Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Obama Blasts Israel Over Settlements

In an interview with Major Garrett of Fox News (glad to see that feud is over), President Obama blasted Israel for its plans to build 900 housing units in East Jerusalem.

Obama said, "I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous."

I seem to recall that Israel abandoned all 21 of its settlements in the Gaza Strip in 2005. That didn't exactly stop the rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza. Nor did it prevent the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit which prompted a month long war in Gaza in the summer of 2006. The Palestinians are embittered with or without the settlements.

It is curious that Obama takes Israel to task over settlements but has nothing to say about the electoral chaos in the Palestinian Authority. By all appearances their presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for January 24, 2010 are most likely to be postponed indefinitely. Yet this merits not a peep from the President. I guess the President doesn't want to "meddle" in the affairs of the Palestinians. But when it comes to Israel, Obama puts the peddle to the meddle.

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