This is just another shameless American bribe. It is the Israeli government
milking the US Government -- and the US economy -- for all that it is worth,
as it has been doing for decades now.

The sad thing is, the USA and Israel have been doing this for so long now,
that few people see anything wrong with this arrangement. They view it as
"business-as-usual".

But this is not the way that it should be. If Israel is truly sincere in its
desires to create peace with its Palestinian neighbors, and if it is truly
sincere in its support of a Palestinian state, then absolutely no bribes
should be necessary. The Jews should deal honestly, in good faith, with the
Palestinians, and vice versa. There should be absolutely no need for bribes,
and pressure from outside parties.

Three billion dollars is a lot of money. Just think of how much good could
be done with that money, if it was invested instead in improving the welfare
of American citizens.

It is shameful to see how Netanyahu now has the American Government begging
at his feet. Obama and Clinton are tools, just like so many American leaders
before them.

It is also alarming that this latest American bribe exempts East Jerusalem.
This fact alone makes the negotiations meaningless, and the Palestinians
will never accept it.

Why is the USA willing to exempt East Jerusalem? The USA is offering Israel
so much. Why is it asking for so little in return?

Furthermore, the fact that the USA is willing to head off and neutralize any
attempts by the UN to influence the peace talks is alarming. If, as this
article states, the purpose of this stipulation is to prevent the
Palestinians from gaining UN support for a unilateral declaration of
Palestinian statement, then what does this say about Israeli intentions?

In my mind, it is saying only one thing: The Jews are entering this
agreement in bad faith, and already have intentions of betrayal, precisely
as they have done so many times before. In other words, during these ninety
days -- assuming that the Israeli cabinet agrees to it -- the Jews will get
much of what they want; but when all is said and done, once the ninety days
have passed, everything will return to "business-as-usual", and the
Palestinians will have very little to show for it, if anything, and the Jews
will continue to build, build, build, and expand, expand, expand into
Palestinian territory.

I will be very surprised if I am wrong.

The bottom line is that Netanyahu has Obama at a political disadvantage.
Obama has been severely weakened by recent elections, and he has done poorly
in his overseas dealings. He needs some kind of a political victory.
Netanyahu may be willing to give it to him -- which I doubt -- but if it
comes, it will be at a very high price, as we are already seeing.


Netanyahu Agrees to Push for Freeze in Settlements

By MARK LANDLER - NYT

November 13, 2010


WASHINGTON -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has agreed to push
his cabinet to freeze most construction on settlements in the West Bank for
90 days to break an impasse in peace negotiations with the Palestinians, an
official briefed on talks between the United States and Israel said Saturday
evening.

In return, the Obama administration has offered Israel a package of security
incentives and fighter jets worth $3 billion that would be contingent on the
signing of a peace agreement, the official said. The United States would
also block any moves in the United Nations Security Council that would try
to shape a final peace agreement.

The quid pro quo was hashed out by Mr. Netanyahu and Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton in seven and a half hours of talks in New York on
Thursday.

The partial freeze would not include East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians
view as the future capital of a Palestinian state and where recent Israeli
building set off a firestorm of criticism.

It was unclear whether the prime minister could win approval for the United
States deal from his cabinet, which has been reluctant to freeze settlement
construction. It was also unclear if the leaks of the details of the
agreement, which were widely reported in Israeli newspapers on Saturday,
were designed to put pressure on Mr. Netanyahu.

He convened an unusual meeting of the inner council of his cabinet in
Jerusalem on Saturday night, and he will meet with the full cabinet on
Sunday, according to an Israeli official.

If approved, the agreement could surmount a stubborn hurdle to talks between
Israel and the Palestinians, which began with much fanfare in Washington in
early September but soon ran aground after Israel's 10-month partial
moratorium on settlement construction expired later that month.

It would also give President Obama a foreign policy victory after the
Democrats' midterm election losses and a tough few days for him in Asia, in
which he failed to win support on trade and international economic issues.

The stalled Middle East peace process had loomed as another setback. The
Palestinians have refused to return to the bargaining table unless Israel
extends the moratorium. And Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton have failed to sway
Mr. Netanyahu, despite repeated public and private entreaties.

Last week, Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu again traded barbed words after the
Israeli authorities announced plans to build new Jewish housing in a
contested part of East Jerusalem, while the prime minister was visiting the
United States and Mr. Obama was traveling in Indonesia.

This proposed 90-day freeze would be nonrenewable: the United States would
not ask for further extensions, the official with knowledge of the
deliberations said.

The freeze would apply not only to new construction, but to building that
began after the 10-month moratorium expired in September, the official said.
That is a particularly delicate stipulation, given the large number of
houses that have begun being built since then. The ban would apply to
residential building; public structures like schools and community centers
would be unaffected.

The logic behind a 90-day extension is that the two sides would aim for a
swift agreement on the borders of a Palestinian state. That would make the
long dispute over settlements irrelevant since it would be clear which
housing blocks fell into Israel and which fell into a Palestinian state.

The security incentives offered by the administration, though generous, do
not appear to go far beyond the support the United States typically offers
Israel. For example, the United States has not agreed to endorse a long-term
Israeli security presence in the Jordan River Valley, the official said.

The American pledge to block initiatives in the Security Council appears
aimed at heading off efforts by the Palestinian Authority to seek
international support for a unilateral declaration of statehood -- something
it has considered in recent weeks as Israel has refused to reconsider a new
building moratorium.

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Jonathan Peled, declined
to comment on the reports, as did Philip J. Crowley, the spokesman for the
United States Department of State.



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