Politics over peace in the Middle East

[grassfed]

Israel's announcement of settlement expansions in east Jerusalem were calculated to wreck even the start of tentative talks with the Palestinians.

RIGHT-WING Israeli obstruction of the pursuit of Middle East peace suggests political conservatives are convinced everything works pretty well as it is.

How else to explain the facile ease with which the Likud Party and others insulted U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden during his visit last week. Biden was in the region to revive talks — even indirect talks — between Israelis and Palestinians.

Biden and, apparently, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu were stunned by an announcement from the coalition government's interior minister that 1,600 new settlement houses would be built in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu was embarrassed and apologized, but did not disavow a declaration calculated to drive the Palestinians away and offend and enrage Israel's opposition parties, who acknowledge a shared presence in Jerusalem is part of a future peace agreement.

Israel continues to settle occupied territory in violation of international law, and it keeps cashing those U.S. checks for billions of dollars in military aid. What would happen if a payment, oh, got lost in the mail?

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