WHY DID OBAMA VETO UN RESOLUTION CALLING ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ON PALESTINIAN LANDS "ILLEGAL"?

What was Obama thinking when he ordered Susan Rice U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to veto a security council resolution calling Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in occupied East Jerusalem "illegal"?

It is beyond doubt that under international law, land taken by a state in a military conflict must be returned to the vanquished. Israel seized this land from Palestinians in the 1967 War.

Erecting Israeli settlements upon this land violates international law and is "illegal."

OBAMA SHOWS TILT TOWARDS ISRAEL IN PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

I thought the U.S. government under Pres. Barack Obama would take a fair approach to solving the Middle East crisis. Instead the Palestine Papers published by Al Jazeera and The Guardian show that Obama's policy has been one of pressuring the Palestinians to make concessions, and, at the same time, no corresponding pressure on Israel and the Israeli government to make concessions in return, especially about settlements and the right of return of Palestinians to come back to their ancestral homeland.

NETANYAHU UNBELIEVABLY CLAIMS SETTLEMENTS DO NOT "HARM" PALESTINIANS

Israel's prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, claims that building 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem would in no way "harm Palestinians," Matthew Weaver and Daniel Nasaw report for The Guardian today.

"Speaking to Israel's parliament, Netanyahu said the construction of homes for Jews in the city's eastern sector "in no way" hurts Palestinians. His comments came after an admission by the Israeli ambassador to Washington that Israel's relations with the US are at their worst for 35 years."

I guess Netanyahu means that building settlements on someone else's land is not as destructive as exploding white phosphorous in the streets or shooting missiles at someone's roof.

But if you were Palestinian and you had your land seized during the 1967 War, and then you saw Israelis building settlements on your land and moving in, I think that you would feel the pain.

ISRAEL CONTINUES NEW SETTLEMENTS ON PALESTINIAN LAND

The government of Israel under prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to approve new settlements on occupied Palestinian land every month. Today the BBC reports that Israel has approved 900 new homes in East Jerusalem. Remember this is land seized by Israel during the 1967 War. International law is clear that such settlements are illegal: all land seized during armed conflicts must be returned to the losing side, otherwise every nation would have carte blanche to start a war with a weaker neighbor, seize land by military force, then keep it.

The BBC reports:

"The Israeli interior ministry has approved planning applications for 900 new housing units at a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

"The planning and construction committee authorised the expansion of Gilo, which is built on land captured in 1967 and annexed to the Jerusalem municipality."

So in the battle between U.S. president Barack Obama and Israeli prime minister Netanyahu about Israeli settlements, it is clear who is winning: Netanyahu. Obama seems powerless to stop the ongoing settlements. And there can be no peace with the Palestinians when Israel is holding their rightful land and continues to expand its settlements on their patrimony.

Reports the BBC:

"The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says Tuesday's announcement represents by far the largest batch of planning approvals for building on occupied territory since Mr Netanyahu became prime minister.

"The 900 housing units, which will be built in the form of 4-5 bedroom apartments, will account for a significant expansion of Gilo. The interior ministry said construction work would be unlikely to start for another three or four years once the plans gained final authorisation.

"A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the planning approval was "yet another step that shows and proves Israel is not ready for peace".

""This step will ruin every single attempt - European or American - to preserve the peace process," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said."

ERIC CANTOR CLAIMS OBAMA IS NO "TRUE FRIEND" OF ISRAEL

Because of congressmen like Eric Cantor, our policy in the Middle East is a slave to that of Israel. No wonder that the US has such a low reputation among Muslims throughout the world. Cantor is the epitome of congressmen who put pressure on the US government not to condemn IDF war crimes in Gaza and who work to prevent the US from demanding an end to the cruel blockade.

Glenn Thrush reports in Politico:

"The only Jewish Republican in Congress and one of Israel’s staunchest defenders on the Hill, Cantor said he was heartened by Tuesday’s meeting between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"But he continued to express his opposition to Obama’s “disproportionate focus” on halting the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank instead of adopting a policy geared toward eliminating the “existential threat” posed to Israel by Iran’s nuclear program.

"“If you look at the policy that this White House has followed, it certainly does not seem as if we are dealing with a true friend” of Israel, Cantor said."

Obviously what Cantor means when he says Obama is no true friend is that Obama does not automatically endorse every decision of the Israeli government, no matter how irrational it might be, in the same way as George W. Bush did. Obama has called upon Netanyahu and his government to immediately end settlements. Obama believes that Israel should return all the land it took during the 1967 War in accordance with the prescripts and mandates of the United Nations Charter and Treaty. Obama believes in a separate state for the Palestinians contrary to Israel's present government that wants a "greater Israel."

ISRAELI COURT WILL SENTENCE ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVIST TOMORROW

An Israeli peace activist who has been protesting the continued encroachment of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land will be sentenced tomorrow by an Israeli court, probably to several months incarceration, writes Rory McCarthy for guardian.com.uk.

Reports McCarthy:

"A prominent Israeli peace activist is expected to be sentenced to several months in jail tomorrow in a high-profile prosecution which began after he tried to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank."

The activist is a plumber, Ezra Nawi, 50, who has been organizing protests against what he considers illegal seizure of Palestinian lands for Israeli settlements. He was arrested and charged for assaulting a policeman when the Israeli Army sent bulldozers to destroy Palestinian shacks on land that Israeli settlers wanted to expropriate.

"His trial has sparked a broad campaign of support from academics, musicians and artists. "You have here the whole misery and cruelty of the occupation in a nutshell," David Shulman, a Hebrew University professor and activist with the Israeli-Palestinian peace group Ta'ayush, wrote in the Ha'aretz newspaper.

""Inside the occupied Palestinian territories is a shadow state where the only real law is the law of the gun, where land is being taken away from its rightful owners every day, and where the very few who stand up to protest, without violence, like Ezra Nawi, are sent to prison."

"Another Hebrew University academic and peace activist, Amiel Vardi, who teaches classics, said: "I don't know of anyone as dedicated as Ezra." Vardi, too, said Nawi was different from most. "We are others. Even for those who work with us for years and perhaps understand more or less what we are doing, we are still others," he said. "Not Ezra. Ezra is accepted as a human being, meaning they both belong to the same group. He is not so much of an other.""

HILLARY CLINTON TELLS ISRAEL, "NO NEW SETTLEMENTS"

It's about time that the U.S. government tells Israel in no uncertain terms that it must stop expanding its settlements onto Palestinian land or land that was seized in the 1967 War.

As Hillary Clinton put it, no outposts, no natural expansions, no new settlements, period.

Mark Landler and Isabel Kershner report in today's The New York Times:

"The Obama administration reiterated emphatically on Wednesday that it viewed a complete freeze of construction in settlements on the West Bank as a critical step toward a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Speaking of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “He wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not ‘natural growth’ exceptions.” Talking to reporters after a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, she said: “That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly.”

"Mrs. Clinton’s remarks, the administration’s strongest to date on the matter, came as an Israeli official said Wednesday that the Israeli government wanted to reach an understanding with the Obama administration that would allow some new construction in West Bank settlements."

I commend both Clinton and Pres. Barack Obama for not bowing down and rolling over to Israel and Netanyahu in the matter of settlements. We know that the Netanyahu government really has no intention of pursuing a two-state solution, especially if the U.S. goes along with its relentless and illegal expansion of settlements.

CHENEY BLAMES HAMAS, SYRIA AND IRAN FOR NO PROGRESS ON PEACE; FORGETS TO BLAME ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS

Dick Cheney on his last day in the Middle East claims that the obstruction to a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians is Hamas. Furthermore, Cheney claims Iran and Syria are supporting Hamas because they don't want to see peace in the region. This sounds like a lot of bull, of the same type as the assertion that there was proof that Saddam Hussein was forging an alliance with Al Qaeda, used by Bush and Cheney as a prelude to the invasion of Iraq.

The BBC reports:

"US Vice-President Dick Cheney has said Palestinian militant group Hamas, along with Iran and Syria, is trying to torpedo the Middle East peace process."

Recall that Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinians in January 2007. Yet Bush and Cheney term it a "terrorist organization" because Israel considers it that. As a result, both the U.S. and Israel refuse to deal withHamas in any prospective agreement. No wonder that Hamas is not in sync with Abu Mazen in making a deal with Israel and its surrogate, the United States.

The real block to a peace accord is Israel which continues to allow settlements in the occupied territories. More and more land belonging to Palestinians is illegally usurped by Israeli settlers at the point of a gun. Jimmy Carter talked about "apartheid" in his book on the Israeli-Palestinian discord. How about "ethnic cleansing"? Building Israeli settlements on land seized from the Palestinians during the 1967 War smacks of ethnic cleansing and is illegal and unjustified.

Cheney tries to further demonize Iran and Syria in the conflict. He claims these two countries back the "terrorists." How about all the other Islamic countries in the Middle East? Is there any country that does not back Hamas? Is there any country in that region that supports Israel? If Cheney wants to condemn supporters of Hamas, he should apportion a lot of it to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, erstwhile allies of the U.S.