Livni and French MP clash over Gaza during EU speech

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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni verbally clashed with French Member of Parliament Danny Cohen Bendit during her address before the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.

As Livni recounted the progress Israel has made in negotiations with the Palestinians during the past year, Cohen Bendit interrupted her, asking, "How can you talk about progress when Palestinian children are detained at checkpoints and can't go to school?"

Livni responded angrily to Cohen Bendit's question, raising her voice and saying "the children in Sderot and in the Gaza vicinity sometimes can't go to school because of the rocket strikes. Israel is not interested in making Palestinian children suffer, but it is impossible to ignore the security situation and ultimately, the checkpoints are designed to prevent suicide attacks. Israeli children are attacked every day from the areas which Israel evacuated." Also Tuesday, EU lawmakers told Livni that her country has to do more to stop the expansion of West Bank settlements. They said settlers' moves to defend their homes there were threatening Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

The foreign minister said it was no longer official Israeli policy to expand settlements in the West Bank and the government has been trying to reduce them since peace talks restarted last year.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1042986.html

[Tarc]

1. Aggressive Denial, the hallmark of the Israeli response

whenever they are questioned about their own human rights abuses.

[azurnoir]

2. Do the children of Gaza go to school in Israel

or is this comment an admission on Livni;s part that Israel is punishing children on the West Bank for actions in Gaza?

"Livni responded angrily to Cohen Bendit's question, raising her voice and saying "the children in Sderot and in the Gaza vicinity sometimes can't go to school because of the rocket strikes."

and then even better

"The foreign minister said it was no longer official Israeli policy to expand settlements in the West Bank and the government has been trying to reduce them since peace talks restarted last year."

Rice Warns Israel on Settlement Expansion
Despite challenges, 2008 Annapolis peace goal remains possible

http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2008/June/20080616161103idybeekcm0.4809687.html

The Israeli government’s plan to back a settlement in the occupied West Bank violates international humanitarian law and should be stopped, Human Rights Watch said today.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/08/05/israel-stop-plans-new-west-bank-settlement

So would that make settlement expansion Israel's unofficial policy?

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3. Yep, "eye for an eye" and all that.

I thought the admission that settlement expansion is no longer "official" policy was interesting too. There was a good deal that was interesting in the exchange, but not in the sense that it illuminates the future, just that it indicates how uncomfortable the present is.

[azurnoir]

4. ah the blind and toothless method

always so productive, but I wonder how Netanyahu would have responded in the same situation.

[bemildred]

5. Sounds messy, rapid cranial fragmentation ... nt