Israeli Settlements and Clinton

This quote made me laugh yesterday but the story has gotten hidden amongst all the election news.

You remember the other day when Clinton went rogue and suggested that some settlement expansion would be ok for peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, right?

From the Arab News came this sentence:

During a photo-taking session with her Moroccan counterpart, Clinton was asked about the Arab reaction, and she responded by reading a written statement designed to counter skepticism about the Obama administration’s views on settlements.

“Successive American administrations of both parties have opposed Israel’s settlement policy,” she said. “That is absolutely a fact, and the Obama administration’s position on settlements is clear, unequivocal and it has not changed. As the president has said on many occasions, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”

Two Big stories this weekend

For news on Iran, watch Michael J. Totten and loosen your purse strings a bit for him.

For news on Netanyahu’s speech, here is Benny Avni.

Abbas Visit to the White House

Filed under “Meet the New Boss” lets link to the Jordan Times today where they are noting the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House today.

hoping the US president will turn his words of support for a Palestinian state into deeds.

The article is of course a bit pro Palestinian and emphasizes the requirement of a two state solution and of Israel stopping it’s expanding settlements.

It doesn’t mention or deal with the colliding paradigms of having “two states” when one is not recognized by the other.
Nor does it really mention the bombings (from Palestinians) that led to the December 2008 Gaza war.

We all have gotten to know Obama. He wants to be a hero. He needs to be different than Bush. Better than Bush. Can you imagine all the “hope” he has in bringing peace to the Middle East? Himself…independently with his brilliant oration.

Listen to this from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereka:

“We do not need new plans since all the existing ones have a common denominator which is a two-state solution. What is required from President Obama is to transform it from a vision to a realistic political track.”

In other words. Bush did a FINE job of negotiating peace. It just hasn’t worked out. And frankly, it quit working in December while Bush was occupied getting you into office Mr. President.
Is it ok to chuckle at this?

Obama, the big interview and what’s next

The Anchoress has done this far, far better than I, but I hear you clamoring for my opinion, so let’s get on with it.

1. Obviously, Obama is still on his honeymoon or the US media would have been a little more picky about not getting that first interview. I suspect that had this been an interview with the London Times or something, they might not have liked it.

Instead, we have double standards for the Middle East.

2. And while I accept the fact that Saudi Arabia is an “ally” with a lot of oil and a lot of potential to screw us big time, they also have no freedom there, unless you happen to be a Muslim male. Had Clinton’s first interview been with say South Africa under apartheid, I suspect the media would have something to say about it. If it’s only Christians (Buddhists, Hindus, etc) or women being discriminated against,…no big deal. (seriously, what’s the matter with Jordan television, or Indonesian television as a first interview in a Muslim country?)

3. While Obama said enough to make the Arab News believe he’s not going to be on the side of the Palestinians, (which can only be a good thing)

Those who counted on Obama to bring a just peace to the Middle East must have had their hearts broken watching the man charging against Hamas’ terror, as thousands of Gazans were killed and wounded, including 430 children in three weeks as a result of Israel’s barbarous attacks, using mostly American weapons (and full, unqualified US backing.

he also assuaged others:

“He’s different from the previous presidents, perhaps because of his colour or his Islamic background. My views of America are different now than they were during the Bush administration,” said Youssef Ali, 45, who works for the Iraqi electricity ministry in Baghdad.

(probably another good thing)

and frankly he insulted me:

My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.

Not, “a small pocket of American people who think all Muslims want their children to live worse lives.”
No, he said he needs to communicate to the American people. Me.

Maybe, just maybe, as a Christian, Obama could communicate with Saudi Arabia and let them know that the female and/or Christian/Hindu/Buddhist etc world is filled with people who just want to go on about their business with only as many restrictions as have Muslim men.

and finally
4. I am so excited to see the future as Obama figures out ways to communicate, negotiate, respect folks like our buddy Ahmadinejad. Who today wants an apology for all of our crimes committed against Iran.

The Iranian president welcomed the possibility of US change, but said: “When they say ‘we want to make changes’, change can happen in two ways”.
“First is a fundamental and effective change… The second … is a change of tactics. It is very clear that, if the meaning of change is the second one, this will soon be revealed,” he said.

Seriously dude, I look forward to seeing how you communicate with that respectfully because my inclination is to treat this guy as a 2 year old.

According to Amir Taheri is looks like Obama is going to be doing all of his communicating unilaterally vs using the previously set up agreements to deal with the world as a cohesive unit of allies. He is just not the guy he advertised himself to be.

Israel/Hamas

How about a link fest to the biggest news of the day?

Joe the Plumber will be reporting from the streets of Israel. He’s tired of the news media interpreting the news for us and figures someone has to do it, why not him. Frankly, I find him plenty articulate and inquisitive to do this job while the ladies in the linked video – not so much. This video and todays will be preIsrael trip.

Jules Crittendom notes all the moral authority of Hamas. Or rather the moral myopia.

BTL is THE place to go for information. Today he notes how the UN handles the “fog of war” reports that come in. “Israel is to blame”

Little Green Footballs has the staged video taken inside a Gaza hospital and placed on CNN’s website only to be removed with no explanation after bloggers issued the ‘shame, shame’ at them. Oddly enough, they’re keeping the matching story up. Huh?

So, the video was questionable enough that it had to be removed, but the story supporting the fradulent video stays?

(ht Instapundit)

I know you’ve all seen the headlines, but this one cracked me up this morning. Israelis snub UN ceasefire call.
Here’s the lede:

Israel is to keep up its offensive in the Gaza Strip despite a UN call for an immediate end to nearly two weeks of conflict involving Hamas militants.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the latest firing of rockets into Israel showed the resolution was “unworkable”.
The Security Council resolution demanded a truce, access for aid workers and an end to arms smuggling.
Israel continued its bombardment during the night and on Friday morning, carrying out at least 50 air strikes.
However Israeli military operations have now again been paused for three hours to allow aid in.

Seventy-five lorries carrying food and medicine will be allowed into Gaza, Israel says.
Hamas has also dismissed the UN ceasefire call.

So
a) do most countries at war for 2 weeks listen to the UN when the resolutely call for peace?
b) the resolution calls for 1-truce 2-access for aid and 3-an end to arms smuggling. Yet Hamas continued to fire rockets, Israel held a ceasefire for aid to get across and isn’t it Hamas that receives those smuggled arms? yet
c) while even Hamas says nyet to ceasefire its
d) Israel that gets the “snub” headline.
Huh??

And finally the mayor of LA, Mr. Villaraigosa defends his support of Israel. In the story he’s accused of being ” ill-equipped to wade into the complex Middle East conflict.”
Yeah – and so am I yet until the Palestinians show an interest in peaceful coexistence with Israel, I have no sympathy. They spend all their money/time searching out ways to get back at Israel. They dig tunnels to smuggle arms and they encourage their children to die.

In the meantime Israel sends out warnings before bombings and then gets accused of rounding up refugees, putting them in a building and bombing it.

I’m not buying.

Things that make you go “Arghhhh!”

Let’s start with folks who are working to get information out concerning the Palestinian strategy of using fake movies of “atrocities” committed by Israelis. Otherwise known as Pallywood productions. When given to media folks, here’s the response:

I made a documentary film called Pallywood, and tried to shop it around. I figured [the network] ABC would be interested in it as rivals of CBS whom we criticized [for bad coverage]. I was wrong. The guy at ABC said, “I don’t know how much appetite there is for something like this.”

Then I ran it by somebody else, who said, “We couldn’t broadcast this unless it were balanced.”

When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, “We’d have to have something showing how the Israelis also fake it.”

Uh – and if they don’t????
……………………

Now how about a disease that’s been named and around since the 19th century called “Blackwater”. However, to the media, this old disease got it’s names from “he U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq.”
Instapundit has links.
………………….

And back to Bloodthirsty Liberal for word on the UN.

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday appointed American Jewish law professor Richard A. Falk – who has compared Israel to the Nazis – as special investigator on Israeli actions in the territories for a six-year term.

Can’t they even pretend to act fairly???
Here is the rest of the citing used:

Falk, in his academic writing, has already stated that a Palestinian holocaust was in the making.

Yitzhak Levanon, ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, spoke against Falk’s appointment in an address to the council on Wednesday.

“In a recent article, [Falk] stated that he did not think it to be “an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with the criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity,” Levanon said.

“He has taken part in a UN fact-finding mission which determined that suicide bombings were a valid method of ’struggle,’” Levanon said.

“He has disturbingly charged Israel with ‘genocidal tendencies,’ and accused it of trying to achieve security through ’state terrorism,’” Levanon said.

“Someone who has publicly and repeatedly stated such views cannot possibly be considered independent, impartial or objective,” Levanon said.

The Gaza Wall Breach

Blood Thirsty Liberal, my source of news in that section of the Middle East has found some interesting news.

While the desperate Palestinians were quickly crossing the border into Egypt to buy food, they had time to also quickly manufacture fake money to buy said food because the Egyptians shop keepers didn’t know the difference between real Israeli money and the fake stuff.

But no worries because while the Palestinians were overrunning the border, the Egyptian shop keepers were pulling out all their outdated food stuffs for such a great fire sale.

Ugh

Fatah: We won’t talk with Terrorists

ROFL

Mr Abbas condemned Hamas as “murderous terrorists” and “coup plotters”, over the group’s takeover of Gaza last week.

He ruled out talks with the Islamist group

As well he should. Just like Bush did back in 2001.

But just in case you were wondering, I suspect Hamas has said the same.

A building formerly occupied by Fatah’s intelligence service in Gaza was long notorious for torture and execution. Now Hamas is in control — and is letting former inmates visit the chamber of horrors.

Gaza

This story in the Post today gives you an idea of what its like there right now in Gaza waiting in a tunnel in order to get through Israel to get to the west bank before getting yourself shot. With some people shouting in the background:

“Let us die in Gaza instead of dying in this humiliation,” he shouted on Tuesday. “Let us die with honor.”

Yeah – well, not today.

In the meantime these Islamists, who are Hamas, who are now in charge, who some people want Israel to share the Holy city of Jerusalem with, has “stripped bare” the mosque there at the crossing. Yeah – these thugs are to be trusted with Jerusalem.

The Perfect Paragraph

Presented to you by Bloodthirsty Liberal, written by David Warren.

He touches upon, and turns to ash, Palestinian barbarity, media mendacity, and leftist complicity, all in one short paragraph. My hat is off to him. Again.

As is mine.