Bibi hits the Hill

[laststeamtrain]

Bibi hits the Hill
Laura Rozen

After a defiant speech to the AIPAC conference last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit the Hill Tuesday morning, meeting with GOP leaders, and Jewish members.

In the meeting with Jewish members, Netanyahu complained that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is “not a partner, won’t come to the table,” one Hill source relayed. Abbas, Netanyahu complained, “puts conditions on everything, he won’t come to the table, … he won’t do direct talks.”

Netanyahu also “made excuses for the complicated approval process, ….the point being he had no idea what happened when Vice President Joe Biden was there,” the Hill source said, referring to the Israeli government announcement that 1,600 new Jewish homes would be built in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo during Biden’s good will trip to the Jewish state earlier this month, two days after Palestinians had agreed to come to U.S.-led proximity talks with the Israelis.

In other words, the stalled peace process is Abbas' fault. And his government's actions? Not his fault.

Netanyahu has a meeting and photo op with the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) at 3:15PM. He then is due to meet with Obama tonight at the White House, no photos, no press.

...http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0310/Bibi_hits_the_Hill.html

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Nothing like a good "poke in the eye" to forward the peace process.

A Third Muslim-World War?

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would do anything to protect Israel—as long as he doesn't have to believe in peace.

By Christopher Dickey | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Back when Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu was elected Israel's prime minister for the first time, in 1996, a Jordanian political scientist with a grim sense of humor said the only way to describe him was like a villain out of an old Western: "He's a lyin', cheatin', deceitin' son of a bitch!"


The Obama administration, without using quite such colorful language, might be inclined to agree. As Aluf Benn, the respected diplomatic correspondent for Israel's Haaretz newspaper wrote in these columns recently, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel last week, he "had come to offer not just friendship, but support (and protection) against Iran—Israel's greatest bogeyman—in exchange for a few concessions from Netanyahu. Instead, he got a finger in the eye."

The announcement of government-approved plans to build 1,600 new Israeli homes in largely Arab East Jerusalem was a direct challenge to Biden's efforts to move peace talks forward. The Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their state, accuse the Israelis of using such projects to create "facts on the ground" that vastly complicate future negotiations—and, indeed, that is precisely the intent of many Israelis who support the building program.

But the problem as Benn presented it was more complex than that: a combination of brinkmanship and blackmail in which Netanyahu's government makes veiled threats to attack Iran, or not, depending on how much pressure it feels on the Palestinian issue.

SNIP

Jordan had signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 only to see the architect of that accord, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, gunned down by an Israeli terrorist in 1995. When Netanyahu won the elections that followed, Jordan's late King Hussein had hopes he could work with Bibi. Hussein tried to build confidence by receiving the Israeli prime minister in Amman in August 1996, only to have the Israelis begin digging a tunnel under Muslim holy places in Jerusalem a few days later. In February 1997, Hussein invited Netanyahu to Amman again, hoping to improve the atmosphere, but the next day the Israelis announced approval of a whole new Jewish neighborhood, Har Homa, to be built in East Jerusalem. In both cases the timing seemed planned not only to embarrass King Hussein, but to implicate and weaken him.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/235119?

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Words as bombs

A complacent West confronts a smug Israel
By Dan Lieberman

Words can act as bombs by creating panic and disarray so that the adversary becomes totally confused. Israel has written the book on how to get its way by throwing the ‘word bomb.’

Isn’t it obvious that the announcement to build 1,600 new homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo is part of a contrived plan? After all, the prime minister must have had many discussions of these plans with his interior minister. He showed this by replying quickly to the facts concerning the planned construction. Besides, why was it necessary for the interior minister to make a public disclosure? To whom was he disclosing the information? Unless, the world recognizes the orderliness of the disorderly conduct, the Middle East will continue its path of additional destruction. The well contrived plan of bombing the ‘negotiations’ with a seemingly off-hand remark that the Interior Ministry plans 1,600 new homes for East Jerusalem has had its effects. Start with the Palestinian Authority’s position.

The ‘word bomb’ places the Palestinian Authority in a no-win situation. If the PA ignores the ‘word bomb,’ then it tacitly approves settlement expansion. If the PA halts peace talks, then it leaves itself open to the usual remark, carried by the world press, “The authority is looking to halt negotiations.” Besides, without negotiations conducted with a watchdog USA, how can the Palestinian Authority prevent Israel from doing whatever it wants?

SNIP

Israel’s settlement expansion plans placed the American administration in the predicament of either admitting its decades of support for the problematic state has been fruitless or demonstrating that by its powerful nature it can overcome all obstacles and bring peace to the Middle East. Decades of American involvement in Middle East situations show the opposite; the U.S. government has contributed more to violence then to Middle East stability. Either the powerful U.S., which can intimidate all lesser nations, either does not know how to use its strength to force a just and peaceful solution or is deceiving the world in characterizing its role as an ‘honest broker.’

By its ‘harmless’ declaration Israel achieved a win-win position.

The Likud government tested the waters; an attempt to harmlessly voice that settlement construction in East Jerusalem is separate from those in the West Bank, and the former will not be considered in the talks. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu postured that negotiations are difficult, not because of him, but because of severe differences in the cabinet. It is entirely possible that during the talks a pre-arranged government collapse will occur and emergency measures, due to change in administration, will halt the meetings. In addition, knowing that President Obama does not favor him, the Israeli Prime Minister struck his own blow of contempt and made President Obama seem weak and servile.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5710.shtml

[damntexdem]

3. Watch out, or he'll build some settlements on it.

;-)

There can be no peace so long as there is land theft.