Israel Begins Building New Settlement Deep in West Bank

[brooklynite]

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel has begun laying the foundations for a new Jewish settlement deep in the West Bank -- breaking a promise to Washington while strengthening its hold on a stretch of desert it wants to keep as it draws its final borders.

The construction of Maskiot comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seeks U.S. backing for eventually annexing parts of the West Bank as part of a plan to set Israel's eastern border with or without Palestinian consent.

The Palestinians and Israel's settlement watchdog group Peace Now say the Maskiot construction amounts to a new attempt to push Israel's future border deeper into the West Bank. ``It's about grabbing land,'' said Yariv Oppenheimer of Peace Now.

Otniel Schneller, an Olmert adviser, confirmed Israel is building in additional West Bank areas to ensure they are not included in the lands given to the Palestinians. He said Israel needs to keep the Jordan Valley, where Maskiot is located, as a security buffer against Islamic militants based in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere.

http://wcbs880.com/pages/42306.php

Perhaps this will take everyone's minds off the problems in Iraq...

[xxqqqzme]

1. I expect b*shco will be ranting about ALL those UN resolutions

Israel has violated & will attack any day now! Hey, it was used against saddam...Israel has violated many more resolutions than saddam ever did.

:sarcasm: off

[papau]

2. Bush meets with the Israeli PM in a few days - wonder if media will

ask any questions?

Meanwhile the AP is depending on sources other than the current defense minister.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said he was studying the Maskiot matter

[cantstandbush]

3. Once again, Israel thumbs it nose at the US and dares it to take any

action against it. Now that Bush seeminly gave Israel carte blanche do whatever it damn well likes with the Palestinians and Iran. I want a government that will fight against Israeli terrorists as well as Al-qaeda.

[AlamoDemoc]

4. Our American tax dollars at work !

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Look where else they go...

Your tax dollars at work...U.S. taxpayers financed human trafficking, report says

[idontwantaname]

5. hey all you peacewall jokers, does this make you smile? nt.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. I suspect we're expected to look the other way on this...

After all, this bit of news gets totally ignored in this forum while so much energy is exerted on complaining about boycotts and about how the Palestinians should be able to magically build themselves a thriving society blah blah blah....

Violet...

[Tom Joad]

7. I still hear a few misguided folks saying....

"But... but... Israel is ending the occupation!:cry: "

Israel is doing all the can to legitamize a land grab, to legalize and formalize it. they hope u.s. will accept it (it will already be the facts on the ground), and given that reality, few nations will go against the US, so europe will too. What do they really care about human rights and the rule of law?

The only thing stopping this from happening will be massive people-power to resist this acceptance. When masses of people rise up and take action. That is why divestment is so critical. Governments are not doing their job, so we as citizens can do that work for them.

[Violet_Crumble]

9. They're very misguided folk...

And clearly their idea of 'ending the occupation' translates as Israel takes whatever territory it sees fit to while continuing to destroy any hopes of a viable Palestinian state. They complain about Hamas with its expansionist views and insist that Hamas must recognise the right of Israel to exist within the 1967 borders, while at the same time either ignoring or praising loudly Israel building more illegal settlements outside of Israel. The only difference I can see between Israel and Hamas on this is that while Hamas only talks about it, Israel goes ahead and does it...

[Tom Joad]

10. Violet, they are not only asking Hamas to recognize Israel,

they are demanding that Hamas recognize Israel as a "Jewish State" (not a state for all its inhabitants). PLO and Jordan and Egypt have never gone that far, though they do recognize Israel as a State.

Also, "insist that Hamas must recognise the right of Israel to exist within the 1967 borders" is not quite accurate either, as Israel does not believe in the 1967 borders as having any legal binding. It has only shown its willingness to seperate itself from a portions of the West Bank that it will graciously allow Palestinians to live in, taking as much land as possible, forcing Palestinians into as little land as possible.

In the meantime, Palestinians are under the forced Israeli "diet", the brutal sanctions and boycott supported by Israel and its co-enablers, especially the United States.

Hamas has said that though they feel all of old Palestine belongs to Palestinians, many of their statements make clear they are willing to live peacefully with a real withdrawal and end of occupation from all of the lands taken in 1967.

[pelsar]

26. one does not stop the other....

whether or not israeli builds nor destroys settlements, the palestenains can still make a society that doesnt include suicide bombers, gang bangers etc...they're present failure to is their responsability...and theres no magic involved just hard work and understanding that actions have consequences.

gaza being the present prime example....they had an incredible chance to actually start building something.....

[Violet_Crumble]

31. This may come as a shock, but Palestinians already have a society...

...and comments making out they don't have a society are, imo, totally incorrect as well as coming across as just a bit discriminatory against Palestinians....

Pelsar, this thread is about Israel building settlements in the West Bank. It's not about Gaza. It's not about blaming the Palestinians for Israel continuing to build settlements, either....

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Good for Israel.

It is following the UN resolution, now let's see if the other side will follow suit.

[Tom Joad]

11. ...

:shrug:

[Tom Joad]

12. Nominated for most illogical, unfounded post of the season.

the competition is so rough, too.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. I'll consider the source. n/t

[Andromeda]

17. The same could be said about yours.

[Scurrilous]

18. Seconded!

:thumbsup:

[norml]

20. Thirded!

Only a thoroughly deluded Israel bot could possibly say Israel building settlements on the West Bank was Israel complying with UN resolutions.

Either that, or possibly they meant it as humor.

[Tom Joad]

22. Must have been humor. Or completely ignorant of international law.

[Tom Joad]

23. So we have a winner for Spring 2006. For all the runners up, remember

a new season begins officially June 21st, 2006.

[Behind the Aegis]

33. speaking of bots...

[Tom Joad]

14. Next time you hear there ain't enough money to build homes for

folks here in the US, remember we are sending it to build homes in ethnically-exclusive (by law!) suburban tracts in the West Bank, with land taken by force, and protected by a military, funded by your U.S. tax dollars.

the lawns are generously irrigated with water taken from Palestinians.

Waste from the settlements are generously dumped in Palestinian land (guess you can't say the Settlers don't know how to give as well as recieve).

So why don't Palestinians learn to get along with Israelis?? :sarcasm:

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Oh yes....that is where ALL our taxes go.

:eyes:

on edit: Your tax dollars at work...U.S. taxpayers financed human trafficking, report says

[Tom Joad]

19. Three to Five Billion / year to Israel's occupation.

[Behind the Aegis]

21. Sorry...I need a source other than you.

[Tom Joad]

24. Here you go....

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/U.S._Assistance_to_Israel1.html

[Behind the Aegis]

25. That doesn't show 3-5 billion going to occupation...

...but thanks for the source.

[Phx_Dem]

27. your post a week ago..

US aid for Israel $2.46 billion in 2007

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x126276

[Tom Joad]

28. Combined with other aid, other than direct aid, it comes out to a whole

bunch of money, probably more than 3 billion.

Even if it were a "mere" One Billion... it is too much to give to a State that defies international law and norms.

[Phx_Dem]

29. what do you think about the 1.8 bil US aid to Egypt?

[Tom Joad]

30. I would vote against it... however,

at least there is accountability with that aid... egypt must say where and how it is spent.
It is not used to build settlements on land confiscated by military force.

However, we are straying from the subject. How do you feel about the increasing settlements in the West Bank? Most people, Bush/Olmert excepted, believe that the settlements in the West Bank are an obstacle to peace and indeed, in violation of international law. what do you think?

[Phx_Dem]

32. I think at this point expanding the settlements..

is not a very good idea, though there are already a lot of settlements up and down the Jordan Valley.

You know of course that the US aid to Israel is really so they can "balance the budget" which is something someday the gov. of Israel is going to have to figure out how to do w/out US aid.

[Tom Joad]

34. Morally bankrupt policies are expensive.

It will never, ever be able to do that, as long as it continues with
the morally bankrupt policies of violating international law.

“The Occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,” states Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.