Phase One: From 1992 until late in 2000, the PLO, and later the PA negotiated with Israel at a time when there were no limits on construction within settlements. They were, however, in no hurry to make a deal and, in fact, killed the talks in 2000. Incidentally, Israel made a huge concession from its previous positions to begin the process in 1993: No new settlements or territorial expansion of existing ones. It keept that commitment. The PLO and PA also made some "concessions": They would fight against terrorism. They didn't. They never raised as a bargaining point the idea of a freeze on construction in existing settlements.
Phase Two: Then from 2000 to 2009--a decade--the PA refused direct any sustained peace negotiations at a time when there were no limits on construction within settlements. They never raised as a bargaining point the idea that they would end the violence (2000-2005) or that they would negotiate in exchange for a freeze on construction in existing settlements. That was President Obama's idea in mid-2009 and they rejected it.
Phase Three: After Israel did freeze construction, the PA wasted nine months--knowing the clock was ticking on the temporary freeze--without making any moves to accelerate, or even hold, negotiations.
Thus, the PA has wasted almost 20 years, during which thousands of buildings have been added to Israeli settlements.
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| Never Freeze Israel Again. Jews need Homes too |
American State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said via Twitter on Saturday that the United States is doing all it can to assure the continuation of negotiations between Israel and the American-backed Palestinians Authority. "
Doing all it can" is generally understood by political analysts to infer increased pressure on Israel to make concessions.
IsraelNationalNews.com
Permits Permits Permits by David Wilder :
Journalists have asked me...
'do you have a permit to build the new kindergarten?'
The answer is quite simple:
We have had a permit to build in Hebron for the past 3,800 years.
Did the first Jew in Hebron, Avraham Avinu, have a permit to purchase the caves of Machpela and the surrounding fields? Did he need a Prime Minister, Defense Minister or anyone else to verify and okay the transaction? Two thousand years ago Herod, King of Judea, constructed a magnificent monument to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, a building still in use, to this very day. Did he ask Barak or Netanyahu to approve this classic structure?
In 1929 the age-old Jewish Hebron community was massacred and the survivors expelled. It is time that the nations of the world recognize that the roots of modern civilization are found in Jewish Hebron, the foundations of which commenced almost 4,000 years ago.
In 1967 Jews returned to Hebron and Machpela, (which was declared off-limits to Jews and Christians for 700 years). We did not conquer and occupy a foreign city. We returned - we came home.
The most normal act of existence is to grow and develop, to expand. To build. That is what we are doing in Hebron. First and foremost, providing a good thorough education for our children, from the very beginning.
This is why we are starting with a kindergarten, to be built on Jewish land, in the first Jewish city in Israel, in Hebron. No artificial freeze, no talks of an imaginary peace, can deny the Jews of their most elementary right: to live in city of Abraham, to grow in the city of Abraham, to build, develop and expand in the city of Abraham. This is our G-d - given right; an obligation, ensuring a continued thriving Jewish presence in Hebron for generations to come!
