Kerry restates US opposition to settlements

[ucrdem]

Source: AFP

7 November, 2013 | AFP | Jerusalem


US Secretary of State John Kerry meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem yesterday.


His first meeting of the day was with Netanyahu, who denounced the Palestinians for threatening to quit the talks over Israel’s continued settlement construction on land they want for their future state.

(snip)

But following more than two hours of talks with the Palestinians, including 40 minutes one-to-one with President Mahmoud Abbas, he was quick to reiterate US opposition to the settlements.

“We consider now, and have always considered, the settlements to be illegitimate,” Kerry said.

(snip)

During his stopover in Bethlehem, Kerry unveiled $75mn in new US aid for Palestinian infrastructure projects in the West Bank.



Read more: http://www.gulf-times.com/region/216/details/370901/kerry-restates-us-opposition-to-settlements

[dipsydoodle]

1. Good.

[karynnj]

2. More than that - he disputed Netanyahu saying the Palestinians had agree to that

Kerry dismissed Israeli suggestions there had been an understanding with the Palestinians about settlement expansion and stated "unequivocally" his belief that Abbas was "100 percent committed" to peace talks.

"I want to make it extremely clear that at no time did the Palestinians in any way agree as a matter of going back to the talks, that they somehow condone or accept the settlements," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-palestinians-israel-kerry-idUSBRE9A50CD20131106

The intent of Netanyahu's claim was to blame the Palestinians. It shows how essential this issue is that Kerry would do this.

[ucrdem]

4. Refreshing isn't it?

What a difference a day makes.

[freshwest]

13. +1

[cosmicone]

3. Yeah yeah ... protest loudly while winking at Bibi. n/t

[karynnj]

6. I doubt that Netanyahu took the statement as "winking"

It seems that Kerry, possibly with Obama's ok, was calling out Netanyahu who is at odds with the US on Syria, Iran and is not working seriously on the peace issue.

[cosmicone]

8. What have we really done to punish Israel

for continuing to build the settlements? Have we withheld military aid? Have we stopped financial aid? Talk is cheap and no action is tantamount to winking.

[ucrdem]

9. Enough to make them hopping mad.

from last August 31, ten days before Benghazi:

Report: U.S. scales back joint military exercise with Israel
Time Magazine reports number of American troops in mid-October exercise to be cut by two-thirds, in what a senior Israeli official says is a message of mistrust conveyed by Washington.

By Haaretz | Sep. 1, 2012 | 4:16 PM


The U.S. has decided to scale back its military exercise with Israel, planned for mid-October, Time Magazine reported on Friday.

The report quoted both Israeli and American sources as saying that Washington had slashed "by more than two-thirds the number of American troops going to Israel and reducing both the number and potency of missile interception systems at the core of the joint exercise."

The exercise, Austere Challenge 12, will be the latest in a series of periodic joint maneuvers focusing mainly on missile defense. The exercise will combine simulated missile fire with training for the command posts.

(snip)

"Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you,’” a senior Israeli military official told the magazine.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-u-s-scales-back-joint-military-exercise-with-israel-1.462033

[cosmicone]

10. Not enough to stop the settlements. n/t

[Comrade Grumpy]

17. That is correct. The US should put its Israel aid money where it's mouth is:

Stop the settlements or get cut off.

[mallard]

15. I agree with your take, Cosmi ...

... and the picture above also shows Kerry pointing scoldingly at Abbas with a 'but we objected' so now-you-shut-up kind of aura.

The routine objections continue to mean nothing. Legitimacy has never been an overwhelming issue for Israel. It is merely a nuiscance having to turn the blame elsewhere.

Kerry's not about to apologize to the Palestinians when he's already putting his own fate on the line by even feigning anything to do with real threats to the relationship with 'the only democracy in the Middle East' and our 'closest ally'. He knows crossing that line would cost him his job.

'Already done as much as I could' is what he's basically telling Abbas. All of forty minutes, can't say he didn't try. Now back to dinner with BB to smooth out the key points of grace and permitted diplomatic protocol.

[L0oniX]

5. YAwn.

[Zeke L Brimstone]

11. Indeed

[BillyRibs]

7. so?

words with no action. close the wallet and tell em no more money till you act responsibly!

[Zeke L Brimstone]

12. Excellent idea

Unfortunately, AIPAC shall not permit it.

[jtuck004]

14. And then forced him, made him take the $3.1 billion in aid we paid, and the House has proposed

another half billion.

That ought to show them.

[KareBear]

16. Heaven forbid Jews build in Judea

Of course after the US's abysmal record with Native Americans it is par for the course to denigrate the native population in their own homeland. I'm sorry but the moral imperative lies with the native population. I'm going to get flamed into little char bits for saying this, but facts are facts. It just makes the world uncomfortable when a displaced native population returns home and kicks out the invaders. Israel may actually be one of the only times in history it's happened. Maybe if Jews had asked to set up casinos instead things would be different?

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. The only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian? Is that where you're heading, Tex?

Are you really suggesting Jews have some sort of moral right to steal Palestinian land because they lived there 2,000 years ago?

And you're comparing Israelis to Native Americans? Bizarre.

You deserve to get flamed into little char bits.

[KareBear]

19. native is native

Seriously, native peoples is native peoples. What is the statute of limitations on having your homeland stolen? How is that bizarre?

Jews are the same as Australian Aborigines or Native Americans. All three had their land taken by invading peoples. Does the passage of time somehow make that right?

Clearly I never said anything about killing anyone. You are really trying to put words in my mouth. The moral imperative will always rest with the native peoples to a land though. This isn't that hard of a concept.

[ucrdem]

20. It looks like Kerry and Obama mean business:

"Israeli Leader ‘Utterly Rejects’ Iran Nuclear Deal"

Pushing back on emerging agreement, Netanyahu says Iran 'got everything and paid nothing'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says an emerging agreement to ease sanctions on Iran is unacceptable and does nothing to curtain the country’s nuclear program.

“I understand the Iranians are walking around very satisfied in Geneva, as well they should, because they got everything and paid nothing,” Netanyahu said Friday, before a meeting in Tel Aviv with Secretary of State John Kerry, the Associated Press reports. Netanyahu’s comments came as Iran is said to be nearing a possible agreement with western powers over its nuclear program and the sanctions crippling its economy.

Negotiators say the talks — between Iran and Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the U.S. — are nearing a deal that would see Iran halt enrichment of weapons grade uranium.

http://world.time.com/2013/11/08/israeli-leader-utterly-rejects-iran-nuclear-deal/

[bemildred]

21. I think so. nt