The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged settlements

Settlement Construction Approved Right Before Obama-Netanyahu Meet

By | 03.23.10 | 5:20 pm

If the Israelis’ announcement of new settlement construction in Jerusalem during Vice President Biden’s Israel trip was “insulting,” what’s this?

The Jerusalem municipality has given final approval to a group of settlers construct 20 apartments in a controversial hotel in East Jerusalem, Haaretz learned on Tuesday.

The announcement

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Mitchell Back to Mideast After Netanyahu Tells Clinton… Something

By | 03.19.10 | 8:37 am

As an update to my piece this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday called Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who’s traveling in Russia, to discuss Clinton’s demand that Netanyahu reverse the East Jerusalem settlement expansion that Israel announced last week. That planned expansion resulted in nearly two More…

Will Clinton Issue Challenge to Israel on Settlements?

By | 03.19.10 | 6:00 am

When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the America Israel Public Affairs Committee conference on Monday morning, she’ll be addressing a global audience eager for clues about the future of the Mideast peace process and the U.S.-Israel relationship after last week’s diplomatic tumult over Jerusalem settlements. Those in the More…

Did Netanyahu’s Settlements Insult Push Obama Left on Mideast Peace?

By | 03.18.10 | 10:20 am

The conventional wisdom in Washington about the U.S.-Israel spat is well expressed by this Josh Rogin post and this Ben Smith post. Basically, people think the Obama administration messed up by publicly recognizing that Prime Minister Netanyahu insulted the U.S. by moving forward with settlement expansion in More…

Biden, in Israel, Condemns East Jerusalem Housing Expansion

By | 03.09.10 | 3:24 pm

Just released from the Vice President:

I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem. The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we

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Clinton on Israeli Settlement Freeze

By | 11.25.09 | 2:12 pm

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after spending much of 2009 pushing against the Obama administration’s call for a settlement freeze, has proposed a 10-month settlement freeze in the interest of what he called “meaningful negotiations to reach a historic peace agreement that would finally end the conflict between Israel More…

Does Sarah Palin Think the Apocalypse Is Nigh?

By | 11.18.09 | 10:50 am

Well-known Israel expert Sarah Palin criticizes President Obama’s criticism of Israeli settlement expansion (most recently over Gilo):

“I disagree with the Obama administration on that,” Palin told Walters. “I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is

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Huckabee: Restricting West Bank Settlements Would Be Like Jim Crow Segregation

By | 08.31.09 | 5:12 pm

While in Israel, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee gave an interview to an extremely sympathetic reporter for PajamasTV. Asked about “the Obama administration’s view of Jewish settlements,” Huckabee compares the idea of telling Jewish families not to move to the settlements to American segregation. “We tried that in the United More…

Mike Huckabee, Ready to Pander to the Israel Lobby

By | 08.17.09 | 10:44 am

Former GOP Arkansas governor, Fox News host and presumed presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is in Israel and he tweets:

I’ll be in Israel this week and touring the highly disputed settlements that Obama and Hillary are trying to stop.

“Highly disputed” is one way of putting it. “Illegal” is More…

‘Demographic Balance’

By | 06.18.09 | 10:01 am

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday and reiterated his opposition to a settlement freeze. “We cannot accept this vision about absolutely completely freezing call for our settlements,” Lieberman said during a joint presser. But he also had a formulation that I More…