Settlements: The ‘Pause’ That Doesn’t Refresh « Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Settlements: The ‘Pause’ That Doesn’t Refresh

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Tags: george mitchell, hillary-clinton

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 10:47 PM and is filed under Mideast Peace, Politics & Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Settlements: The ‘Pause’ That Doesn’t Refresh”

orgo says:

November 26, 2009 at 12:57 AM

check out this piece by levy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-levy/netanyahus-stubbornness-o_b_371352.html?

Beilin throws cold water freeze http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3810939,00.html

as does eldar
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1130774.html

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- Richard Silverstein says:
  
  November 26, 2009 at 2:42 AM
  
  The last few paragrahps by Levy are interesting. What is bizarre to me is that he seems to believe Obama has some magic up his sleeve that will advance things to the next stage. I see nothing. What does Obama have on Bibi? What can he do unless he’s willing to put the screws to him? Notice Levy didn’t even allude to this as an option. But imo if Obama doesn’t go there he might as well close up shop & go home. Focus on health care, give up on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Because if he doesn’t have the guts to do anything real that will hurt, then he’s just blowing smoke…
  
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Gene Schulman says:

November 26, 2009 at 4:57 AM

You’ve finally caught on, Richard. That’s what Obama was hired for, to blow smoke in the eyes of the idiots who believe in change.

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- Richard Silverstein says:
  
  November 26, 2009 at 1:31 PM
  
  I was thinking of you in the back of my mind as I wrote this & I was doing so sadly because I had such hope that something was possible w. Obama. I still haven’t utterly given up hope. But I think a good outcome has receded far into the distance as a possibility.
  
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Mary says:

November 26, 2009 at 8:08 AM

This “pause” is nothing more than a rewording of the same non-starter crap Netanyahu served up to the Palestinians several weeks ago and which Abbas rejected. There is nothing here but false promises: Israel will “temporarily freeze new construction,” but only in the West Bank, and it will continue with the present plans it has to continue with everything else. It’s like offering someone a stick of gum, but giving them only the wrapper.

I’m embarrassed for George Mitchell, who is being forced to go along with this farce. As for the others, this kind of crap is right up their alley, I’m afraid.

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fiddler says:

November 26, 2009 at 9:36 AM

No offer is so fake and so small there can’t be a loophole drilled in. Look what Menachem Mazuz is warning (ahem) his govt against:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1130865.html

“No really, we were absolutely sincere about keeping our commitment to pause, but we simply don’t have the manpower. With facts on the ground like these, what can you do?”

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- Mary says:
  
  November 26, 2009 at 3:43 PM
  
  Oh my, there are enough people who can issue those building permits, but not enough to monitor and enforce a pause in construction? What a conundrum. Perhaps they can get the IDF to do it, as opposed to, say, bulldozing Palestinian homes in East Jerussalem.
  
  Reply