Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumThe Maps of Israeli Settlements That Shocked Barack Obama
The New YorkerOne afternoon in the spring of 2015, a senior State Department official named Frank Lowenstein paged through a government briefing book and noticed a map that he had never seen before. Lowenstein was the Obama Administrations special envoy on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, a position that exposed him to hundreds of maps of the West Bank. (One adorned his State Department office.)
Typically, those maps made Jewish settlements and outposts look tiny compared to the areas where the Palestinians lived. The new map in the briefing book was different. It showed large swaths of territory that were off limits to Palestinian development and filled in space between the settlements and the outposts. At that moment, Lowenstein told me, he saw the forest for the treesnot only were Palestinian population centers cut off from one another but there was virtually no way to squeeze a viable Palestinian state into the areas that remained. Lowensteins team did the math. When the settlement zones, the illegal outposts, and the other areas off limits to Palestinian development were consolidated, they covered almost sixty per cent of the West Bank.
Lowenstein showed the small map to Secretary of State John Kerry and said, Look whats really going on here. Kerry brought the map to his next meeting with President Obama. The map was too small for everyone in the Situation Room to see, so Lowenstein had a series of larger maps made. The information was then verified by U.S. intelligence agencies. Obamas Presidency was winding down, but Lowenstein figured that he could use the time left to raise awareness about what the Israelis were doing. One day, everyones going to wake up and go, Wait a minute, weve got to stop this to at least have the possibility of a two-state solution, Lowenstein said.
...Kerry met regularly with Obama in the Oval Office. During one of those meetings, Kerry placed the maps on a large coffee table, one after another, so Obama and his advisers could study them. Ben Rhodes, one of Obama's longest-serving advisers, said the President was shocked to see how systematic the Israelis had been at cutting off Palestinian population centers from one another. Lowenstein didnt show the maps to the Israelis, but he did walk them through the key findings, which were incorporated into Kerry speeches and other documents. Lowenstein said the Israelis never challenged those findings.
More at https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-map-of-israeli-settlements-that-shocked-barack-obama
Typically, those maps made Jewish settlements and outposts look tiny compared to the areas where the Palestinians lived. The new map in the briefing book was different. It showed large swaths of territory that were off limits to Palestinian development and filled in space between the settlements and the outposts. At that moment, Lowenstein told me, he saw the forest for the treesnot only were Palestinian population centers cut off from one another but there was virtually no way to squeeze a viable Palestinian state into the areas that remained. Lowensteins team did the math. When the settlement zones, the illegal outposts, and the other areas off limits to Palestinian development were consolidated, they covered almost sixty per cent of the West Bank.
Lowenstein showed the small map to Secretary of State John Kerry and said, Look whats really going on here. Kerry brought the map to his next meeting with President Obama. The map was too small for everyone in the Situation Room to see, so Lowenstein had a series of larger maps made. The information was then verified by U.S. intelligence agencies. Obamas Presidency was winding down, but Lowenstein figured that he could use the time left to raise awareness about what the Israelis were doing. One day, everyones going to wake up and go, Wait a minute, weve got to stop this to at least have the possibility of a two-state solution, Lowenstein said.
...Kerry met regularly with Obama in the Oval Office. During one of those meetings, Kerry placed the maps on a large coffee table, one after another, so Obama and his advisers could study them. Ben Rhodes, one of Obama's longest-serving advisers, said the President was shocked to see how systematic the Israelis had been at cutting off Palestinian population centers from one another. Lowenstein didnt show the maps to the Israelis, but he did walk them through the key findings, which were incorporated into Kerry speeches and other documents. Lowenstein said the Israelis never challenged those findings.
More at https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-map-of-israeli-settlements-that-shocked-barack-obama
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
1 replies, 2705 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (19)
ReplyReply to this post
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Maps of Israeli Settlements That Shocked Barack Obama (Original Post)
BeyondGeography
Jul 2018
OP
Mosby
(16,350 posts)1. so where is the map showing the israelis claiming 60% of the WB?
There isn't one cuz it's bullshit.
Interesting how they admitted that Kerry completely misread Abbas's reaction, making things worse, instead of better.
HRC wouldn't have made that mistake.