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Israel: No building restrictions in east Jerusalem

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Then go get back into your little plane and go back to Israel. We got no money or arms for you. You can go back and build to your hearts content.

Obama stop all aid to Israel immediately. < :-)

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no surprise. israel is all in for apartheid.

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No, Z. That's incorrect. Arabs of various persuasions are citizens and are elected to their Knesset.

Who told you otherwise? And why did you believe them without question?

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USARonin, yeah, go figure why after being unjustly held prisoner for so long someone would lob rocks at the guards who still surround the prison. You are like the guy who just refuses to walk in another man's shoes. Or maybe you think you would just bite your lip and take it?

This refusal of Israel to allow building materials into Gaza really ought to wake you up. Gaza is under a blockade and its not new. Israel has controlled Gaza from within and without for decades and they block imports of anything all the time. They even blocked humanitarian goods for a while and lifting of that and just that is hardly a reasonable compromise. Just what love do you expect Palestinians to show their kids when they can't even rebuild their own friggen house because Israel won't allow 2x4s into Gaza? Hate seems to be all they have left. Its all the Israelis will let them have.

You seem to expect Gazans to die of exposure and starvation in peace. Is that it?

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The Israeli plan is clear: First they divided Jerusalem because there are more pro-Israeli Jews in the eastern part. But that still does not give them a majority there. So, they start building settlements for Jews while at the same time refusing nearly all Palestinian building permits. Thus Jews move in and Pals move out and Israel hopes to maintain this until the eastern part of Jerusalem establishes a majority and can be said to want to belong to Israel.

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There will be plenty of building restrictions for Palestinians in east Jerusalem. Israel is doing its best to cleans the entire area of Palestinians.

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Scrote: There will be plenty of building restrictions for Palestinians in east Jerusalem.

When the Muslim Arabs controlled East Jerusalem prior to 1967, no Jews were allowed. And nearly a million Jews have already been ethnically cleansed from Muslim Arab nations. And yet a million Muslim Arabs live in Israel. The Muslim Arabs have a very long history of racism and ethnic cleansing.

Israel has made perfectly clear East Jerusalem is part of Israel now. It's not negotiable, nor should it be.

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Jerusalem belongs to Israel...'nuff said

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I guess some still need to be reminded that according to international law East Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinians. All countries are in agreement with this fact, except for Israel, US, and a few tiny pacific islands. Israel is in no way entitled to any of it.

Israel should respect international law if it wants to be recognized as a legitimate country.

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What international law?

If you don't believe Israel is a legitimate country, then you have bigger issues than 'Jerusalem'.

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You know, Bibi, it's starting to look like you aren't trying...

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We need to do something about that renegade state that is Israel. The world should be appalled that it allows one country, which is the state of Israel to maintain an apartheid based society, largely discriminating on the basis of ethnicity.

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We need to do something...

Like what, m'am? People who believe as you do have been impotent on this issue since what... 1947? ...48?

Best get on with livin' your own life and worry about things in your own backyard. This is good advice unless you enjoy bein' constantly frustrated.

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USARonin said: Best get on with livin' your own life and worry about things in your own backyard.

Yes, like the military technology, equipment and tax money being sent from our backyard to Israel. The something we need to do is cut Israel off.

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The something we need to do is cut Israel off.

What? And stop backin' the only democracy in the ME? Not likely.

By the by, the United Nations created the 'state of Israel', not the United States. Talk to them. We're not goin' anywhere.

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Lars...

"The United States is the leading provider of bilateral economic and development assistance to the Palestinians, having provided an estimated $2.9 billion since 1994 for programs in the areas of water and sanitation, infrastructure, education, health care, economic growth, and democracy. The United States also is committed to continuing assistance for basic human needs in both the West Bank and Gaza, including emergency food, health care, and access to safe water and sanitation systems..."

"...the leading provider..."

That's from the USAID.gov website.

Kindly stop knockin' my country by omitting how much the US does for Palestinians in your posts.

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sabiwabi: Excellent encapsulation of the issues. To quote a renowned political commentator when asked to sum up the current 'spat', "Don't worry, America is still israel's bitch!" Couldn't have said it better myself.

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An elaboration.... Days after our tough talking Vice President Joe Biden returned from his trip to Israel with a handful of broken glass, the Obama administration announced that it has blocked delivery of armaments slated for delivery to the state of Israel. This announcement brought cheers and jeers from opposite ends of the political spectrum while leaving those in the middle, well…perplexed. The diplomatic theatre going on between Israel and the Obama administration has everybody fooled. But this entire political circus is purely for public consumption. The short-term goal is to create the illusion that there is a riff between the two nations, while the larger scheme is intended to give Israel complete inculpability when the U.S. finally decides to strike Iran. The move yesterday by the Obama administration to divert delivery of 387 bunker-busters from the state of Israel to the island of Diego Garcia is just another slight-of-hand maneuver in the shell game that is being played out in the days leading up to the inevitable attack on the Islamic state. Quoting from a Thursday article in the World Tribune “In January 2010, the administration agreed to an Israeli request to double the amount of U.S. military stockpiles to $800 million. Officials said the bunker-busters as well as Patriot missile interceptors were included in the agreement.” Now, are we expected to believe that it was Israel’s announcement to construct new illegal settlements in disputed East Jerusalem that has compelled the administration to go back on its promise? Give me a break! Is Israel’s expansionist campaign something new? They’ve never stopped building. They’ve never stopped destroying. They’ve never stopped killing. They have been engaged in an ongoing military adventure that has violated the human rights and cost thousands of Palestinian lives for as long as this writer has been alive.

The whole staged crisis between the U.S. and Israel is to secure delivery of those weapons to a more strategic location. That’s always been the plan. If not, why would they even put those munitions into transit at all? It’s obvious that a direct delivery of those weapons to Diego Garcia would be just too obvious. But by creating the illusion that those weapons were intended on being delivered to Israel, the contrived “last-minute decision” to divert them to housing on Diego Garcia appears to be merely an innocuous logistics decision. But it’s anything but innocuous. When you realize the strategic significance of this move it makes the reality of the world crisis we are now facing even that more ominous. Diego Garcia is a U.S. air and naval stronghold in the Indian Ocean. It is a giant, sprawling military complex that was solely responsible for launching air strikes against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. More recently, coalition aircraft at Diego Garcia dropped more ordnance on Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan than any other unit during the war on terror. This is not a place where bombs go to sit in storage. This is a place they go before they’re launched.

Delivering the bunker-busters to Israel would have been a major strategic blunder. It would have made Israel appear even that more threatening and lend credibility to both nations’ critics who have been saying all along that there is no clear distinction between Israel and the United States. It would have created a larger crisis throughout the world and lend justification for Iran and its allies to fortify their borders against a well-armed Israel. The United States and Israel are very conscious of this; and that is why they unilaterally played this out the way they did. This strategy to make Israel look like an estranged child from its parent gives them complete deniability once the bombs start dropping. They believe that this staged feud between Israel and the U.S. will put the kibosh on any allegations that the two are working in concert. But behind the scenes, they hope to provoke Iran into a retaliatory strike on Israel in order to lend justification for their involvement and compel the American people to come to their defense.

But still, many are buying into this illusion that was created to keep one guessing about the true nature of relations between Israel and the Obama administration. The whole scenario is being played on the American people like a Hollywood script. Boy, that was cathartic!

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By the by, the United Nations created the 'state of Israel', not the United States.

Funny how Israel considers the UN as an important institution when they have something favorable to say, but then completely ignore them when it doesn't suit them.

Anyway, without the US, Israel would never have been created. It was US armaments, which were meant to be decommissioned immediately after WWII, that were smuggled to Palestine by Gurion to start killing the indigenous Palestinian people. Its US financial and military support that has kept it alive ever since; not to mention countless US vetoes protecting Israel against UNSC resolutions.

Israel is not America's ally, its America's parasite. This is especially true now that the US has a significant presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has no use for Israel.

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Libertas, thanks for the compliment!

I also read your quote in a few places.

This spat between the US and Israel over the East Jerusalem settlements is all a show. Fortunately, according to Dr. Alan Sabrosky, many topic US military people are aware of Israel's recent actions; so I'm hoping that they'll take advantage of this occasion to settle a score.

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sabiwabi at 09:26 PM JST - 22nd March

Before 1956 most Israeli weapons were French, it was only after the back stabbing games played by the British that the US started to send serious weapons to Israel. The concept of a Jewish homeland was formulated in about 1919 and was a long time in the creation. Maybe pointing the finger at the UN is a little unfair. You might also like to remember that the weapons used against Israel in 1948 were supplied by the British, they also lead some of the Arab armies. Arabs of all kinds at that time were unable to manufacture weapons and Israel was only days old. So however you look at it somebody had to supply the weapons. This need you have to paint the Palestinian as the perfect being and the Israeli as a total monster is very unbalanced. Israel has existed since 1948 and has never for a single day been given the chance to live in peace, the monster you see is the product of a constant need for defence against neighbours that refuse to accept that Israel exists. Rather than pointing the finger of blame at others for supporting Israel you might be as well looking at why it is what it has been made into.

All right Sabi, let us for a moment give you the world the way you would want it. The Palestinians get what you say is their land back. What happens to the people that currently live in Israel? Where are you going to send them? And don’t be simplistic and say they can stay because we both know that the only Israelis that will be allowed to stay are the dead.

Are you going to say that Israel can exist so long as it is within the pre 1967 frontiers and that all those currently unhappy Palestinians are just going leave it at that? We both know that is not going to happen so why pretend you want something that we both know you don’t want. Like Hamas you want the total destruction of Israel but to say much here would get you deleted. You have never come clean on any issue related to Israel yet so I simply give up on you. Israel is not by any stretch of the imagination a perfect country but by comparison to what you would put in its place it comes incredible close to perfection.

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Israel was "created" in 1947 by a UN resolution so there's not much renegade about it. The immediate and reoccuring attacks by the Arab states, which obviously didn't care a whit for UN resolutions back then, resulted in resounding defeats and the conquest of new territory by Israel.

If Isreal wants to give up territory for peace agreements all well and good. It would appear that they aren't planning on any more concessions though. With the experience of Hamas taking over Gaza it's not hard to see why. Sucks to be a Palistinian but, on the other hand, I don't see the Saudis or other petrodollar rich companies sending serious humanitarian aid. All they are willing to send is more weapons. There's a message there.

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USARonin said: By the by, the United Nations created the 'state of Israel', not the United States.

I never said the United States created Israel. That is ancient history and I would rather talk about today. But the UN did not create it either. The U.N. has no such power. All the UN did was create a plan. From there Israel created itself by declaring independence.

And don't presume to give me orders. I will knock your country as much as I like. But to say I do that by omission? I beg your pardon? The difference between U.S. aid to Israel and to Palestinians is that aid to Israel contains a lot of military aid. I have repeatedly called for repeal of the military aid in my posts and just the military aid, of which, Palestinians receive none from the U.S.

You say Israel is the only democracy in the M.E., yet Israel's occupation of West Bank and East Jerusalem was not arrived at by a democratic vote. That is most certainly not democracy. Neither you nor your country are supporting democracy by supporting Israel militarily. You do quite the opposite.

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All right Sabi, let us for a moment give you the world the way you would want it. The Palestinians get what you say is their land back. What happens to the people that currently live in Israel?

We're dealing with Occupied Palestinian Territories, land that UNSC resolutions, countless UN general assembly resolutions, the International Court of Justice, and the entire international community (except Israel, US, and few tiny Pacific Islands) states clearly that it belongs to the Palestinians. Israelis can stay in Israel, but they have no business, or any legal right, to build anything in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which includes Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

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Lars, of course the UN created the 'state of Israel'.

And, Sabi, I'm not sayin' anything favorable about the UN here. They're more your buds than mine. I'm just stating a simple fact that you and Lars don't like bein' put out.

If you want to blame someone, go after the UN.

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If you want to blame someone, go after the UN.

Why?

On Nov. 29, 1947, it passed General Assembly Resolution 181, “The Partition Plan,” to carve a Jewish state out of Arab Palestine. However, it was never ratified by the Security Council, and so does not exist in law, which means the UN played no role in the creation of Israel. Nevertheless, “The Partition Plan” was utterly illegal and a violation of the UN Charter, because the UN had no right or power to take land from one people and give it to another.

What if the entire world, the people of the world, suddenly stopped recognizing Israel. Hmmmm....

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sabi: countless UN general assembly resolutions

Non-binding resolutions created by Muslim Arab nations who are incapable of producing anything other than non-binding UN resolutions against Israel.

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What if the entire world, the people of the world, suddenly stopped recognizing Israel. Hmmmm....

Well, we both know that's not gonna happen so what's yer point, my friend?

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countless UN general assembly resolutions

Non-binding resolutions created by Muslim Arab nations who are incapable of producing anything other than non-binding UN resolutions against Israel.

Just like the non-binding General Assembly Resolution 181, known as “The Partition Plan,”...

But the UN General Assembly Resolutions that I am referring to were almost unanimous every year for over a decade; about 150 nations (clearly not all Arab nations) in favor of the resolution and only Israel, US, and a few tiny Pacific Islands against the resolution for a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders. In other words, except for the US government and Israel, the entire world is against Israel's presence on Palestinian land.

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Sabi

You still failed to answer my question about how the Palestinians would behave towards the Israelis if they did get the land they are asking for, would they suddenly become ever so sweet and stop trying to destroy Israel or would they just start firing their rockets from the land they were given, much as they have done from Gaza.

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Israel was "created" in 1947 by a UN resolution so there's not much renegade about it. The immediate and reoccuring attacks by the Arab states, which obviously didn't care a whit for UN resolutions back then, resulted in resounding defeats and the conquest of new territory by Israel.

Israel or the State of Israel is the best friend, most reliable best friend of the US or the United States. These alone merits the Americans best regard or understanding and cooperaion for these more beleaguered nation or nationalities.

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