Terwijl VS vice president Biden de excuses van Israel accepteerde, en Israel heeft beloofd dat het niet meer zal gebeuren, vond minister van buitenlandse zaken Clinton het nodig om Netanjahoe nog eens uitvoerig de mantel uit te vegen. In een bijna drie kwartier durend telefoongesprek noemde ze de plannen een 'belediging voor de Verenigde Staten' en zouden zij 'Amerikaanse belangen in de regio ondermijnen'. Toe maar. Netanjahoe heeft het allemaal aangehoord en nogmaals zijn excuses gemaakt en verklaard dat het niet zijn beslissing was, maar van de gemeente Jeruzalem. Ook Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley deed een duit in het zakje met vergelijkbare verklaringen.
De Anti-Defamation League stelt dan ook terecht dat het zelden voorkomt dat een bondgenoot een dergelijke behandeling ten deel valt:
"US Vice President Joe Biden accepted the prime minister's apology," Foxman said. "Therefore, to raise the issue again in this way is a gross overreaction to a point of policy difference among friends.
"We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States," the statement continued. "One can only wonder how far the US is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians in the hope they see it is in their interest to return to the negotiating table."
"We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States," the statement continued. "One can only wonder how far the US is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians in the hope they see it is in their interest to return to the negotiating table."
Zo oppermachtig is de 'zionistische lobby' in de VS blijkbaar dus niet. Ondertussen wordt de verering door de PA van de meest wrede terroristen volkomen genegeerd. Waarom geen publieke veroordeling van het benoemen van een plein in Ramallah naar Dalal Mughrabi? Waarom geen veroordeling van uitspraken als deze op de officiële TV zender van de Palestijnse Autoriteit?
Now, dear viewers, we move on to a glorious chapter in the history of the Palestinian people. On this day in 1978, the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi prepared to meet her God by carrying out a self-sacrifice operation of Martyrdom-seeking [near Tel Aviv] in the heart of the occupation state. The operation shocked the occupation entity at the time and has left its mark until today and for years to come. Dalal Mughrabi, the Palestinian Shahida (Martyr), has become a symbol and model of resistance, sacrifice, and Martyrdom-seeking; a model of giving and of redemption of the homeland."
Is dat misschien het werk van de oppermachtige pro-Palestina lobby, die haar tentakels heeft tot in de hoogste politieke regionen? Terwijl iedereen tekeer gaat tegen de Israellobby, weet zij de belangrijke zaken voor elkaar te krijgen. Dat is hoe professionele lobbies werken.
RP
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Uit de Jeruzalem Post:
'We'll prevent future embarrassments'
Clinton sharply admonished Netanyahu over the plans in a phone conversation on Friday. Both Clinton and Netanyahu are scheduled to address the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in Washington next Monday.
Clinton's call to Netanyahu came hours ahead of a condemnation of the housing plan issued by the Middle East Quartet composed of the US, UN, EU and Russia.
"The Quartet has agreed to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration additional steps that may be required to address the situation on the ground," read its statement, which also called for the resumption of peace talks. The Quartet said it would "take full stock" of the situation at its meeting in Moscow on Friday.
The Quartet did not spell out what "additional steps" it had it mind, and government sources in Jerusalem said they did not immediately know what was being implied.
In an interview with NBC, Clinton labeled the move "insulting not just to the vice president," who was in Israel conveying his support to the Israeli people when the announcement came, but "an insult to the United States."
During her call to Netanyahu, she described the announcement as "a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship," one that went against the spirit of Biden's trip and "undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America's interests," according to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.
Crowley said Clinton also stressed that "the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words, but through specific actions, that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process."
(...)
(...)
During Clinton's nearly 45-minute call with Netanyahu about the housing plan's approval, she also told the prime minister that "she couldn't understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States's strong commitment to Israel's security," according to Crowley.
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The Jerusalem Post
ADL 'stunned' by American tone
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
14/03/2010 01:35
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=170908
Foxman dismayed at US's "public dressing-down of Israel" over e. J'lem housing.
The Anti-Defamation League expressed dismay on Saturday evening at Washington's "public dressing-down of Israel" over new housing in east Jerusalem.
"We are shocked and stunned at the administration's tone and public dressing-down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem," ADL's National Director Abe Foxman said in a statement.
He said Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley was especially harsh when he charged that Israel "undermined trust and confidence in the peace process, and in America's interests" when the Interior Ministry announced the housing in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood.
Foxman said the US criticism was "especially troubling" because Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had offered clear explanations of the announcement mishap both publicly and privately.
"US Vice President Joe Biden accepted the prime minister's apology," Foxman said. "Therefore, to raise the issue again in this way is a gross overreaction to a point of policy difference among friends.
"We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States," the statement continued. "One can only wonder how far the US is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians in the hope they see it is in their interest to return to the negotiating table."
He said the unprecedented criticism was aimed at placating the Palestinians.
Foxman himself had criticized Israel's move in a post on the left-wing Huffington Post Web site.
"Whatever the motivation and whoever the responsible party, it is the government of Israel that justifiably is held accountable for converting an optimal moment in US-Israel relations into a moment of crisis," he wrote. "The crucial point is that the government had an obligation to anticipate what might go wrong during the vice president's visit and to give firm instruction to all cabinet members about avoiding such pitfalls, particularly on the subjects of settlements and east Jerusalem."
Mainstream US Jewish groups usually refrain from criticism of Israel on peace process issues.
J Street came out in support of the administration over the weekend, sharply condemning Israel's policy.
"Israel's recent announcement of 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem wasn't just a slap in the face to Vice President Joe Biden," J Street said. "It was a wake-up call to us all that business-as-usual peace processing is bringing us no closer to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And now it may derail or delay the proximity talks just announced by special envoy George Mitchell.
"The alarm bells couldn't be ringing more loudly, telling us that hope is fading for a future where a Jewish, democratic Israel lives side-by-side in peace and security with the state of the Palestinian people."
The Zionist Organization of America also criticized Biden for his public condemnation of Israel.
Biden's public criticism violates his own "Biden Doctrine," as stated in his November 2001 address at the ZOA Brandeis Dinner in Philadelphia's Adams Mark Hotel, it said.
In that address, then-Delaware senator Biden said, "Why is it that the one ally we have in that part of the world [Israel], that we have the right to publicly chastise them? We would not do that with any other friend... As much as the Middle East is always on our minds, the best thing we can do is keep it off the US and world press."
He also said that such criticism "emboldens those in the Middle East and around the world who still harbor as their sacred goal the elimination of Israel... It is not for you to tell them [Israel], nor for me, what is in their best interests. We should give them the right to determine what chances they will take."
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