US delegates blame Palestinians for no peace talks

[bemildred]

JERUSALEM — The head of a delegation of US Democratic members of Congress blamed the Palestinians on Thursday for failing to hold talks with Israel, calling it the "largest thing" impeding the peace process.

"I think the largest thing impeding the negotiations at this point is simply the unwillingness of (Palestinian president Mahmud) Abbas to sit down (with the Israelis)," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters in Jerusalem.

Abbas has refused to meet with Israel's new right-leaning government until the Jewish state ceases all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in line with repeated demands from the White House.

Hoyer however said the issue of settlements should be addressed through direct negotiations and said if he had met Abbas during his delegation's week-long visit to the region, he would have asked him to drop "preconditions."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuoSlOL-Rf9BORdpAyr4ssYEbXFw

[ensho]

1. is Steny under a spell?

is he really a progressive?

is his mind going?

[Jim Sagle]

2. Steny speaks truth to power.

:thumbsup:

[azurnoir]

3. Steny Hoyer heads AmeriPac which lists it self as a political

action group dedicated to promoting conservative causes

a link to AmeriPacs site check it out

http://www.ameripac.org/

its also occurs to me that both sides here could be said to be stalling because by refusing a settlement construction freeze Israel is also stalling negotiations of course while claiming to be oh so open to negotiations

[bemildred]

4. I was sort of wondering who paid for this, where the money came from.

It sounds like a pretty big herd of Congresspersons, and the second of two. I suppose it is August and all that, can't be thinking about health care all the time.

[oberliner]

6. Steny Hoyer has nothing to do with the group linked to by that poster

Don't want any disinformation to get spread around.

[bemildred]

7. Yeah, I got that, it didn't really mean much to me anyway.

I view all PACs with a more less equally jaundiced eye. I was not worried about the PAC, either one of them, funding this junket either.

[oberliner]

5. You've got the wrong AmeriPac

There are two different groups calling themselves "AmeriPac" - one is the RW nut job PAC that you linked to, and the other is Steny Hoyer's PAC.

http://stenyhoyer.com/content/ameripac

[bemildred]

8. It does seem to me that Steny has only himself to blame for the confusion though. nt

[oberliner]

9. I think the American PAC folks just snagged the domain name

Why blame Steny Hoyer for the confusion? Because his staff didn't grab the domain name while they could?

[bemildred]

10. It seems to me it would be easy enough to change.

I'm blaming him, to the extent there is blame to be assigned, for leaving it that way. It all depends on whether you believe the confusion is blameworthy or not. If I was Steny, I would not want to be confused with those other guys, but I don't really know how Steny feels about that. It's not like Ameripac is all that special. It is certainly true you could blame the other guys, too, but I don't think I care enough to go into all that.

[azurnoir]

11. The ameripac I linked to was established in 1980

its at the bottom of their home page

[oberliner]

12. Hoyer's Ameripac was established in 1992

Maybe he should've gone with a different name so as not to confuse folks such as yourself (and no doubt many others).

[azurnoir]

13. an unnamed AIPAC affiliate is bankrolling this political junket

Jerusalem – Ma'an – A senior member of US President Barack Obama's party broke ranks on Thursday, blaming Palestinians for a lack of peace negotiations and casting doubt on calls for a settlement freeze.

"I don't think settlements are nearly the big issue that confronts the Palestinians and the Israelis in reaching an agreement," said Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the American House majority leader, at a West Jerusalem news conference.

"I think the largest thing impeding them at this point in time is the unwillingness of Abbas to sit down now," added Hoyer, who is leading a 29-member delegation to Israel and the West Bank sponsored by an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel lobbyist group in Washington, DC.

The delegation comes during the Congress' August recess. Most of its members hail from conservative southern and western districts, including several from Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arizona.

During the visit Hoyer did not directly criticize Obama, but voiced significant doubts about the White House's push for a freeze on the West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law. Obama's demand has been repeatedly rejected by Israel's current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Abbas has refused to resume negotiations until Israel complies with a freeze.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=218813


one must wonder just whom that affiliate group is

[bemildred]

14. That's kind of what I thought it might be.

A few interesting bits in there, I had not known before that Fayyad was thought to be such a fine leader.

[shaayecanaan]

17. He's accumulating quite a lot of respect with the Europeans...

also the liberal press in Israel:-

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1107587.html

Fayyad notes that the Palestinian economy's growth has exceeded all expectations, but expresses regret it has taken Israel so long to remove dozens of roadblocks, which have stymied the PA's economic development for many years. He cannot understand why Israel bothers with petty details such as this roadblock or another, while it has admitted they were not necessary.

It is also time the Israel Defense Forces stopped its frequent incursions into Palestinian cities every Monday and Thursday, he says. This sabotages the PA's efforts to enforce law and order and blatantly contradicts Israel's commitment to adhere to the road map, he says.

Fayyad sees no sense in maintaining the blockade of the Gaza Strip, either. Everyone admits that the status quo doesn't work, so why is Israel perpetuating this policy, he asks.

Asked whether he could say with full confidence that PA security branches are reliable, Fayyad says candidly that at first he saw the desire to provide the Palestinians with security forces as an impossible mission.

Although he was aware that he would be accused of being a subcontractor for the Israeli security forces, Fayyad says he decided that it was imperative to open a new era and persuade his people that building up a security force was first of all for their own safety and their children's.

"I realized that security was the glue between a thriving economy and proper government and achieving liberty for the Palestinian people," he says.

[bemildred]

18. Thanks, that is interesting.

I don't really know what I think about it. There is certainly something to be said for pragmatic efforts to improve life in the OPT. OTOH there will no doubt be arguments against that too, which I don't think I need to re-iterate here.

I thought it was interesting that this Fatah assembly was allowed now too, but that's another one you can go in several directions with.

[oberliner]

19. They are only "unnamed" by Ma'an news

The group is the American Israel Education Foundation. They sponsor Congressional travel to Israel regularly.

No need to imply any kind of sinister secrecy.

[azurnoir]

23. The OP article did not name the group either

there was no implication of anything "sinister" intended

[Lakrosse]

15. He's right. Bibi offered negotiations

and offered a 2 state solution. Fatah and Hamas simply offer more terrorist jihad.

[babylonsister]

21. Did he? When did Bibi become magnanimous?

Has he stopped building?

[IndianaGreen]

16. How many in Hoyer's party get campaign contributions from the Israel Lobby

and their lackeys?

American politicians from both parties should stop traveling to the Middle East and stay home to take care of far more pressing problems here. These junkets are nothing more than a PR trip to impress voters (with money) back home.

[babylonsister]

20. Wow. Hamas looks at Obama plan 'positively,' with condition

If anyone thinks the media has nothing to do with perceptions, they're wrong.



Hamas looks at Obama plan 'positively,' with condition
By Bridget Johnson
Posted: 08/13/09 05:40 PM


A Hamas official said Thursday that the party would be inclined to accept a U.S. peace plan if the Obama administration's outline includes Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.

Yousef Rizka, adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told China's state-run Xinhua news agency that the Islamic movement, which rules the Gaza Strip and is still in a feud with the internationally recognized Fatah government in the West Bank, said any White House peace plan would be analyzed in terms of "the level of meeting the Palestinian rights."

"We have an initial readiness to accept it and deal with it positively, but we will also reject it if it doesn't include an American recognition of the Palestinian rights," Rizka told Xinhua.

"The plan should endorse a Palestinian statehood with Jerusalem as its capital," Rizka told Xinhua. "Hamas will take an in-depth study of the plan when it is made public."

Rizka said Hamas would accept a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel "but only in exchange for a long-term truce" with the Jewish state. "This is a firm position that we can not give up."

The State Department said at its Aug. 3 briefing that it could be "a matter of weeks" before a peace plan is presented by Mideast envoy George Mitchell.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/hamas-looks-at-obama-plan-positively-with-condition-2009-08-13.html

[azurnoir]

22. This Week In Lieberman: "Uncompromising, extremist positions"

"The uncompromising, extremist positions of the Palestinians... create an unbridgeable gap between us," the Israeli foreign minister declared while meeting with a group of lawmakers from US President Barack Obama's Democratic Party on Monday.

In fact, improving Palestinian security forces and their economy is simply the most anyone can hope for at this point, Lieberman went on to tell the Democrats in Jerusalem. "This is the maximum we can reach in the coming years."

"Given this set of circumstances, Israeli policy needs to be based on reality rather than delusions," added the ultranationalist settler, surrounded by two dozen members representing the anti-settlement president's party in Congress.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=217138

Well it looks like Avigdor and Steny are on the same page

[Violet_Crumble]

24. Since when has Nutty and his gang been a mere 'right-leaning' government?

That's like trying to describe Bushco as having been a 'right-leaning' government. Nothing centrist or moderate about Nutty and his gang of fascists....

[oberliner]

25. Since he got the largest of Israel's left-leaning parties to join his coalition

Do you consider Ehud Barak to be a fascist?

[Violet_Crumble]

26. No, that doesn't give his RW govt any centrist cred....

You don't consider Lieberman to be a fascist?

Oh, and the Labor Party is Left, not 'left-leaning'. I know what a stickler you are for facts, so I don't think it's that great an idea to pick up the sloppy inaccuracies in the OP :)

[oberliner]

27. Just meant that Labor's inclusion could be why the term "right-leaning" was used

Since the government includes the Labor party, which, as you mentioned, is Left, that is probably why "right-leaning" was used in the article.

I just asked about Barak because I was not sure if you were including him as part of Netanyahu's "fascist gang" or not. With Lieberman there is no question what kind of person he is, but I don't think Barak belongs in the same category. Do you?

[Violet_Crumble]

28. It was sloppy and inaccurate, though...

The terms right or left-leaning are what I've usually seen to describe things like the media or individuals, but not governments. On a local level, after the last election, it looked for a while that the Greens were going to hop into bed with the Liberals (don't mistake them for small 'l' liberals), and if that had come to pass, it'd be just as sloppy to refer to the new local govt as right-leaning or even left-leaning....

I think Lieberman and his followers are fascists. Barak on the other hand is merely a wanker who'd sell out to get a bit of power....