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Commentary;
Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA succinctly asks a crucial question; “Also Ramat Eshkol?”
But hasn’t Ramat Eshkol always been considered a “concensus area”, as has Gilo and Ramot? The point is that it wasn’t Bush or Rice who opened pandora’s box, it was none other than Olmert, Livni and company, and Sharon before them, and their collectve deJudiazation Israelization plan. It was protexia-class governance which opened up this can of worms and the modern-day Stanley Laurel who has gotten us into this fine fix.
When Rice makes no distinction between “West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements, the concept did not originate with either her or President Bush, but was TOTALLY home-grown by a governance which abrogated their every single solemn responsibility to the people they govern and have snafu’ed everything they touch.
And so because Olmert and Livni have accepted building freezes in Yehuda and Shomron, they’ve been extended by definition to reach Jerusalem as well such that Har Homa, Bibi’s crown jewel of standing up to criticism in 1996, is now in jeopardy.
Once having committed to building freezes and foregoing Jewish land, Bush and Rice have a right to demand fulfillment lest they be made to look foolish. MB
Rice: No Difference Between West Bank and East Jerusalem Settlements, by Hilary Leila Kreiger and Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post)
Excerpts;
In comments that threaten Israel’s hold on east Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the US does not consider it legitimate for Israel to build homes in some neighborhoods of the capital which are located beyond the Green Line.
In a conversation held in the ornate antechamber of her office, she went further than US officials have previously gone toward clarifying her government’s position on the matter.
Her remarks set the stage for a confrontation over the issue when Rice and US President George W. Bush visit Israel this week and try to move the peace process forward.
Israel, which annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 war, does not equate the capital’s Jewish neighborhoods over the Green Line with the settlements located in the West Bank. As such, it does not believe that construction there is bound by its obligation under the road map peace plan, which calls for a freeze of all settlement activity.
But Rice on Monday clarified that the US believes that portions of east Jerusalem are considered to be “settlements” and that Israel must stop building there as part of its commitment to implement the first phase of the road map.
Rice said “the United States doesn’t make a distinction” between settlement activity in east Jerusalem and the West Bank and that the road map obligations are on “settlement activity generally.” She was speaking during an interview conducted by the Post and Ynet ahead of her departure for the region.
When asked, she didn’t, however, clarify whether other Jerusalem neighborhoods over the Green Line, such as Gilo and Ramot, were also settlements in the eyes of the United States. “The important point here is that we need to have an agreement so that we can stop having this discussion about what belongs to Israel and what doesn’t,” she said in response.
Related report; Israel Will Act ‘Expeditiously’ on Outposts