Netanyahu: Likud-led government wouldn’t build new settlements
A Likud-led government would not build new settlements in the West Bank but would allow for natural growth, Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu told Quartet envoy Tony Blair Sunday, in an apparent attempt to calm the international community before this week’s arrival of George Mitchell, the newly appointed U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
“I have no intention of building new settlements in the West Bank,” Netanyahu told Blair in a meeting Sunday. “But like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements.”
Netanyahu also said he plans to work to advance negotiations with the Palestinians quickly and to focus on economic development.
“Every moment of stagnation isn’t good, and I plan to deal with the Palestinian issue very intensively,” he said.
How does he lie? Let me count the ways. If anyone reading this truly believes he will not permit the building of new settlements they really should have their head examined. And even if we take him at his word he certainly will not stand in the way of settlers creating their own “facts on the ground.” That is, illegal settlements which somehow over time become legal ones as they’re absorbed into the Occupation regime.
I’ve talked here about the charade of “economic development” being the Bibi-style solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only in the mind of an Israeli right-winger can there be a purely economic solution to the conflict. When all the world, and especially the Palestinians will tell anyone who cares to listen that the essence of this conflict is not economic (though there are terrible economic consequences as a result), and its not even primarily religious (though again their are religious elements). It IS primarily political and only a political settlement involving political compromise and creation of a political entity called Palestine on Israeli land occupied since 1967 (with minor adjustments) will resolve it.
As far as I’m concerned, Netanyahu thinks he’s still playing the games that all Israeli prime minister’s play with foreign diplomats and negotiators. We tell you one thing with a wink and nudge, then go about doing precisely what we want. It reminds me a bit of a cancer patient who’s just been given his diagnosis and told he needs to cut out cigarettes. He swears to the doctor he will and as soon as the latter leaves the room he invites all his friends to join him as he lights up, saying to them: “Another one isn’t going to kill me.” Well, guess what–it will.
I hope to God when George Mitchell meets with Netayahu later this week he will splash some cold water on the otherwise delusional Netanyahu and tell him that the U.S. view of his “economics” pitch is that it is decidedly a non-starter. If Netanyahu wants Israel to die of cancer let’s tell him he’s not going to do it under our care. We’ve got to tell Israel to go cold turkey. It’s the only way.
Lords of the Land by Akiva Eldar and Idith Zertal shows clearly how every Israeli PM sets about expanding and building new settlements on Palestinian land while declaring they want peace with the Palestinians.
It’s a shocking book and I am glad I took the time to read it.
” illegal settlements which somehow over time become legal ones ”
what distinction between the two do you see, richard?
None. By “legal” I only meant that they were officially sanctioned by the Israeli gov’t. Not that they’re legal in any other context.
Gideon Levy has a article on Haaretz explaining how voting for Livni, Barak and certainly Netanyahu is voting for extremists.I concur.
Marylin I will get myself a copy of the book soon.
And after that Neil, or maybe before, get hold of Ilan Pappe’s book “the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”.
I would say that economics is actually quite important – but then I have an economics background so maybe biased. However, I can’t help chuckling at Netanyahu here; how can you seriously talk about economic development for the Palestinians when they don’t have the same basic property rights that settlers have in the occupied territories. You can’t have proper economic development for the Palestinians if you keep on nicking their land and siphoning off their water supplies in the West Bank which Israel has been doing for decades and is a facet of Israeli policy. All of which leads me to think that ‘Bibi’ is not very serious about economic development – at least for Palestinians.
In anycase, the guy is a hardcore neo-liberal whose economic policies would be quite disastrous for Israelis and Palestinians were they fully implemented. Much of the rise in poverty and ineqaulity in Israeli soicety is due to the neo-liberal turn economic policy has taken since the 1990s; undermining what was, for all its faults, a relatively egalitarian and social democratic society into a much more polarised one. Netanyahu and his ilk are in many ways represenative of this trend.
I for one don’t dislike the economic development idea, if only because getting an economy on the move requires certain political guarantees, such as freedom of movement. The problem, of course, is that he’s not serious about it.
I would be grateful to be informed as to how the real estate developers building settlements and communities in West Bank territory got title to this land in order to be able to sell off parcels to homebuyers at premium prices. From WHERE did these orthodox personages get ownership title and WHO gave them authority to set up these real estate businesses in west bank territory and to sell this property only to orthodox buyers? Most, if not all, of the rogue settlements on the West Bank, such as Hashmonaim, were originally peopled by orthodox zealots who moved in and took over a site. Who directed them to engage in this activity? Who organized and coordinated these moves. NAMES PLEASE! Is this a means by which orthodox big shots get their hands on land for nothing to be subsequently sold at a premium? Is this the price that the orthodox political parties demand for cooperation in any coalition government? Just who is making big shekels from the sale of this contested territory? Why should any businessmen, whether they wear a yarmulka or not, be permitted to engage in this type of cynical and greedy manipulation in the Land of Israel? What of these “motivated” settlers. Is their motivation that the real estate that they squat on today will increase exponentially in value after a while and they can eventually sell at an astronomical profit. If the real estate is returned to the Palestinians as part of a peace agreement, will these “motivated” settlers expect compensation from the government for their “loss“? Where will the government get the money to compensate the settlers and home buyers for the inflated value of the property? Will Israel ask the U.S. for a monetary bailout for peace? That would take chutzpah but is well within the realm of possibility. Inquiring minds want to know! Shalom and zei gezunt for now. The ads below are presented as documentation:
Hashmonaim Listings:
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For Sale 4 bedroom semi detached house. Very close to Synagogue, Yeshiva and schools. $345,000 pictures
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Land within Hashmonaim is expensive (see box), and though duplexes start at around $375,000, private homes – which are being built bigger every year – can fetch well over half a million dollars, residents said.
One day, while I was vacationing in Hong Kong, I misplaced the key to my hotel room. I called the hotel manager and told him that I needed a new key as soon as possible. Three minutes later, a prostitute showed up at my door saying “Manager tell me you want nooky quick-quick. You give me hundred dollar, I give you number one nooky!” I tried to explain to the young woman, “No, I want a NEW KEY, not your nooky!” She got angry and yelled at me, You want nooky but not MY nooky! What wrong with MY nooky? My nooky clean, just wash this morning!” “You don’t understand me”, I told her, “I need a NEW KEY!”. “And I need hundred dollar!”, she replied at the top of her voice. “Well“, I thought to myself, “since I can’t leave without a new key, I might as well avail myself of the opportunity.” That is when I got my Chinese nickname. When I took my drawers down, the young woman exclaimed, “You hung so lo!, you hung so lo!” “No, I told her, my name is Moshe Rabeynu, I’m not Hung So Lo. I’m not even half-Chinese.” “For China“ she replied “you hung so lo!” So that is how I became known as Moshe “Hung So Lo” Rabeynu in China. I went to the hotel manager and told him, “ I need a new key for my room!” “I already send up nooky for you”, he told me and added, “number one nooky. What the matter, she no go your room?” “Yes,” I answered, “a girl came to my room, and yes, she was quite spectacular and I gave her a tryout but she wasn’t what I really wanted. I need a New Key!” “Ah, now I understand”, said the manager, you no want girl nooky. You want new key from Sum Yung Boi! I get Sum Yung Boi for you!” “No, No”, I exclaimed quite embarrassed, “I do not want some young boy. I want a new key!” The manager appeared to be losing his patience and exclaimed, “If you want new key, you have to get Sum Yung Boi to go to room!” “But sir”, I tried to explain, “I am not gay. If some young boy came to my room, it would be a waste of time!” “How can be waste of time”, he answered, “you want new key, Sum Yung Boi give you new key!” With this, the manager picked up his phone and spoke rapidly into it. “I paged for Sum Yung Boi, he be here soon!” , he told me. I was mortified and wanted to leave the lobby but the manager continued conversing, “Before, when you asked over phone for new key, I thought you wanted nooky. Ha Ha Ha, we have misunderstanding. Now I realize that all time you needed Sum Yung Boi!” “No No“, I responded, worrying that I would never be understood, “I don’t want some young boy. I’m not gay! I need a NEW KEY, A NEW KEY!” At this moment an elderly man came up to us dressed in some kind of work uniform. “Here is Sum Yung Boi”, said the manager, “He go up to room with you and give you new key. Make you happy” “But, I don’t want nooky from this fellow, and, besides how can you call him some young boy? He looks to be seventy or seventy five years old.” The manager looked as if he reached his point of exasperation and yelled at me, “This man’s name is Sum Yung Boi! He is locksmith for hotel! He will check lock to room and give you NEW KEY! You want New Key for room from Sum Yung Boi or not?” “Yes”, I replied, totally embarrassed. “I’ll go up to my room with Mr. Sum Yung Boi and he will give me a new key. I‘m sorry for the misunderstanding!”
Are you bored by life in general and by the countless insipid and inane blogs you encounter while trying to find something amusing, stimulating and interesting? Do you yearn for intelligent and thought provoking chit-chat instead of the mindless, dull and semi-coherent drivel spewed out by the countless feeble minds that infest the blogosphere? Are you tired of communicating only with people who talk the way you do and think the way you do? Do you crave an adventure of the mind and are not afraid to brave the unknown landscape at the border of lunacy to find it? Well then, pack up your intellectual gear and start out bravely for I am waiting for YOU at http://theyeshivabucher.blogspot.com
Shalom and zei gezunt until then!
That’s pretty funny. You advertise for your own blog & allow people to infer that the very blogs you’re exploiting are insipid & inane because they’re not YOUR blog. I’ve got to give you credit for chutzpah, though I won’t take it too personally.