Israel in the Hot Seat Again — for Building Homes
Here we go again. What has Israel done now? With Vice President Joe Biden here for a visit, the Israeli Interior Ministry “announced that approval had been granted to build new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox community of 20,000 north of downtown Jerusalem, which borders the Palestinian village of Shuafat.” Biden reacted to the shocking news with: “I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem. The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of [Israeli-Palestinian] proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.”
Other condemnations followed like clockwork. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman made known that “the secretary-general condemns the approval of plans for the building of 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem.” Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that “it is now clear that the Israeli government is not interested in negotiating, nor is it interested in peace.” He added that “massive American pressure is required in order to compel Israel to abandon its peace-destroying behavior.”
There were even condemnations — and apologies — from within Israel itself. Defense Minister Ehud Barak was reported to be “angry” at the Interior Ministry’s announcement, and his office called it “damaging” to negotiations with the Palestinians. Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog called it a “big error in government bureaucracy that should never have happened.”
Indeed, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said: “If I’d have known, I would have postponed the authorization by a week or two since we had no intention of provoking anyone. It is definitely unpleasant that this happened during Biden’s visit. … I apologize for the distress this matter caused.”
Israel, though, seems unable to keep itself out of hot water of this kind. Last November President Obama said Israel’s intention to build 900 apartments in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo “makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors. I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous.” And in February Israel’s announcement that it was including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem in a list of “heritage sites” touched off condemnations by the U.S., the UN, the EU, and others — and a week of violent Palestinian rioting ensued.





Jerusalem is NOT a settlement. The area where the announced homes are to be built is a Jewish neighborhood in our capitol city. Jerusalem & other areas with large Jewish populations are NOT part of negotiations & would never be ceded to any Palestinian state. Which brings up another point – if Israeli Arabs wanted to move to any area in Jerusalem, would there be any outcry? Of course not – it’s only if Jews build in Jerusalem is there condemnation.
Biden came to prevent Israel from launching a preemptive military strike on Iran. The phoney ”peace process” was just cover, an opportunity for some PR to pretend that the Obama adminisrtation could claim some BS ”success” in foreign policy, a foreign policy that has failed on every front.
Biden’s visit was a total failure. As of this writing, Abbas has cancelled plans to participate in the ”proximity talks” – no doubt, glad of the excuse. Not that it matters actually, no one expects any result, at least no one with half a brain.
If the goal of Biden’s visit was to make the Obama administration more popular among Israelis, it achieved the opposite. No one in their right mind would trust the Obama administration.
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a side-show – the real issue in the Middle-East is Iran.
US/EU demand no Jews in parts of Jerusalem! Now that is Apartheid!
US/EU demand terror state like Iran be established on the West Bank/Gaza;…
… while the US/EU claim to be at war (Iraq/Afghan) with the same terrorist they demand set up a state on the West Bank/Gaza.
One can only conclude that the US/EU soldiers are in fact human sacrifice to the Islime G-d and that this war is in fact a phoney “nice Long lasting War and sell lots of weapons” exactly as I informed every member of congress between 1989-1991. c 1991 getty…
We send army men to die fighting people; while we demand that that same enemy/people set up a terror state on the West Bank and Gaza exactly like the States we are fighting/human sacrifice…this is “bazaar…
Thanks David,
Ramat Shlomo is part of the consensus over Jerusalem and even hareidi are entitled to receive new homes
I am not shocked at all and it is a pity that once more,Bibi presented excuses
Perhaps if Hamas and Hezballah began building apartments rather than explosive belts and smuggled in building materiels rather than weapons, the life of their brethren might improve. Don’t hold your breadth. As for our current diplomatic envoy, Dopey Joe, somebody should mention to him that his neon smile makes him look a bit moronic. Joe is Obama’s ultimate insurance policy. The thought of him becoming president is enough to discourage any would be assassin.
“Perhaps if Hamas and Hezballah began building apartments rather than explosive belts and smuggled in building materiels rather than weapons, the life of their brethren might improve.”
I believe that Carla @#4 has an extremely valid point here.
I don’t like to even talk about assasins, especially regarding American Presidents. It is not the answer, and should never happen. That being said, the thought of a President Biden scares the crap out of me even more than President Obama does.
The US tends to be very sparing in using the term “condemn”. Jennifer Rubin has identified the few rare instances recently:
In May, Obama “strongly condemn[ed]” the house arrest and detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and the North Korean nuclear test and missile launch. In July, Obama “strongly condemn[ed] the attacks that occurred this morning in Jakarta.” The October bombings in Baghdad prompted Obama to say, “I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people…” And last month, “The United States and the European Union condemn the continuing human rights violations in Iran since the June 12 election.”
Now we have VP Biden, apparently on orders from Obama, suggesting that Jews building apartments in an existing Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem is a comparable threat to world peace and security! It’s no wonder few in Israel trust the current administration here.
Since when are Israelis Obamaq’s toadies ? Why don’t they restrict Moslems from building in America. Jeruslem is the Capital of Israel. Israeli Moslems are free yo build in Jerusalem!
Well, this site here is obviously all pro-Israel no matter what they do.
It’s a shame the authors on here aren’t a little more objective.
Jerusalem is contended by both Israeli and Palestinians as their capital. Its status should be resolved by negotiations.
You can NOT pretend to be interested in a negotiated peace, while at the same time building houses in contested territory. This clearly sends the message “we do not care about negotiations. this land is ours and you go away”.
This is a legitimate policy. But is a policy of confrontation and war, not of peace. If you support it, you should at least have the guts to say you think there should be more conflict. Be intellectually honest.
Your accusation of “dhimmitude” to the EU is meaningless. You can NOT support a confrontational policy and then cry as a baby when people say you are damaging the prospects of peace.
Rabat Schlomo is in Jerusalem: that is, in Israel. It is NOT part of the West Bank and the Palestinians (and Biden) should just STFU.
Og course, it’s probably too much to expect of Slow Joe Biden (the Gaffe Czar) to appreciate the subtleties of diplomatic terminology.
Whoda thunk that according to the world, wandering in the desert for forty years wasn’t enough and they’d rather the Hebrew people never have a place to call home.
Well we’ll re-establish the Nation of Israel, but you just can’t build homes there.
Whoda thunk?
Hey, all youse guys and goils who post at PJM. Have you noticed that the number of postings seems to have dwindled over time? Is it because of lack of interest in the audience? Or is it because it lately seems to take hours and hours to get your posts posted? I think it’s the latter.
What say you, PJM?
#9 sdraio.
Palestinians can claim anything they want, that does not mean we have to admit the legitimacy of their claim. Parts of Jerusalem were illegally occupied by Jordan after 1948 when they attacked the new State of Israel. They ethnically cleansed all the Jewish inhabitants from the area they occupied. They destroyed synagogues, refused Jews the right to pray at holy sites including the Western Wall, & they even used Jewish tombstones to pave latrines.
You want intellectual honesty? Please tell me what evidence you know of showing the Arabs desire for a peaceful settlement? Tell me all about the concessions they have made, tell me all about the many Palestinian NGO’s demonstrating for peace. Maybe you could name a political party like Meretz in Israel whose platform is to make any concession for peace. Tell me about how the PA has stopped incitement & anti-Semitism in their media, their mosques, their schools. Tell me how they admit that Jews have a historical connexion to the region & that Jews have the right to an independant Jewish state.
The truth is that you can’t point to ANY evidence that Palestinians want peace. Quite the contrary, their only aim is our destruction.
So, you want intellectual honesty? Let me be intellectually honest & very blunt. Given past history, given current circumstances, given our experience with attempting to make peace, all of which failed, I don’t think Palestinianms deserve a state, they deserve to get the crap beat out of them & expelled to Jordan. I reject any two-state solution, I reject any more compromises or concessions, I reject any negotiations, I reject totally any ”land-for-peace” BS. We will only have peace when we have given them a crushing defeat, when we eliminate even the faintest hope of victory over us, when we throw them out of our country & push them into Jordan, the actual Palestinian state.
That’s my ”peace plan” – is that intellectually honest enough for you?
“12. new utopian:
Hey, all youse guys and goils who post at PJM. Have you noticed that the number of postings seems to have dwindled over time? Is it because of lack of interest in the audience? Or is it because it lately seems to take hours and hours to get your posts posted? I think it’s the latter.
What say you, PJM?”
As a follow-up, what’s really amazing is that I sent a post hours before the one above? It was totally in keeping with PJM’s guidelines, but it has not yet been seen!
#3 Terry – that’s honesty!! so you don’t want negotiations, you want war and total victory. fine. My comment was directed towards David Hornik, who seems to pretend to follow an aggressive policy like yours without being criticised by those who support negotiations.
re: palestinian concessions. it’s a long history and I don’t have the time to review all of it. I can point out to Fatah renouncing terrorism and recognizing Israel?
“I reject any two-state solution, I reject any more compromises or concessions, I reject any negotiations, I reject totally any ”land-for-peace” BS. We will only have peace when we have given them a crushing defeat, when we eliminate even the faintest hope of victory over us, when we throw them out of our country”..
I don’t mean to provoke you, seriously. But I have to say Hamas charter reads exaclty like this. Sadly.
How many people reading this blog, as well as this comment, are fans
of Doctor Who? The dahleks look very Muslim like, in that anything different from them is wrong.
The lack of legitimacy of the Sons of Allah is the same as the lack of legitimacy of the Brezhnev era apparatchik referred to by Daniel
Hannan, approximately a year ago, in his rebuttal of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, at the European Parliament. Which was later
added to youtube, and went viral.
“14. new utopian:
“12. new utopian:
Hey, all youse guys and goils who post at PJM. Have you noticed that the number of postings seems to have dwindled over time? Is it because of lack of interest in the audience? Or is it because it lately seems to take hours and hours to get your posts posted? I think it’s the latter.
What say you, PJM?”
As a follow-up, what’s really amazing is that I sent a post hours before the one above? It was totally in keeping with PJM’s guidelines, but it has not yet been seen!
So, PJM, where’s my earlier post? Did you lose it? If so, I can overlook that. You’re human. But, I’m sure that I’m wasting my time. I don’t think you reply, do you?
#15 sdraio.
When did Fatah renounce terrorism? Who the hell do you think Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade is? Fatah pays salaries to terrorists, they name public squares after terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians. And when did they ever recognize Israel as an independant sovereign JEWISH state? You are terribly misinformed, not surprising considering the bias in the mainstream media in America.
In any case, I’m from an Arab/Muslim country where I lived most of my life. I only recently made aliyah to Israel. You Westerners, particularly of the liberal variety understand NOTHING about the Middle-East. This isn’t Scandanavia or the relationship between America & Canada. And please don’t give me the moral equivalancy BS about me sounding like Hamas. It is precisely because I understand very well the mentality of Hamas & kindred organizations (including Fatah) that I have the attitude that I have.
You get peace by winning wars, by crushing all hope of victory out of the enemy. It’s no different than WWII & defeating the Nazis. Or do you think we should have negotiated with ”moderate” Nazis?
#15 sdraio.
By the way, should the subject be of interest to you, I would recommend a number of excellent internet sites for a better understanding of reality in the Middle-East, particularly the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Try Rubin Reports (very moderate), Think-Israel, Soccer Dad, Fresno Zionism, & Caroline Glick website (she is a regular columnist for the Jerusalem Post). You might also try The Religion of Peace & Jihad Watch.
Don’t worry about provoking me, I’m pretty thick-skinned.
new utopian: why do you keep repeating yourself?
“20. mingus:
new utopian: why do you keep repeating yourself?”
It’s proper writing form to quote any passage you may cite, in order to make it easier for the reader, which, in this case, is PJM. But, thank you anyway for noticing and commenting.
If Palestinian Arabs would stop trying to kill Israelis and start trying to learn from them, both sides would be 1000% better off.
‘new utopian: why do you keep repeating yourself?’
‘new utopian: why do you keep repeting yourself’
It’s THEIR COUNTRY!!! They can do what they damned well please. This is REALLY obnoxious. They should just tell everyone to STUFF IT.
Gilo is not in East Jerusalem, it is in the southern part of the city. It was just barely over the armistice line because Jordan kicked the Jewish residents out and used it as a military base.
Aha, let’s see how you guys handle this apparent conflict of interest between the US and Israel; are you going to side with your country or Israel? Very interesting indeed!
#26 Igkicks.
Obama & his team of nitwits, blunderers, & appeasers are NOT America.
Obama sides with America’s enemies – his foreign policy is apparently, ”appease your enemies & screw your friends.”
No country on Earth is as sincerely pro-America as Israel or do you find it normal to support people who danced in the streets after 9/11 as the Palestinians did?
@ Terry:
Obama is the president of the US, you like it or not; he is the commander in chief if you know what that means. If Israel is pro-American, she will for once care about the interests of the US around the world instead of selfishly only care about herself. US has supported Israel with billions of dollars of aid per year and has risked the lives of its citizens on a daily basis because of its support for Israel but when it comes the moment when Israel is supposed to listen and follow what US wants, Israel is not having any of it.
Trust me, Israel is pro-American as long as America is useful to her. As soon as America stops being useful and stop supporting all dreadful Israeli policies and actions, America is not Israel’s America anymore. Let’s sit and watch how this will play out.
I only recently made aliyah to Israel. You Westerners, particularly of the liberal variety understand NOTHING about the Middle-East. This isn’t Scandanavia or the relationship between America & Canada. And please don’t give me the moral equivalancy BS about me sounding like Hamas.
It is time to tell the United States to go to hell.
Ruvy, honey, your language is inappropriate, rude, and nasty, and prohibited by the rules of this site.
Naturally, as an Israeli sympathizer, all of that would be lost on you, as the Israeli seem to believe that rudeness, loudness, and a total lack of class are virtues.
And that’s what happened here. Bibi Netanyahu made some nut case the minister in charge of illegal settlements in the West Bank, thus ensuring that said religious fanatic would seek to embarrass the United States by announcing settlement expansions during Vice President Biden’s visit. Bibi, while counting his stolen money, denies that he knew this announcement was coming: That makes him either incompetent or a liar, or, most probably, both.
And it would be great if Israel would tell off the U.S. Then we could stop subsidizing the Jewish state, and their GDP per capital would fall to the $1,500 or so they actually earn.
Glenn,
Do me a favor and read the article linked to in my comment – and the 162 comments attached to it.
I can’t wait for the day your dollar collapses and your economy goes down the toilet with it. Then we can turn our assets into something more stable (like gold) and take care of the trash around us – and extend Israeli law to all of Judea and Samaria (no annexation necessary – the territory was given to the Jewish people and its successors in interest in perpetuity by the Resolutions on Palestine in 1920; in other words, it is already ours).
And remember, we have a better employment rate than you, our banks are more stable than yours – and we CAN destroy our enemies.
Have a great day – honey!