Angela Merkel nodigt Benjamin Netanyahu uit naar Duitsland

Het is verkeerd, nee, eigenlijk schandalig, dat de EU zich niet aan haar beloftes houdt maar wel Israel continu de maat neemt. Ons zou wat bescheidenheid passen, en wat respect. Israel is niet verplicht alles te zien zoals wij het zien, en voor ons mooi te gaan zitten. Netanjahoe heeft een belangrijke concessie gedaan, en de voorwaarden die hij stelt zijn reëel: erkenning van Israel als de staat van het Joodse volk, en een gedemilitariseerde Palestijnse staat. Dat staat de soevereiniteit van deze staat niet in de weg, zoals het zogenaamde 'recht op terugkeer' waar de 'gematigde' Abbas aan vast houdt, wel Israels bestaan in gevaar brengt.

 

Carter is ondertussen weer helemaal de oude na zijn wat vreemde uitspraken gisteren, en vindt de eis Israel als Joodse staat te erkennen een obstakel tot vrede. Weet je, eigenlijk is Israel zelf best wel een groot obstakel tot vrede, vooral zolang het Joods en zionistisch is. Waarom houdt dat vervelende land niet eens op te bestaan? Waarom laten ze zich niet eens in een oorlog verslaan?

 

RP

------------

Merkel invites Netanyahu to Germany

Jun. 15, 2009
ap and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at length with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a telephone call in which she invited him to visit Germany in the near future.

Germany's government said in a statement the two leaders spoke Monday evening. Merkel welcomed Netanyahu's policy speech Sunday as a "first, important step in the right direction toward realizing a two-state solution."

Merkel expressed hope that both sides would return to negotiations in an effort to "resolve the remaining questions."

Earlier Monday, European Union foreign ministers welcomed on Netanyahu's endorsement of the goal of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but said it was not enough to raise EU-Israel ties to a higher level, Reuters reported.

The ministers, who were due to meet Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman later on Monday, questioned the preconditions cited by Netanyahu for establishing a Palestinian state, as well as his defense of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

"That's good but it's only a first step," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said before the talks in Luxembourg.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also said that Netanyahu's speech was "not sufficient."

"Nothing was said on the settlements ... but this stopping of the settlements is essential," said Kouchner, who in an earlier statement rejected any preconditions to peace negotiations.

The EU and Israel have agreed in principle to upgrade an "association agreement" defining their ties, but the 27-nation bloc has put the upgrade on a hold, and says it wants a firm commitment from Israel to seek a so-called two-state peace accord with the Palestinians.

Other EU ministers joined US President Barack Obama in expressing support for Netanyahu's "endorsement."

Netanyahu's endorsement of a Palestinian state is a "step in the right direction," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the EU presidency, said on Monday.

Kohout added that while the prime minister's comments on Sunday needed more analysis "the acceptance of a Palestinian state is there."

Kohout spoke to reporters upon arrival at a session of EU foreign ministers who were meeting with Lieberman.

Also on Monday, former US president Jimmy Carter, visiting in Israel, said that Binyamin Netanyahu has placed "several obstacles on the road to peace", in response to the prime minister's speech Sunday evening.

"In my opinion, Netanyahu brought up several obstacles to peace in his speech that others before him have not placed," Carter told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

"He insists on settlement expansion, demands that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state even though 20% of Israel's citizens are not Jewish," the former president said.

Carter stressed that the differences between Obama and Netanyahu can be overcome. "I have to say that in spite of the differences between my president, Barack Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, greater differences existed between myself and then-prime minister Begin," he said.

Carter added that during his visit in Gaza on Tuesday, he would try to deliver a letter given to him by the parents of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

===========

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371106483&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull