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The IRIS blog did a piece on Monday treating comments of Arab-American Joseph Farah in his World News Daily where he refers to the Obama administration’s so-called “balanced policy” towards Israel as inherently racist, and that it aims for ethnic cleansing of Jews from the historical Jewish homeland.
According to an Israeli daily Haaretz report, this is the atmosphhere and mindset into which defense minister Ehud Barak has walked in negotiating for a so-called “temporary construction freeze”. over the opposition of 3 of the 6 ministers of the “forum of six” ministers regarding construction in Yehuda and the Shomron:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet in New York today with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell in an effort to agree on a compromise formula on settlement construction. The meeting takes place in light of a recent disagreement among the “forum of six” ministers over this issue.
A political source in Jerusalem said Monday that a “temporary freeze” of construction in the settlements was met with objections by three of the six senior ministers in the forum.
Monday morning the forum, which includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and ministers Dan Meridor, Benny Begin and Moshe Ya’alon, met to agree on a position that Barak would then present to Mitchell.
Barak supported a formula according to which Israel would freeze settlement construction completely, except for projects that have already started, and would require U.S. guarantees on the future of the peace process.
A political source in Jerusalem said that Barak’s position was countered by Lieberman, Begin and Ya’alon, who opposed his proposal. The three argued that “a temporary freeze” of settlement construction will create a precedent and may become permanent. “If we start it will be difficult to go back,” the three said.
It is unclear what the positions of Netanyahu and Meridor were.
According to the three ministers opposing Barak, Israel must not propose a “temporary freeze” without a commitment for similar and equal concessions by Arab states and the Palestinian Authority, and as part of a broader package deal…
A Ynet report states that Barak explained his reasoning regarding a “temporary freeze” this way:
…Israel should offer to temporarily freeze construction if this helped peace talks get underway. He said willingness to do so would alter Israel’s “refusing” reputation.
The Haaretz report continues:
“We must explain to the Americans that we, too, have red lines,” Deputy Prime Minister Ya’alon said during the meeting.
During the meeting with Mitchell, Barak intends to present a more watered-down proposal, which will include a declared wish to resolve the settlements issue during negotiations with the Palestinian Authority over a final settlement agreement. Moreover, the proposal will be to limit new construction to the addition of stories to existing structures in the settlements, except for projects that have already begun.
Netanyahu has dispatched his special adviser, Isaac Molho, to the meeting between Barak and Mitchell. Molho met Mitchell last week but the formula he presented to the U.S. envoy was rejected. The failure of that meeting resulted in the cancellation of a planned meeting between the prime minister and Mitchell in Paris last week.
Prior to his departure Monday, Barak said that “the intimate and direct dialogue with the U.S. continues, and its purpose is to advance regional order. Within this framework… it is also possible to find an appropriate solution to the issue of settlement construction.”
It seems, from the Israel National News report below, as if Netanyahu and Barak are operating on at least 2 levels to bring about handing over Divinely-ordained Jewish land to an enemy sworn to our destruction and eradication by way of “2 states” with its dangerous, untenable security consequences through appeasement and supplication to the pressures of the Hussein Obama administration. At the same time they employ Sharon-style divide-and-conquer techniques including patently false promises of replacement homes as the means of facilitating the further expulsions and turning of Jewish land Yudenrein which submission to Obama/Clinton pressure is sure to bring:
The responses to the government plan to build 50 homes in the growing town of Adam – population 4,000 and growing – don’t stop. Knesset Members and others warn outpost residents against the consequences of agreeing to leave hilltops and crowd into large towns.
Government officials, following a Supreme Court demand to get the Jews off the Migron hilltop as quickly as possible, have submitted an official plan to build the new homes for the Migron residents. The plans also call for an additional 1,400 units to be built in Adam, also known as Geva Binyamin, but these will not be actualized until further notice.
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) objects for the opposite reason. In a letter to Migron and other outposts that will reportedly face similar “offers” in the future, Ben-Ari asks them not to fall prey to the government plan to “give away our Biblical homeland.”
The letter states:
- “The evil plan to relocate the outposts by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak is aimed only at giving away the inheritance of our forefathers and to expel Jews from their land. This plan is accompanied by the well-known technique of ‘divide and conquer.’”
- “Camouflaged under the mantle of ‘maintaining law’ – even though this law is not enforced for thousands of enemy homes – it is clear that this is simply the first stage, if it succeeds, in terming all the towns of Judea and Samaria ‘illegal’, exactly as was done in Gush Katif.”
- “My brothers and friends, you are the front, you are the pioneers who walk ahead of the camp. Do not surrender to sweet-talk or to threats. Your stand is important to the Nation of Israel in protecting us against the establishment of a Hamas state that will turn the lives those living in Tel Aviv and environs into a living hell.”
- “Your grasp on the Land of Israel is not a sin; far from it. It is the charge of the generations. The mission is upon your shoulders. Please do not let yourself be enticed to compromise proposals from the Defense Ministry, which stem from the Netanyahu-Barak duo who wish to destroy the settlement enterprise to make way for a Hamas state, as Netanyahu declared in his speech at Bar Ilan University.”
Netanyahu’s Speech Did Not Mention Future of Settlements
In that speech, on June 14 of this year, Netanyahu said he would agree to a demilitarized PA state, contingent upon its recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and the solving of the “Palestinian refugee problem outside of the borders of the State of Israel.” He also said, “Israel needs defensible borders with Jerusalem remaining the united capital of Israel.” He did not mention Israel’s retention of settlements or settlement blocs.MK Eldad: I Agree – If the Rest Are Legalized
MK Aryeh Eldad, also of the National Union, said that he would actually agree to the Migron compromise – on condition that the 95% of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria that have no legal problems be officially and immediately recognized.…Eldad said with tongue in cheek, “As you know, I’m not an extremist, of course, and I will support such a package deal – but this must include a whitening of all the settlements by the government.”
“There are many, many that can become legalized [he cited the number 95% elsewhere – ed.] with just one signature of the Minister of Defense. There are others that sit on what is called private Palestinian land, and for these there should be an exchange of land with the owners – if they are ever found – for State-owned land, and the Jewish residents should move to another place. But this must be done only in the framework of ‘laundering’ all the other settlements.”
The reason he insists on this seemingly impossible condition, Eldad explained, “is because such a government decision will blow up everything with the American administration, will stop the process of giving in to Obama’s demands, stop an Israeli decision not to build in eastern Jerusalem and Judea/Samaira and to build a Palestinian state.”
Eldad said he fears that in the end, “the uprooting of Migron will take place, but the government will not build anywhere – not in eastern Jerusalem and not in Yesha – and will not legalize the settlements.”
Danny Dayans’ Response
In response, Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, said, “There is no fear that the Migron residents will leave their homes before their new homes in Adam are built, because that is the very agreement. They will not leave their homes to live in some other caravan community; they will remain in Migron until the last mezuzah is placed on the last home in Adam.”However, Dayan did not relate to the other fears of the MKs, and of others, namely, that the relocation of Migron helps pave the way for a construction freeze, the concentration of Jews in large towns, expulsion, and a PA state. Contacted later, he said he had already commented on this a year ago when the plan was first approved, and that “the announcement today by Barak that he intends to freeze all construction outside the settlement blocs is much more serious.”
In fact, Barak, currently in Washington, said that construction would continue in the settlement-bloc areas. Dayan said, “Barak’s remarks mean a willingness to form a Palestinian state even before negotiations begin.”
Commentary:
When will Israel politicians and crossed-purposed Yesha leadership finally get the historical message that phrases like “settlement freezes”, “construction freezes”, “temporary construction freezes”,
“natural growth”, or for that matter “two-state solutions”, “de-militarized state”, “U.S. guarantees on the future of the peace process” or any “international guarantees” are but worthless euphemisms for reducing Israel to dangerous, insecure, untenable Auschwitz borders? And when will the message become indelible on the brains of Israeli politicians, Yesha lackies as well as the grassroots living throughout Yehuda and Shomron and all who care about their fellow Jews that promises of housing in places such as the growing town of Adam are bogus promises worth as much as the “Disengagement compensation law” — NOTHING! And even if these were legitmate — they would reduce Migron outpost residents to living in Ghettos? Thus Joseph Farah said in his piece cited above:
It’s the 1930s all over again. This time, it’s the enlightened liberal voices of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who are telling Jews where they can live, how they can live and how far they must bend if they want to live at all.
Jews are one step away from eviction from homes they have sometimes occupied for generations. Gaza is about to happen all over again.
MB