Obama's courage on the Israeli settlements issue

FRONT PAGE: "New Focus on Settlements: Obama Pressures Israelis Over West Bank, But Effort to Stop Growth Faces Hurdles," by Ethan Bronner, New York Times, 6 June 2009.

A description of how Obama has changed an essential past aspect of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, one that's gone on for a very long time and yielded nothing but more violence.

Says a former leftist Israeli minister: "Obama may have found the soft underbelly of Israel, because ending settlements is a consensus issue in the world, among American Jewry and even among a majority of Israelis."

Another example of the mix of intelligence and practical courage that Obama brings to the job, not on everything by any stretch, but on a host of tough subjects.

Comments

[Kenneth Nalaboff]

While I do live in Israel, and I DO agree with settlement freeze, I think it may be the exact definition that is meeting resistance here, beyond the extreme right (which is not an insignifcant minority here and will resist in almost any case). I have spoken to colleagues living in settlements in the West Bank, and they tell me the majority of them believe in the settlement freeze as well... go figure. And these are gun-toting ardent Zionists, but with a realistic head on their shoulders. I like to phrase the continued building of these illegal settlemento outposts as unnecessarily poking our finger in the eyes of a group of people that we will be our neighbors no matter what, so why continue to provoke them?

A freeze, IMHO, would be "no expansion beyond the present city limits" (particularly within the 3 major settlement blocs that are widely expected to stay as part of Israel in the eventual final status agreement.... whenever that might take place), or something along those lines, while a "complete freeze", as presently demanded by the Obama administration, as it is perceived here, is no building within the city limits, even if there is a vacant lot in town center, nowhere near city limits or land that is presently lived in or expected to be used by the Palestinians. I think this is more or less what Bibi is referring to as "natural growth", but as always, the devil is in the details, whether what the US administration is demanding (really no construction on that central vacant lot?) vs. what the Israeli government is pushing for (do they honestly expect to expand beyond the present large settlement blocs?).

I am never quite sure what is going on in Bibi's head but I certainly hope that this is the type of natural growth he is referring to.

You will find very few here, whether in the population, or within the government, that will be supporting the setting up these trailer park settlements (the "officially illegal" settlements, but that term is of course up to debate), going out of their way to provoke the Palestinians. As my friend in the W. Bank told me, Obama just picked the wrong fight and drew the line in the sand a little too close. Better to exactly define what "natural growth" really means, and to expand no further beyond the city limits, obviously remove these BS trailer parks, and make more clear the land swaps that would occur in order to keep the major settlement blocs (I think we are talking more than a quarter million inhabitants there).

[Steven J.]

Comments by Kenneth seem to support the long held argument that Israel will not ever enforce laws to protect Palestinian human rights and property.

Yes, Israel has been under attack since U.N. put them there. So why in the hell doesn't U.N. sanction some sort of security forces at the walls where there are legitimate security concerns?

And then we can pour in aid to Palestine so they have no reason to fight.

[Dave Goldberg]

Obama is to be commended for forcing the issue. I'm no fan of the settlements, and the Israeli Supreme Court has had a role in clouding the issue.

On the other hand in April 2007 the Israeli High Court ruled that labor laws to apply to Palestinians in settlements, stating "This distinction on the basis of nationality is improper and tantamount to discrimination... applying a foreign law to Palestinian workers and the Israeli law to Israeli ones infringes on the Palestinians' basic rights and discriminates against them, although they all work together"

Contrast that with a 22 June 2009 report that a Palestinian Authority police officer arrested for infiltrating the border has asked to remain in Israel after his release from prison because he fears that Hamas will kill him if he re-enters Gaza because Hamas sees him as loyal to the Palestinian Authority.

Can Palestinians be counted on to protect Palestinian human rights?