Word: settlements
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...relaunch negotiations with the Israelis until they agree to the freeze on construction on land conquered in 1967 - as Obama has demanded - and agree to negotiate on all final-status issues, including sharing Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. Netanyahu's government has offered only a partial settlement freeze and refuses to negotiate over Jerusalem or refugees. So while Abbas will glumly show up in New York City, he has no intention of relaunching negotiations on the terms currently on offer. "The Americans have failed to convince the Israelis to halt settlement, and now they want a photo opportunity...
...Obama. After years of rejecting the idea of a Palestinian state, Netanyahu has responded to Obama's pressure by accepting the principle of it, but on terms too limited to be accepted by any Palestinian leader. Skeptical of the value of negotiating now over a long-term political settlement and insisting that key final-status issues such as Jerusalem and refugees are not up for negotiation, Netanyahu prefers to focus on what he calls "economic peace" - developing the Palestinian economy as a basis for long-term stability in the relationship between the two peoples. But he's happy...
...problem in getting the process moving again, of course, is that Netanyahu and Abbas don't share a common destination. The Israeli Prime Minister has surged in Israeli opinion polls by pushing back against Obama's settlement-freeze demands, and he is under no domestic pressure to make any concessions. But Abbas' domestic constituency will see the New York City meeting as yet another humiliation inflicted on him by Washington, which has had him pose for endless photographs with an array of Israeli leaders who have no intention of satisfying the basic demands of a peace agreement he could accept...
...Japan alliance, remember, did not come into being because the two countries decided they loved each other. It did so because one defeated the other in war, occupied it, then wrote and imposed a new constitutional settlement upon it. Japan's acceptance of the post-1945 settlement had much to do with a naked assessment by Japanese leaders of their interests, rather than a sudden passion for all things American. In truth, it is hard to think of any industrial society that in its essentials is less like the U.S. than Japan. Yes, Japan plays baseball. But Japan...
...Aviv No Settlement on Settlements Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for the construction of 455 additional housing units in the West Bank while saying Israel would consider a freeze on building in Palestinian-claimed territories afterward--a political compromise that displeased both Israeli hard-liners and Palestinians. The Obama Administration, which has pressured Israel to halt construction in order to kick-start stalled peace talks, expressed "regret" over the plans. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, dismissed talk of a moratorium, noting that Israel's decision to continue building "nullifies any effect that a settlement freeze, when...