Netanyahu plans to expand West Bank settlement

[Anaxagoras]

This (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090325/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpoliticsisraelconflictsettler) won't end well.

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a secret deal with one of his coalition partners, pledging to expand settlements in a highly-contentious area of the West Bank, army radio said on Wednesday.

The agreement is not included in the official coalition deal between Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party of firebrand Avigdor Lieberman but the two men struck the understanding during their coalition talks, the radio said.

[BennyProfane]

This (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090325/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpoliticsisraelconflictsettler) won't end well.

as if everyone didn't KNOW he would move things in this direction? He's been well-known for years--and PM before too--and he hasn't budged an inch on his politics in that time. Plus he's a jerk.

[Shadarr]

I was getting tired of hearing about fighting in Gaza, it will be a nice change to hear about fighting in the West Bank again.

Seriously though, this is why the conflict isn't going to end; one of the first steps toward peace is respecting each other's borders. Can you imagine if the US started building "settlements" on the other side of the Rio Grande?

[tiohn]

Can you imagine if the US started building "settlements" on the other side of the Rio Grande?

Those are basically called "Juarez" and "Tijuana".

[RSofaer]

I was getting tired of hearing about fighting in Gaza, it will be a nice change to hear about fighting in the West Bank again.

Seriously though, this is why the conflict isn't going to end; one of the first steps toward peace is respecting each other's borders. Can you imagine if the US started building "settlements" on the other side of the Rio Grande?

Well, we already have caused a bloody war there, so I'm going to guess...

Nothing would happen.

[Cubit]

In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.

“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200903u/netanyahu

[Dirt]

I really can't see how this is helping Israel's reputation in the world. Everybody's economy is in decline, nobody wants to spend their tax dollars on a war right now.

I say we let Benjamin "W." Netan-yahoo go be a cowboy.

[Jason McCullough]

Somehow this doesn't make me think of Iran (http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/03/sending-message).

....In unusually blunt language, Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership, “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”

[Dirt]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/31/israel.new.prime.minister/index.html

We don't want to control the Palestinians. In a final a settlement, the Palestinians will have all the rights to rule themselves except those which threaten Israel's ability to protect itself.

Basically, Palestine will rule themselves except when we tell them what they can or cannot do; doesn't sound like a 2 state solution to me. At best, it would be lika China SAR, at worst, apartheid.

[Ed Solomon]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/31/israel.new.prime.minister/index.html



Basically, Palestine will rule themselves except when we tell them what they can or cannot do; doesn't sound like a 2 state solution to me. At best, it would be lika China SAR, at worst, apartheid.

I wouldn't give up all hope. I believe the old Vulcan saying is "only Nixon can go to China."

Unfortunately, I don't think Netanyahu is as smart as Nixon.

[Lum]

Basically, Palestine will rule themselves except when we tell them what they can or cannot do; doesn't sound like a 2 state solution to me. At best, it would be lika China SAR, at worst, apartheid.

It's not. The people in Likud who supported a 2 state solution went with Sharon when he formed Kadima. The politicians in Likud who are left support a state and a half.