Clinton Praises Israel for ‘Restraint’
October 31,2009 
The AP is reporting that Hillary Clinton has praised Benjamin Netanyahu for his 'restraint' in building on illegally occupied land in Palestine. That isn't to say that building will stop — in fact, far from it. The report notes:
Earlier in the day, a top aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat,
told The Associated Press that Abbas rejected Clinton's request that he
allow Israel's government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.
A couple of points worth making. If Israel isn't supposed to be building on the land anyway, how is continuing to build, albeit more slowly, showing 'restraint'? Secondly, what happened to Obama's supposed 'hard line' on Israel demanding that all settlement building activity stop? This is another spectacular sell out to AIPAC and the extreme right wing in Israel, and a huge blow to the peace process. How much longer the rest of the world will tolerate Israel's wanton abuse of Palestinians is anyone's guess, but this type of pandering shows the U.S is not serious about finding a peaceful solution any time soon.
The AP is reporting that Hillary Clinton has praised Benjamin Netanyahu for his 'restraint' in building on illegally occupied land in Palestine. That isn't to say that building will stop — in fact, far from it. The report notes:
Earlier in the day, a top aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat,
told The Associated Press that Abbas rejected Clinton's request that he
allow Israel's government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.
A couple of points worth making. If Israel isn't supposed to be building on the land anyway, how is continuing to build, albeit more slowly, showing 'restraint'? Secondly, what happened to Obama's supposed 'hard line' on Israel demanding that all settlement building activity stop? This is another spectacular sell out to AIPAC and the extreme right wing in Israel, and a huge blow to the peace process. How much longer the rest of the world will tolerate Israel's wanton abuse of Palestinians is anyone's guess, but this type of pandering shows the U.S is not serious about finding a peaceful solution any time soon.