US, UK and Germany: End settlement construction

[Scurrilous]

During Security Council session, Western states call on Israel to halt Jewish construction in territories, quell violence against Palestinians. Israeli ambassador: Insistence on 'right of return' main obstacle to peace

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4180394,00.html

<snip>

"The US, Britain and Germany leveled harsh criticism at Israel's settlement construction policy on Tuesday.

During a Security Council session, US Ambassador Susan Rice urged Israel to halt all settlement construction in the West Bank and work to quell settler violence against Palestinians. She also expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Washington's representative in the UN also criticized Palestinian incitement to violence and terrorist activity, including the launching of rockets towards Israeli territory. Rice also said the recent talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Jordan were encouraging.

British Ambassador to the UN Mark Grant accused Israel of employing violence in the territories and called on the Jewish state to halt all settlement construction, including in east Jerusalem.

Germany's UN ambassador, Peter Wittig, said Israel was attempting to detach east Jerusalem from the West Bank, a move he claimed would make the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible."

[Jefferson23]

1. US Ambassador Susan Rice expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Oh my, they have a humanitarian situation in Gaza?


Recommend.

[Jefferson23]

2. Loan guarantees which allow Israel to maintain economic stability in unstable surroundings

they create...must be nice.


U.S. to grant three-year extension of loan guarantees to Israel

Current balance of loan guarantees Israel can take is $3.8 billion; global credit agencies view the gurantees as a 'safety net' for the Israeli economy.

By Barak Ravid

The U.S. government has informed Israel that it will recommend that Congress approve a three-year extension of loan guarantees to Israel, worth $3.8 billion. The announcement came after several months of worry in Israel that the loan guarantees would not be extended, despite Israel's request.

Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Nides and Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Neil Wolin announced the American decision at a meeting with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Monday. According to a senior U.S. official, the two emphasized to Ayalon that the recommendation to extend the guarantees through September 2015 would receive wide support from both parties in Congress and would be approved without any problems in the near future.

in full: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-to-grant-three-year-extension-of-loan-guarantees-to-israel-1.409037

[bemildred]

3. Ms Rice seems to be working on the even-handedness.

Refreshing change.

[Scurrilous]

4. UN calls on Israel to end West Bank demolitions

While the Israeli media prefers to report on the new “World Forum of Russian Jewry”–launched at a UN event and formed to garner support in the fight against Iran–Maxwell Gaylard, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, has called for “immediate end” to Israel’s demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank.

<snip>

During a visit on 26 January to Anata village on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Mr Gaylard saw the ruins of seven Palestinian homes demolished earlier in the week and met with representatives of the displaced families. He was informed that bulldozers and troops had arrived in the middle of the night of 23 January and that 52 people, including 29 children, had been forced from their homes and the homes then completely destroyed.

For the year 2011, some 622 homes and livelihood structures belonging to Palestinian families were similarly destroyed, forcibly displacing almost 1,100 people, over half of them children, and compromising the livelihoods of several thousand more. Mr Gaylard noted that these figures represent a dramatic increase compared with previous years, and that a much greater number, in the tens of thousands, remain under threat of dispossession, demolition and displacement.

Mr Gaylard added: “Israel as the Occupying Power has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well‐being. The wholesale destruction of their homes and livelihoods is not consistent with that responsibility and humanitarian ideals. The current policy and practice of demolitions cause extensive human suffering and should end. Palestinians urgently require ready access to a fair and non‐discriminatory planning and zoning system that meets their needs for growth and development.”

http://972mag.com/un-calls-on-israel-to-end-west-bank-demolitions/34027/

[Donald Ian Rankin]

5. "End settlement construction, or we will go on giving you lots of money!"

I wonder why this line doesn't work...

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Quick! What's Prosor's phone number?

'"You will never hear Palestinian leaders say 'two states for two peoples'. If you ever hear them say 'two states for two peoples', please phone my office immediately. Call me 'collect' in the event of such an unprecedented occurrence," he said.'

Abbas: “We Believe In A Two-State Solution”

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas stated that the Palestinian Authority believes in a two-state solution that would ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian State within the 1967 borders, and that this solution is the best for the future of the two peoples.


During a press conference with Finland’s President, Tarja Halonen, at the Presidential headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas said that the P.A. believes in this solution, and in a Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace and stability.


http://www.imemc.org/article/59637