Obama drops demand that Israel freeze settlements

[Freddie Stubbs]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Prodding Israel and the Palestinian Authority to restart talks aimed at a permanent resolution of their decades-old conflict, President Obama dropped a demand for an Israeli settlement freeze, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

"Simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to move forward," Obama told reporters before a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that is necessary to achieve our goals," Obama said.

Obama first met separately with Netanyahu and Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in what he called "frank and productive" talks. The session was the first among the three leaders since Obama took office in January.

more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/22/us.mideast/

[NYC_SKP]

1. Typical MSM CNN Misleading Headline. sigh.

It's far more nuanced than that and inflates what he'd said in the first place.

Deeper in the article:

-snip-

"It's been apparent for some time that the Israelis were going to fall short of what is necessary on the settlement freeze," one senior U.S. official said. "But our view is let's get to negotiations and settlements will be addressed within those final status issues"

A senior Israeli diplomat said Israel agreed to not building any new settlements, no outward expansion of existing growth and to only build for "natural" growth within existing settlements. He said Israel also agreed not to encourage Israelis to move to settlements, which would increase the population.

"A complete settlement freeze wasn't physically or politically possible, especially in the absence of any Arab or Palestinian concessions," the Israeli diplomat said. "There was a time the gaps had significantly narrowed, but now they were starting to widen. The administration recognized, rather than have them widen further, we should start negotiating."

-snip-

[jonnyblitz]

2. I'm stunned.

:rofl: