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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | ||
| Israel rejects US call to halt Jerusalem project | ||
| 2009-07-19 | ||
| -- Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, threatening to further complicate an unusually tense standoff with its strongest ally over settlement construction. Israeli officials said the country's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told that a project made up of 20 apartments developed by an American millionaire should not go ahead.
Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently yielded to heavy U.S. pressure to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, he has resisted American demands for an immediate freeze on settlement expansion. On Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem." "We cannot accept the fact that Jews wouldn't be entitled to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem," Netanyahu declared, calling Israeli sovereignty over the entire city "indisputable." "I can only imagine what would happen if someone suggested Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry," Netanyahu said. Also at the Cabinet meeting, the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, Yuval Diskin, said both the Western-backed administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the militant Islamic Hamas were carrying out "covert activity" in east Jerusalem to stop Jews acquiring property there. An official present at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with Cabinet rules, did not elaborate on what the activity entailed but quoted Diskin as saying that hardline Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi earmarked $25 million to be funneled to Hamas activists in Jerusalem. Al-Qaradawi is a well-known Abbas aide Rafiq Husseini dismissed the report. "We wish there was Arab money to buy threatened houses," he told The Associated Press, "but that's not the case." Qaradawi could no be reached for comment. | ||
| Posted by:ed |
| #9 the mouse that roared /sarc |
| Posted by: Dan 2009-07-19 18:52 |
| #8 Anonymoose, if they sent them to Chicago it would be 200,000 votes. |
| Posted by: Scott R 2009-07-19 18:05 |
| #7 Said the Veep: "We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do ..." And my best guess is that the press didn't call him on this with regard to Honduras. What the veep said doesn't apply to Honduras. The veep may have said this on a Tuesday and it only applies on Tuesdays. Or something like that... |
| Posted by: badanov 2009-07-19 18:03 |
| #6 Earlier this month George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if the US would stand in the way of Israel decided it was time to take out Iran's nuke program. Said the Veep: "We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do ..." and He's next in line. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2009-07-19 17:24 |
| #5 If the Israelis want us to be nice to them, they should seize an embassy or declare war on America. Look what hostility has done for Chavez, the Rooskis, the Castro bros. and the Norks! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-07-19 17:17 |
| #4 -- Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project Please help me here. US politicians know.... WHAT about... "housing projects?" |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-07-19 16:56 |
| #3 Argh, NO 'moose. That would be 100,000 new Dem votes. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-07-19 16:11 |
| #2 The Israelis should just smile, and ask Obama where in the US he would like to relocate the 100,000 Paleos that Israel will be sending. "If you love them so much, let them live in your house." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-07-19 14:39 |
| #1 Good for Bibi. In-your-face "f*ck off" is the only way to deal with the empty suited socialist |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-07-19 13:41 |