Word: israelism
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...issue of settlements may be a smart litmus test of Israel's intentions, because it draws a clear line between those in Israel and among its supporters abroad who support a two-state solution, and those who don't. Obama is betting the ayes have it. Since taking office earlier this year, Netanyahu has tried to keep his cards close to his chest, but now he's being forced to reveal his intentions. Opinion polls often find a majority of Israelis willing to give up West Bank settlements in exchange for a genuine peace, and that same majority is unlikely...
...clearly in a state of distress. Pressure from the Obama Administration to freeze Israeli settlement construction and move toward a two-state peace with the Palestinians has reportedly spurred Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled (who belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's own Likud party) to recommended that Israel shop outside the U.S. for aircraft and military hardware, sell sensitive technology to clients disapproved of by Washington, and invite America's rivals to play a greater role in the Middle East. And if that sounds like chutzpah given the continued U.S. direct aid to Israel - $2.5 billion in military...
Peled's proposals aren't likely to be adopted, but they are a sign of the deep anxiety in Israel's right-wing government over the Obama Administration's intention to move quickly toward the creation of a Palestinian state at peace with Israel. Particularly irksome to Netanyahu is Obama's insistence that Israel immediately freeze all construction in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - territories conquered by Israel in 1967 - that together with Gaza are envisaged as the basis of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu's government has thus far refrained from embracing the two-state formula...
...Administration's position leaves Israel little wiggle room on settlements - a huge problem for a right wing-led government whose coalition agreement is premised on continued construction in the occupied territories. And as he shapes up to deliver a major policy address Sunday billed as a response to Obama, Netanyahu is feeling the heat. Israeli media have reported aides to the prime minister complaining that the White House is seeking a confrontation with Israel in order to ease anti-American hostility in the Muslim world, and even that Obama is seeking "regime-change" in Israel. (Read 'Why We Should Start...
Watch a video about Israel's lonesome doves...