Condi may be clueless but Obama is worse

Condi is not to be trusted by the GOP. Her allegiance is to people who are presently literally part of Obama's foreign policy. Yes, I'm not kidding. Baker is in Obama's team and that is the Saudi lobby. She might of grown up near Bibi's family house in Colorado, but her bread got buttered by Aramco/Chevron and that allegiance to it's board is still there. I could never see demonizing oil companies, but it is time to discriminate between obtaining oil locally in North America and being a slave to interests in the status quo in the Arabian peninsula and North Africa.

(h/t Carl) Former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has finally gotten around to blasting the Obama administration for its obsession with Jewish 'settlements.'

“When you look at where we are now, we’re a long, long way back from where we were,” Rice said in an interview with AP.
Rice said she had hoped that the Obama administration could revive stalled peace talks quickly when it took office in 2009, but she said she was disappointed by the new administration’s handling of the delicate issue of new Israeli housing construction in the West Bank.
“I do think focusing on settlements in that particular way was a mistake,” Rice said. “The parties then were able to have a reason not to sit down.”
The gulf has only widened, Rice said, “and they’re running out of time.” She did not sound optimistic for a settlement soon, or even for new talks. “When they’re not talking, they’re sliding backward,” Rice said.
...
Rice herself had called settlement building unhelpful and was infuriated when Israel appeared to undercut her by announcing new building licenses hard on the heels of some of her diplomatic visits.
But new Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, took a much harder line in the spring of 2009, demanding a full freeze on any building.
Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements,” including the expansion of existing developments, Clinton said in May of that year.
With Israelis suspicious of Obama even before he assumed office, the settlement position further unnerved them. The Palestinians, initially encouraged, became disillusioned when the U.S. was unable to persuade Israel to freeze settlement construction.

She's obviously angling to get her old job back in a Republican administration in 2013. Someone please tell me it will be Bolton instead.

she just said: "the U.S. was unable to persuade Israel to freeze settlement construction. "? Not true at all and she would know this. The Israelis did stop for what was agreed (a little less the a year), but got no cooperation from the Arabs.

George Mitchell resigns as U.S. Middle East envoy - Yahoo!

...His Dogged Drive for Mideast Piece...FAIL...

The basic reality is you have a nonexistent peace process," said Aaron Miller, a former Middle East negotiator now at the Wilson Center, a think tank. via online.wsj.com

George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy for Middle East peace, will step down after a frustrating two and a half years seeking to jump-start the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian peace process. via news.yahoo.com

George Mitchell: His Dogged Drive for Mideast Peace

So you say to Israel, look, if you don't do this...what?

Mitchell: Under American law, the U.S. can withhold support on loan guarantees to Israel. President George W. Bush did so on one occasion. But we think the way to approach this is to try to persuade the parties what is in their self-interest

Charlie Rose talks to Mideast envoy George Mitchell and believes that the U.S. can leverage Israel with financial threats, but the truth is that the U.S. is in no situation financially to be making any kind of fiscal threats at all. In fact it is Israel that could be making financial threats to the United States

As of September 2009, Israel’s foreign debt totals $28 billion. Meanwhile, the State of Israel’s foreign currency reserves total $60 billion. Most of them are invested in US government bonds. That is, the Israeli government’s foreign debt stands at -$32 billion. Or in other words, at this time we, Israelis, are financing America’s debts – and not the other way around."

A lot of Israeli economists got a good laugh when US Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell threatened in a PBS interview last week to withhold Israel's loan guarantees. Sever Plocker explains why.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

At this time too, the Israeli government is embarrassed to tell the US administration what needs to be said: Please, take back your loan guarantees. In the coming decade we probably will not need them, while you may very well need them. The Administration economists I met know this well.

People who still speak about “US economic pressure on Israel via loan guarantees” are completely disconnected from reality. Israel is now helping the US pay its deficits, and not the other way around. This is why we were laughing, the American economists and myself, when the issue of loan guarantees came up in our conversation. I was laughing happily; they were laughing somewhat sadly.

via ynetnews.com

Abbas Asking For US Forces to Supposedly Defend Palestinian State From Israeli Invasion, Permanent NATO Bases in Peace Deal

Fayyad said that Abbas had also said that he would perhaps even agree to an international troops presence like that on the Israel-Egypt border and the Israel-Lebanon border.

via thememriblog.org

So called peace according to Fatah of Palestine would imply that NATO and the U.S. have sovereignty over Israel over the protection of it's borders. Translation: Of course Fatah is like negotiating with no one, so essentially the deal means Israel can no longer protect itself and Palestine does not follow it's own promises.

(JPost)-The Palestinian Authority is considering allowing the permanent stationing of NATO forces in the future Palestinian state, London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Palestinian sources saying Wednesday.
The NATO forces would be able to prevent arms smuggling into the future state and to monitor that it would remain demilitarized.
Under any peace agreement likely to be formulated between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Israel would expect the Palestinian entity to remain demilitarized.
The Palestinian Authority will also ask NATO and the US to commit to “defending the Palestinian state from Israel,” were relations to break down and were Israel to threaten the future Palestinian state with invasion, the report said.
US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell is meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday afternoon. According to the report, Abbas would be making this offer and request in the meeting

via ibloga.blogspot.com

PLO negotiating chief Saeb Eriqat has denied news that the Palestinians have agreed to a NATO presence on the soil of the Palestinian state that is to be established.

The NATO presence would be deployed to defend the state, oversee its borders and crossing points, and prevent the entrance of weapons, since the state is to be demilitarized.

via thememriblog.org

Abbas rules out peace

...without unilateral concessions on property in Jerusalem where Jewish people live and can not prosper and survive without building as needed :

Mahmoud Abbas said Jerusalem was "the gate to peace" in the Middle East

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out attending indirect "proximity talks" with Israel unless it halts the construction of settlements.

Mr Abbas told an Arab League summit he would not resume negotiations as long as Israel maintained the "status quo" in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
He was seeking support after Israel appeared to refuse to back down in a row with the US over East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks have withdrawn from Gaza after an overnight incursion.
It came after the killing of two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian militants in the worst fighting in the territory for more than a year.
Hamas said its fighters had been involved in the initial border clash, but insisted their actions were defensive. Israel said it began when its troops spotted militants planting explosives along the border.
Reports said one Palestinian was killed during the Israeli incursion.
'Madness'
In a speech to the Arab League summit in the Libyan town of Sirte on Saturday, President Abbas demanded an immediate end to Israel's building on occupied territory, particularly East Jerusalem.

We have to have alternative plans because the situation has reached a turning point Amr Moussa Secretary-Genera, Arab League

"We cannot resume indirect negotiations as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy and the status quo," he said.
"Negotiations on the borders [of a future Palestinian state] would be absurd if Israel decides on the ground the border," he added. "We have always said that Jerusalem is the jewel in the crown and the gate to peace."
Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a guest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, described the Israeli position as "madness".

TIMELINE: ISRAEL-US ROW 9 Mar: Israel announces the building of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem during visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden. Mr Biden condemns the move 11 Mar: Mr Biden says there must be no delay in resuming Mid-East peace talks, despite the row 12 Mar: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Israeli move is "deeply negative" for relations 15 Mar: The US says it is waiting for a "formal response" from Israel to its proposals to show it is committed to Mid-East peace 16 Mar: The US envoy to the Mid-East postpones a visit to Israel 17 Mar: President Obama denies there is a crisis with Israel 22 Mar: Hillary Clinton tells pro-Israel lobby group Aipac Israel has to make "difficult but necessary choices" if it wants peace with Palestinians. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tells Aipac Israel has a "right to build" in Jerusalem 23 Mar: Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu meet behind closed doors with no media access 23 Mar: Jerusalem municipal government approves building of 20 new homes in East Jerusalem 24 Mar: Mr Netanyahu ends Washington trip talking of a "golden" solution amid US silence Views from Israel Israel-US: A bruised friendship Issues: Borders and settlements

"This leads Israel to isolation," he told the conference. "By adopting such an attitude, Israel is not only violating international law, but also violating human feelings, conscience and history."
The Arab League's Secretary-General, Amr Moussa, said its member states should prepare for the possibility of the peace process's "complete failure".
"It's time to face Israel. We have to have alternative plans because the situation has reached a turning point," he added.
The UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile urged Arab leaders to continue supporting US efforts to revive the peace talks.
He said Jerusalem's significance should be respected, and that the city "should emerge from negotiations as the capital of two states".
The BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli, says this is the first time the UN has specified what it would like to result from the talks about Jerusalem.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the statement, telling the BBC it was "the right course for a solution in accordance with international law".
At the end of the two-day gathering in Libya, the Arab League is expected to adopt a new resolution to include a plan to establish a commission of legal advisors to pursue cases in international courts regarding East Jerusalem, our correspondent says.
'Narrowing of the gaps'
Israel's approval two weeks ago of plans for 1,600 new homes in the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo prompted the Palestinians to pull out of the proximity talks mediated by the US special envoy, George Mitchell, which both sides had only just agreed to attend.

[Mr Netanyahu's] position is that there is no change in Israel's policy on Jerusalem that has been pursued by all governments of Israel for the last 42 years Israeli prime minister's office

Unveiled at the start of a visit to the Middle East by US Vice-President Joe Biden, the decision caused one of the worst crises in US-Israeli ties for decades.
During a visit to Washington last week, the White House tried to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to commit to several confidence-building measures to persuade Mr Abbas to return to the talks.
A senior Palestinian Authority official has told the BBC that to re-enter the indirect negotiations it would require assurances that the Ramat Shlomo project would not be implemented for at least three years, and that the Israelis would not "continue to take actions which destroy our credibility".
An Israeli government spokesman said on Friday there had been a "narrowing of the gaps" between Israel and the US, but Mr Netanyahu stressed there had been "no change in Israel's policy on Jerusalem".
In November, Mr Netanyahu announced a 10-month suspension of new building in the West Bank. But his government considers areas within the Jerusalem municipality as Israeli territory and thus not subject to the restrictions.

POINTS OF TENSION IN JERUSALEM 1 Gilo: 850 homes approved for publication and planning objections in Nov 2009 2 Pisgat Zeev: 600 homes approved for publication and planning objections in Jan 2010 3 Sheikh Jarrah: Municipality approves the building of 20 new apartments on the site of an old hotel 4 Ramat Shlomo: 1,600 homes approved for publication and planning objections in Mar 2010 5 Silwan: Demolition orders on 88 Palestinian homes built without difficult-to-get permits - Israel planning controversial renewal project 6. West Bank barrier: Making Palestinian movement between West Bank and Jerusalem harder - Israel says it is for security

via news.bbc.co.uk

Posted via web from noahdavidsimon's posterous

Here is video of Benjamin Netanyahu, an excerpt from his recent speech to AIPAC, in regard to a nuclear Iran.





Rand Paul is okay with a nuclear Iran.







RandPaulStrangeIdeas.com

via genuinegopmom.blogspot.com

Mitchell and Obama play good cop, bad cop. Do not fall for it.

the idea that Obama is too Pro Israel has me snickering.

An Arab political source said Friday that special U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell has requested to resign due to his frustration with the way the Obama administration has been handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a Nazareth-based daily.

Hadith a-Nass reported that Mitchell's request stemmed partly from to his own failure to advance the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and also from his perception that certain elements within the State Department hold biased favor toward Israel.

The White House turned down Mitchell's request, according to Hadith a-Nass.

via haaretz.com

....hokey pokey ...doing the Kansas City Shuffle. Obama's slick moves become transparent after a while. He isn't fooling anyone. If anything Mitchell could be a little to the right of Barrack. they aren't fooling anyone. They are both fiends and neither one of them are going to resign. let them both sulk in a corner. do not negotiate with terrorists

Don’t make me laugh - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews

if Obama is going to threaten Israel with financing, he'd better look at his own... lol.... this is very sad. Obama still thinks he has leverage. news flash! the United States is a debtor to Israel

Mitchell thinks this is impressive? Fayyad called for a Jew free territory

In just the past week, official PA television has hailed the first female Palestinian suicide bomber; PA president Mahmoud Abbas personally honored Dalal Mughrabi, a legend of Palestinian terrorism who participated in the coastal-road massacre, the deadliest act of terrorism in Israel’s history (37 innocents were murdered); and both Abbas and the supposedly moderate PA Prime Minister, Salaam Fayyad, celebrated the killers of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai, who was gunned down by members of Fatah while driving last week.

via commentarymagazine.com

Over the past couple of weeks, the PA leadership has repeatedly lauded Fatah terrorists and their acts of murder. Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad have personally engaged in the celebrations.

via commentarymagazine.com

What was Mitchell’s reaction? Could he muster the kind of moral outrage that the Obama administration routinely reserves, say, for Jewish housing construction in Jerusalem? Well, no. He went on the Charlie Rose show and lauded Fayyad as an “impressive leader” and declared that the Fayyad-Abbas team represents “strong and effective leadership for the Palestinian people.”

via commentarymagazine.com

Rose is leading his viewers into empathy and lies regarding Jerusalem and who isn't talking to who. it is only Abbas who is not coming to the table because he expects the EU and US to force Israel's hand. Abbas and Fayyad has no reason to negotiate. Israel has every reason to talk. if Abbas talks then he loses power from Hamas. why negotiate when the status quo gets you what you want?

with George Mitchell via charlierose.com

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10796

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10796 <---entire interview

Mitchell seems confused as to the nature of the last legally binding contract, "The British Mandate of Palestine" and the exclusive contract that the United States is bound with the UK to respect the territory, as well as the UN's respect of the mandate through the League of Nations. Further Mitchell seems to not realize that the legal solution of Jerusalem is for the people of the territory to vote on it's government. a vote that was to happen when the city was two thirds Jewish (before the occupation and ethnic cleansing of Jews by the nation of Jordan on the territory of Judea and Samaria)

The complaint against Abbas had to do with his sponsorship in late December of a ceremony celebrating the 50th birthday of Dalal Mughrabi, the terrorist who directed the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, the worst terrorist attack in the country's history, where gunmen hijacked a bus and murdered 37 people, including 10 children. Mughrabi was killed during the attack.

On her recent birthday, the governor of Ramallah named a town square after her. A huge banner at the ceremony read, "Under the auspices of President Mahmoud Abbas, The Political and National Education Authority Ceremony on the anniversary of the birth of the bride of the cosmos, the shahida [martyr] Dalal Mughrabi."

Israel's complaint against Fayyad stemmed from his visit to the families of the three slain terrorists suspected of killing Chai near Shavei Shomron three weeks ago. The three men were killed by IDF soldiers on a raid meant to apprehend them.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told a crowd that a future Arab state in Judea and Samaria must be free of all Jews. Fayyad, who was never elected to his office democratically, was an economist for the International Monetary Fund until being handpicked by former United States President George W. Bush to lead the PA.

via israelnationalnews.com

Maybe President Obumbler's attorney general can explain why that kind of statement and the ethnic cleansing that underlies it, which would not be tolerated in the United States, are okay for our region. I'm sure Eric Holder would tell you that it's fine but there is no logical way to explain why.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

keep in mind that Fayyad is the one who is supposed to give Palestine a new way to think... through helping with economic issues.... apparently killing Jews has been thrown into his monetary system

Blair: 2-state solution or hell of a fight - Israel News, Ynetnews

Blair: 2-state solution or 'hell of a fight'

Quartet's Mideat envoy says next month will be 'completely critical' in efforts to resume negotiations between Israel, Palestinians
Yitzhak Benhorin

Published:

11.29.09, 21:15 / Israel News

WASHINGTON – Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair portrayed Sunday a harsh picture of the region without a Palestinian state. "The alternative to a two-state solution is a one-state solution and that will, I assure you, be a hell of fight," he said in an interview to the CNN network.
According to Blair, the next month "will be completely critical and fundamental" in the efforts to resume direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Piece Efforts

US 'hopeful' settlement freeze can revive piece talks / AFP American official says Obama administration hopes halt of settlement construction will contribute to resumption of negotiations, hasn't changed position on matter Full story

The former British prime minister noted that it was essential for the sides to sit down and talk "as quickly as possible".
"I've just spent some time with the Israeli prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu," Blair said, "and I think he is genuine and serious in wanting the negotiation to start."
He said he believed that "the majority of people, both Israelis and Palestinians, want to see a two-state solution." According to Blair, the Israelis want to know that their security is going to be protected, while the Palestinians want to know that the negotiations will really end the occupation and lead to a Palestinian state.
He added that he thinks "the Palestinians have made significant progress on security and the Israelis are prepared to change significantly their posture on the West Bank."

'We have to find a way through'

Blair, who served as British premier during the peace talks with Northern Ireland, which were led by US Senator George Mitchell, defended American President Barack Obama and his special Mideast envoy Mitchell, following a New York Times article accusing them of having no strategy.
"I have worked with Senator George Mitchell together very closely. He is, in my view, one of the most skilled and strategic negotiators I've ever come across… I think President Obama and Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton are completely committed to doing this… I went through situations in times in the Northern Ireland process where people were convinced that the thing was going to fail, where even at times I found it difficult to see a way through. But the thing is there is a way through here, because in fact both parties want to achieve a two-state solution."

Blair said he believes the biggest difference between the Bush administration and the Obama administration stems from the fact that Obama has made the Israeli-Palestinian peace process "a central strategic objective" at the very beginning of his administration.
"I have absolutely no doubt that he holds to that, and whatever the difficulties and the obstacles, we have to find a way through. And personally, I'm an optimist by nature and I believe we will," he concluded.

via ynetnews.com

that sounds like a threat. which side are you on Blair? Palestine is Jordan. And if Jerusalem were occupied, then why does LIFE Magazine have photos of ethnic cleansing of Jews and evictions of Jewish homes in Jerusalem in 1947?

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