Middle East Watch

475 Article

• Nearly 300 Congress members declare commitment to ’unbreakable’ U.S.-Israel bond

  26 March 2010, by Natasha Mozgavaya

  Nearly 300 members of Congress have signed on to a declaration reaffirming their commitment to "the unbreakable bond that exists between [U.S.] and the State of Israel", in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
  The letter was sent in the wake of the severe recent tensions between Israel and the U.S. over the prior’s decision to construct more than 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, a project it announced during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the region.
  Prime (…)

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• M. Nétanyahou et "l’embuscade" américaine

  27 mars 2010, par Laurent Zecchini

  Benyamin Nétanyahou a trouvé un accueil contrasté, jeudi 25 mars, à son arrivée à Jérusalem, après trois jours éprouvants à Washington. La presse israélienne parle de son "humiliation" par l’administration Obama et de l’"embuscade" qui l’attendait à la Maison Blanche.
  Le premier ministre israélien, écrivent certains éditorialistes, s’est trouvé "le dos au mur", sommé de passer sous les fourches caudines d’un Barack Obama qui, requinqué par le vote de la réforme de l’assurance-maladie, (…)

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• US says Israeli bond ’unshakeable’

  17 March 2010,

  The US has affirmed its "unshakeable" and "unbreakable" bond with Israel amid the allies’ most public spat in years over Israel’s announcement that it would build 1,600 new settler homes.
  "We have an absolute commitment to Israel’s security. We have a close, unshakeable bond between the United States and Israel," Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said in Washington on Tuesday.
  Her comments appeared to be much softer in tone following days of tough rhetoric after Israel (…)

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• Petraeus Confirms Link Between Israel-Palestine and U.S. Security

  17 March 2010, by Jim Lobe

  In prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning, Gen. David Petraeus delivered the message that, as we’ve been writing over the last few days, Mark Parry reported on Saturday. Here’s the money quote:
  Insufficient progress toward a comprehensive Middle East peace. The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into (…)

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• Palestinians should now declare their independence

  12 March 2010, by Johann Hari

  This week the Obama administration - who give Israel $3bn a year, more than they dole out to any other nation on earth - made a meek and craven request for Israelis to simply have a pause in seizing even more land, and to sit down with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with a big concrete slap: the announcement of 1,600 more homes to be built on occupied Palestinian land from which Arabs will be forcibly kept out. He has made it plain he will not loosen his grip (…)

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• Rachel Corrie Family Finally Puts Israel in Dock

  10 March 2010, by Jonathan Cook

  Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family was to put the Israeli government in the dock today.
  A judge in the northern Israeli city of Haifa was due to be presented with evidence that 23-year-old Corrie was killed unlawfully as she stood in the path of the bulldozer, trying to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.
  Corrie’s parents, Craig and Cindy, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, said they hoped (…)

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• U.S. gave Israel green light for East Jerusalem construction

  13 March 2010, by Akiva Eldar

  The apology offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai recalls the joke about the servant who pinched the king’s bottom. En route to the gallows, the servant apologized: He thought it was the queen’s bottom.
  The statement issued by Netanyahu’s bureau said that in light of the ongoing dispute between Israel and the United States over construction in East Jerusalem, the plans for new housing in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood should not have been approved (…)

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• Colonisation à Jérusalem-Est : les condamnations pleuvent sur Israël

  10 mars 2010,

  Le vice-président américain, Joe Biden, a réaffirmé hier le soutien des États-Unis à un État palestinien « viable » lors d’une déclaration au côté du président Mahmoud Abbas à Ramallah, en Cisjordanie. « Tout le monde doit savoir qu’il n’y a pas d’alternative », a plaidé M. Biden au cours d’une visite dans les territoires palestiniens, en promettant à ses hôtes que « les États-Unis soutiendront ceux qui prennent les risques que requiert la paix ». Comme la veille, le dirigeant américain a (…)

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• Peace not wanted

  4 March 2010, by Gideon Levy

  Israel does not want peace with Syria. Let’s take off all the masks we’ve been hiding behind and tell the truth for a change. Let’s admit that there’s no formula that suits us, except the ludicrous "peace for peace." Let’s admit it to ourselves, at least, that we do not want to leave the Golan Heights, no matter what. Forget about all the palaver, all the mediations, all the efforts.
  Let’s face it, we don’t want peace, we want to run wild, to paraphrase an Israeli pop song from the ’70s. (…)

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• UN official to Haaretz: Israel ’nourishing despair’ in Gaza

  5 March 2010, by Akiva Eldar

  The combination of diplomatic caution and British understatement threatened to turn my interview with John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, into a trap of boredom. However, perhaps due to his approaching retirement, Holmes came out with several incisive, even scathing remarks.
  This summer, after three and a half years in office, Holmes will return to Britain to head an important research institute. He no longer has to fear the (…)

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