical trip to the Middle East to rebuild support for a two state solution which would reduce the region's threats to Israel.
What is even more "unreasonable" is failing to incentivize those settlers who demand "natural growth" to do so back inside Israel if desire bigger homes. How about some subprime mortgages for those willing to resettle back inside Israel? LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:34 AM
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