Clinton stands firm on Israeli settlements

[babylonsister]

Clinton stands firm on Israeli settlements

Official agreements are 'very clear' about stopping the growth of West Bank Jewish outposts – and Obama is not bound to unwritten pacts from the past, she says.

By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the June 7, 2009 edition


Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stated Sunday that the Obama administration would not be bound by informal agreements made during the Bush era that gave Israelis more latitude on Jewish settlements in the West Bank. "Well, that was an understanding that was entered into, so far as we are told, orally," she said on ABC's "This Week." "That was never made a part of the official record of the negotiations as it was passed on to our administration."The issue of Israeli settlements has been given fresh momentum recently by Mr. Obama's speech in Cairo, as well as comments by Secretary Clinton that Obama "wants to see a stop to settlements: not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions."Israeli officials have countered that the Bush administration had unofficial agreements with Israel to allow for certain types of growth. In rejecting any such agreements, Clinton reiterated the administration's stance that settlements in the West Bank must be prevented from growing further.

"The fact is that the road map, which was agreed to officially, adopted by the Israeli government, said something very clear about settlements," she said, referring to the 2003 road map for peace, which freezes all settlement activity. "So I think that what the president is doing is saying, 'Look, everybody should comply with the obligations you've already committed to,'" she added.

This would be a departure from past US policy, which traditionally gave Israel a fair amount of leeway regarding West Bank settlements, according to a column in Foreign Policy. President Obama's current set of advisers sees the settlements issue as perhaps the most significant stumblingblock to any future peace deal, the article adds.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0607/p02s01-usfp.html

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Talk about your popcorn.

Stay tuned.

[AtomicKitten]

2. She is articulating Obama's policy, a policy I agree with. n/t

[babylonsister]

3. Me, too!

:fistbump:

[AtomicKitten]

5. *

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMyBGtGZi1w

:toast:

[babylonsister]

4. Clinton Denies Knowledge of Secret Bush-Era Agreement on Settlements

Clinton Denies Knowledge of Secret Bush-Era Agreement on Settlements
Matthew Yglesias


Talking to ABC News’ George Stephanoupoulos in an interviewed aired earlier today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied the existence of any record of an alleged secret Bush-era deal with the Israeli government granting them a loophole out of their public, international agreement to halt settlement activity.

Meanwhile, to be clear about why this issue is important, it’s not that a settlement freeze will bring about peace. Rather, it’s that any kind of realistic peace agreement will require the dismantling of many settlements. And if the Israeli government doesn’t have the willingness—or the political will—to so much as freeze expansion, then there’s no way they’ll be able to do the dismantling. And, similarly, if there are arguments which hold that freezing expansion is wrong or impossible on the merits, then those same arguments imply that the settlements can never go. That totally poisons the water for peace.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/clinton-denies-knowledge-of-secret-bush-era-agreement-on-settlements.php

[NC_Nurse]

6. Excellent.

[Douglas Carpenter]

7. kick and recommended

[boppers]

8. "Settlements" = War crime.

Good on her for standing firm.

[babylonsister]

9. See post #4. Great explanation about settlements, and their danger. nt

[rateyes]

10. Israel should get the hell out of the Occupied Terriotories,

and the US should suspend all aid to Israel until it does.