"No country in the world accepts dictates from other countries about where it is allowed to build and where not." Housing Minister Uri Ariel, quoted in Settlement push on eve of peace talks, Isabel Kershner, New York Times/ Sydney Morning Herald, 13/8/13
US presidents come and go but those Israeli settlements just keep on going from strength to strength:
"Israel must persuade its Arab neighbors and the world community that Israel has no expansionist designs on their territory." - Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-1969
"As a matter of policy, we do not provide assistance to the Israeli government for projects in the occupied territories." - Richard Nixon, 1969-1974
"This matter of settlements in the occupied territories has always been characterized by our government, by me and my predecessors, as an illegal action." - Gerald Ford, 1974-1977
"We consider these settlements to be contrary to the Geneva Convention, that occupied territories should not be changed by the establishment of permanent settlements by the occupying power." - Jimmy Carter, 1977-1981
"Indeed, the immediate adoption of a settlement freeze by Israel, more than any other action, could create the confidence needed for wider participation in these talks." - Ronald Reagan, 1981-1989
"My position is that the foreign policy of the United States says we do not believe there should be new settlements in the West Bank or in East Jerusalem. And I will conduct that policy as if it's firm." - George H.W. Bush, 1989-1993
"Because Israel believes when it comes right down to it America is the only big country that cares whether they live or die. That's why I can say, give up the West Bank. - Bill Clinton, 1993-2001
"Consistent with the Mitchell plan, Israeli settlement activity in occupied territories must stop, and the occupation must end." - George W. Bush, 2001-2009
"For more than 4 decades, Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 has undermined Israel's security and corroded hopes for peace and stability in the region." - Barack Obama, 2009 -
US presidents always blink first.
NB: All quotes, except Carter's, from 10 Easy Pieces, Adbusters, July/August 2013
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4 comments:
It is no surprise that US presidents always blink first when all presidential and vice-presidential candidates in order to be nominated have to genuflect before a large conference of AIPAC and acknowledge fealty to Israel.
I've never seen it before: 5 Broken Cameras, this Sunday 8:30pm ABC2
Also, MERC, have you heard from Syd Walker at all in recent times?
Thanks, Peter. At first I was impressed by ABC TV's decision to screen this doco given that the last doco on Palestine/Israel I remember seeing on ABC TV was in 2003 - surely a most extraordinary act of censorship/self-censorship if true - but then I realised it was being screened on ABC 2, which I imagine has a far more restricted audience. It's a very powerful and moving doco and deserves the widest possible screening.
Re SW, I did recently come across a comment of his on some thread or other but that was it. I've no idea what's going on there.
This is a happy compromise, MERC. If they run it on ABC2 rather than ABC1, probably no one has to start questioning whether the ABC is grossly over-funded, or hurling around accusations that it's staffed by anti-Semites.
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