At a DC meeting described as ‘tense’ by some in the media, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman publicly clashed on the question of West Bank settlement growth, with Lieberman absolutely ruling out the US demand to freeze all settlement growth.
The major issue which seems to be keeping the two sides apart is the claim that the Bush Administration had secretly made a deal with the Israeli government about the settlements, though it kept no actual record of the deal anywhere. Lieberman cited the deal during the discussion, though Clinton dismissed the reports, claiming former Bush officials had confirmed that no informal agreement existed.
Lieberman insisted that the Israeli government had to ensure natural growth continued in the settlements, citing concerns about the “demographic balance” in the region if the settlements were halted entirely. Clinton insisted that a total freeze was “important and essential.”
Today’s clash stood in stark contrast to yesterday’s comments, in which Israeli officials claimed the Obama Administration was ‘flexible’ on the demand and was poised to drop the matter in the face of Israeli opposition. Yet Clinton did leave that possibility at least somewhat open, declaring that the process had “just begun” and that critical concerns were yet to be fully explored.
Both sides, Pathoogical liars or Hibitual liers-you decide
The preceding declarations by Arab politicians have been done before 1967, as they had not the slightest knowledge of the existence of any Palestinian people. How and when did they change their mind and decided that such people existed? When the State of Israel was reborn in A. D. 1948, the "Palestinians" did not exist yet, the Arabs had still not discovered that "ancient" people. They were too busy with the purpose of annihilating the new Sovereign State and did not intend to create any Palestinian entity, but only to distribute the land among the already existing Arab states. They were defeated. They attempted again to destroy Israel in 1967, and were humiliated in only six days, in which they lost the lands that they had usurped in 1948. In those 19 years of Arab occupation of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, neither Jordan nor Egypt suggested to create a "Palestinian" state, since the still non-existing Palestinians would have never claimed their alleged right to have their own state… Paradoxically, during the British Mandate, it was not any Arab group but the Jews that were known as "Palestinians"!
What other Arabs declared after the Six-Day War:
"There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity… yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel".
– Zuhair Muhsin, military commander of the PLO and member of the PLO Executive Council –
"You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Never forget this one point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian people, there is no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria. You are an integral part of the Syrian people, Palestine is an integral part of Syria. Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the true representatives of the Palestinian people".
– Syrian president Hafez Assad to the PLO leader Yassir Arafat –
"As I lived in Palestine, everyone I knew could trace their heritage back to the original country their great grandparents came from. Everyone knew their origin was not from the Canaanites, but ironically, this is the kind of stuff our education in the Middle East included. The fact is that today's Palestinians are immigrants from the surrounding nations! I grew up well knowing the history and origins of today's Palestinians as being from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Christians from Greece, Muslim Sherkas from Russia, Muslims from Bosnia, and the Jordanians next door. My grandfather, who was a dignitary in Bethlehem, almost lost his life by Abdul Qader Al-Husseni (the leader of the Palestinian revolution) after being accused of selling land to Jews. He used to tell us that his village Beit Sahur (The Shepherds Fields) in Bethlehem County was empty before his father settled in the area with six other families. The town has now grown to 30,000 inhabitants".
– Walid Shoebat, an "ex-Palestinian" Arab –
So let the Arabs all unite into a single state and let the Israelis reclaim their ancestral lands!
"The preceding declarations by Arab politicians have been done before 1967, as they had not the slightest knowledge of the existence of any Palestinian people."
This is the most grotesque racism, and I'm tired of seeing it from 'liberals' and the 'left'.
no power has the right to dictate to me…to give up 80% of my house…to anyone…for any reason…i will never accept it…neither should the palestinians…i will give my life to protect what is mine…like wise every palestinian….israel is built on stolen land…that is the thruth…the whole truth…and nothing but….the truth… and every israeli knows it…i am a Jew… and i know it….
Barbarossa: If living on a piece of land for hundreds of years doesn't entitle you to it, I don't know what does. During the reign of the Ottoman empire the Arab nations did not consider themselves separate entities like today, the arrangement was much like the United States (it would be as silly as saying Texans were a separate people from Californians).
Also, can you please explain why a Jewish settler from Europe or America is more entitled to Palestinian land than the families who've been there for generations? Your hypocrisy is overwhelming.
Barbarossa let's suppose these Arab governments said there were no 'palestinian' people. What that meant was that there was no nation state called Palestine. Of course, it was merely a British mandate. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the rights of the people who lived in this mandate so your entire argument is an obvious non-sequitur. And what about the last quote so some guy's father settled a town that wasn't there before. And let's grant that many 'palestinians' moved there form other countries. So did 90% of the Jews in Israel. What's your point? It's obvious that your one of the many pro-Israeli trolls who populate liberal blogs now to . . . to what? Your not going to persuade anyone with this obvious racist driveling nonsense.
As for this phrase 'demographic balance', blatant racism right in your face. They barely even care to hide it anymore. Eugenics by resource control, control of travel and access to health care, and by the bombs and guns of 'self-defense'.
David Ben-Gurion said of the Palestinians in a documented statement to Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, in 1956, "They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?" (See Wikipedia)