The Obama Administration is said to be seeking a pledge for a four month settlement freeze in East Jerusalem, which they say would allow the Netanyahu government to enter into direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
Israel and the PA had both agreed to indirect peace talks earlier this month, but they were abandoned after Israel announced a massive new settlement expansion in occupied East Jerusalem on the eve of the talks. Since then Israel has blamed the Palestinians for the lack of peace talks.
So far Israel has refused to comment on the administration’s proposal, but they have repeatedly ruled out any move that would stop the expansion of settlements in the city in the past.
A pledge to stop the settlements, even for four months, would likely go a long way toward kick-starting the peace process, but would also be politically unpopular among the Netanyahu government’s pro-settlement coalition members.
The international community does not recognize Israel’s claims to East Jerusalem, occupied in 1967 with the rest of the West Bank, while Israel claims that it is part of the “eternal, undivided capital” of Israel, and does not technically count as settlement activity at all.
This is not the first nor the second attempt by the US to request Isael to postpone its illegal confiscation of Palestinian land,yet, intstead of condemning such behavior by Israel the US begs the theife to take rest for 4months so that the US and its accomplices calm down the world's opposition to its atrucious acts.So, what is new in the US apparent objection to Israel's annexation of Palestinian land???. Arabs are aware that only Arabs are the one to liberate their land sooner or later, from Israel and no force on this globe would cary this task on their behalf.True, some Arabs, still have some hope that one day the US will realize the value of decency and will wake up to the reality that the Palestinians have had enough to deserve their own state.But the majority have grown up from such sweet dreams.
They won't stop for four minutes let alone four months. How long's this been going on? Pro wrestling has more integrity than this sideshow.
agree, enough is enough, however facts on the ground are being created every day, so what is the likely hood of a viable Palestine, how is that physically possible.
Wake up Jason. You got this one 100% wrong. Whether Obama's proposal is ignored or taken up by Israel, what it does is imply that the settlements are legal, just impolitic. Don't you get that? Don't you understand that Obama is a master, a true orwellian master, of appearing to take a tiny step forward, which he calls 'realism', while taking a HUGE step back? In fact, stopping the settlements for four months puts massive pressure on the Palestinians to 'make peace' (= surrender virtually every conceivable point) within 4 months, or the 'blame' turns around on them, and they are the ones depicted as obstructionists.
This is an Orwellian masterstroke. We need to try to be as sophisticated in our understanding as the schemes of the charlatans in our political 'elite' are.
What other country has ever been expected to return land that was captured in a time of war? Many conquering nations simply took care of unhappy locals with the use of that wonderful 'ethnic cleansing'. Israel did totally withdraw from Gaza – instead of moving the Palestinians forward in peace negotiations, they viewed it as a sign of weakness on Israel's part, and used their beloved new land as a launching pad to fire rockets into Israel. Can anyone really expect Israel to make even one more small concession when they get less than nothing in return?