Word: settlements
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Recognizing the urgency of completing a two-state solution to the conflict, Obama has moved energetically to restart a peace process that petered out under the Bush Administration. The President has demanded that Israel demonstrate good faith by freezing all settlement construction outside its 1967 borders and that Arab states reciprocate by allowing Israeli commercial planes to use their airspace and by easing up on visa restrictions. Results have been less than encouraging on both counts. (See pictures of life in the West Bank settlements...
...Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected the demand for a total settlement freeze, and he won strong domestic political backing for insisting on "natural growth" construction in existing settlements. Mitchell's visit aims to finalize an agreement on this issue that both sides can live with - the Israelis want to complete some 2,500 housing units already under construction and exempt East Jerusalem from the freeze. (Read about Israeli settlers vs. the Palestinians...
...construction project in the eastern part of the city occupied by Israel in 1967 by insisting that Israeli control over Jerusalem is non-negotiable. It's not clear what Washington will accept. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who previously insisted that there could be no exceptions with a settlement freeze, was asked on July 16 to comment on reports of a compromise. She said she was "certainly not going to step on the negotiations in any way" until their outcome was official. That comment and other indications from the Administration have led many Israelis and Palestinians to believe that Obama...
...Obama and Clinton have lately stressed that the Administration is seeking new concessions from Arab states to reciprocate for an Israeli settlement freeze, but even Washington's key allies in the region appear reluctant to reward Israel for simply complying with its obligations under the "road map" to peace proposed by President George W. Bush in 2003. Skepticism abounds in Arab capitals over Netanyahu's commitment to Palestinian statehood - a principle he reluctantly and conditionally embraced under heavy pressure from Obama, and which many believe he has no intention of implementing. His latest comments on Jerusalem will reinforce that skepticism...
Another affordable way to visit Bermuda is by boat. Several cruise lines are offering big bargains this summer: Norwegian Cruise Line has a seven-day cruise from Baltimore starting at $579; it docks for three nights at the colonial village of St. George, which was the first permanent British settlement in Bermuda and is today a UNESCO World Heritage site. Similar cruises from Boston or New York City start at $749. Royal Caribbean has a five-day cruise from Baltimore, with two nights at King's Wharf, for $699 per person. (See classic pictures of the beach on LIFE.com...