Posted on 03/30/2010 4:55:10 PM PDT by SJackson
White House plays down reports that Obama “punished” Netanyahu by keeping their talks private; Senator John Kerry heads to region to look into restarting Israel-Syria diplomatic process.
No anti-Israel resolution on east Jerusalem was in the works at the UN Security Council, senior officials in Washington were quoted Tuesday as saying, amid reports that the US would not veto such a resolution if it were brought to the UN body.
Ynet cited an Obama administration official as saying that no such initiative was before the Security Council, “and we are not pursuing or encouraging any such action.”
The BBC, quoting a US official, reported Sunday that the US might abstain on a possible Security Council measure concerning Israeli construction in east Jerusalem.
According to the report, the unnamed official spoke about the matter with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani last week in Paris, and said the US would “seriously consider abstaining” if Israeli construction in east Jerusalem were brought to a vote.
The US is one of five permanent members of the Security Council, and as such has veto power. While the US has often used its veto to block resolutions condemning Israel, a US abstention would likely allow such a resolution to pass.
Government officials in Jerusalem said they were unaware of any discussion on the matter in Washington, or whether the matter had come up during Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s discussions last week in Washington.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs played down reports that Obama had “punished” Netanyahu by keeping their talks private.
“I’m puzzled by the notion that somehow it’s a bad deal to get two hours with the president almost entirely alone,” he said. “That doesn’t seem like a lot of punishment to me.”
Meanwhile, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described as a “work in progress” attempts to get Israelis and Palestinians to take confidence-building measures to pave the way for indirect talks.
“I think we are hopeful that we can push this process forward after taking a break for the holiday period in the region,” Crowley said Monday in Washington, adding that the US hoped “the parties will repeat to us in the near future what they have said to us in the recent past, which is they are ready to move forward with these proximity talks.”
Government sources in Jerusalem said that the inner cabinet, known as the “septet ” – which last met on Sunday to discuss Israel’s reply to demands made by US President Barack Obama, including an end to construction in east Jerusalem, an extension of the 10-month housing-start moratorium, and an agreement to deal with issues of settlements, refugees and Jerusalem in the proximity talks – would likely meet again during Pessah to formulate Israel’s response.
With the septet grappling with the issue, there are also sharp differences emerging in the White House regarding Middle East policy, according to a report on the Politico Web site.
According to the report, White House Middle East strategist Dennis Ross “is staking out a position that Washington needs to be sensitive to Netanyahu’s domestic political constraints,” while other officials aligned with Middle East envoy George Mitchell are pushing for written commitments from Israel “to avoid provocations that imperil Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to preserve the Obama administration’s credibility.”
In a related development, US Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, was to leave Tuesday to Syria and Lebanon to look into the possibility of restarting a diplomatic process between Israel and Syria.
Kerry was also to stop in Italy and meet with officials there, said spokesman Fred Jones.
The Massachusetts lawmaker, once touted as a possible secretary of state, was set to make the trip while Congress was on a two-week recess that ends the week of April 12.
Kerry was in Israel at the beginning of March
I’m sure Kerry’s good looks and abundant charisma will win them over.
Why the Long Face going there? Where is hillleree? Isn’t that HER JOB? Isn’t SHE supposed to be the king pin with alL hose countries? Oh yeah, she was kicked to the curb...I forgot.
Kerry? Why not his buddy jane fonda. just as qualified. Both served in Viet Nam. For the same side too
Has there ever been a more useless human being than John Kerry? Even Biden is occasionally good for a laugh. Kerry? Notsomuch.
come on do we believe anything more that the O administration states They say no and it means yes and yes means no the pattern has been set, typical gobbly gook from a progressive. destroy Israel at all costs, Support the Arabs because they are our enemies. What do you expect from a Muslim Terrorist
OPINION: Kerry doesn’t strike me as someone who understands Israel, wot, or the jihad.
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http://www.truthusa.com/911.html
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stepping back in time...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336600/posts
Quote:
Kerry Marks Eve of 9/11 Anniversary With Push for Climate Legislation
The Washington Insider ^ | Sept. 10, 2009 | Kate Sheppard
Posted on September 10, 2009 12:17:54 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) kicked off the new campaign on Thursday to create a national security push to pass climate change legislation. Climate change, Kerry argued, will likely trigger some of the most critical threats to national security in the future, and should be addressed with aggressive action this year.
His speech was the keynote address at a conference that the American Security Project, a bipartisan national security think tank, hosted at The George Washington University. The event was titled, not so subtly, “The Day Before,” and marks the eve of the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is working with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to coauthor a Senate climate bill this year.
“Eight years ago today, on September 10th, 2001, America experienced one last moment of complacency before plunging into crisis,” said Kerry. “That day, the world was already being transformed, but too few knew or understood the new era we were about to enter.”
“Once again the world is being upended, and too few are taking action,” he continued. “The latest science warns that we have a ten-year window — at most — to prevent catastrophic, irreversible climate change. That means we are once again living in a ‘day before’ moment that cries out for action.”
Kerry outlined the threats that climate change poses to national security, from increased drought, severe storms and rising sea levels in the United States to strains on resources, population displacement and increased international conflict abroad. The impacts will strain the United States’ military and humanitarian capacities, he said.
What good is F’n gonna do? Bibi ought to leave him sitting for a few hours.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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US hoped “the parties will repeat to us in the near future what they have said to us in the recent past,
And that would be the same thing they said to you in
the distant past...
The gullibility of the state department and this administration are beyond belief.
For most of my life I’ve been aware of the aggression
and hostility directed toward Israel by the surrounding
states, the Car bombings, the Bus bombings, the suiciders
the rocket attacks, That’s over fifty years of animosity
and still the world wants Israel to make peace with those
who continue to try and destroy her and her people.
ENOUGH! Israel should tell Obama to kiss off, should take
Gaza and the west bank, declare greater Israel set the
boundries, declare Jerusalem it’s capital and get on with
being a nation.
Baaaah, I’m fed up.
Israel doesn’t want Gaza and I doubt they want most of the West Bank. But they should make that determination unilaterally, lengthen the wall, defend the border and let the palestinians have their state in what’s left.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2474395/posts
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stepping back in time...
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/codepink/index
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Stepping back in time...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2444374/posts
Sen. John Kerry Letter Supporting Code Pink’s Hamas-Aid Gaza Freedom March
Big Government ^ | Feb. 4, 2010 | Kristinn Taylor and Andrea Shea King
Posted on February 4, 2010 10:50:43 AM PST by patriotgal1787
Massachusetts senior U.S. Senator John Kerry provided a letter on Senate stationery that supported constituents who participated in last December’s anti-Israel, pro-Hamas Gaza Freedom March, led by President Barack Obama ally Code Pink.
Democrat Representative Andre Carson of Indiana’s 7th District also provided a letter of support for participants in the so-called Gaza Freedom March.
Kerry is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was the Democratic Party’s 2004 presidential nominee.
In the letter, Kerry wrote that his staff met with the Massachusetts delegation before they left, and his staff would be briefed about the trip upon their return.
Code Pink co-founders Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin used Kerry’s letter at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt to pressure the Egyptian government to allow 1300 leftists passage into Gaza from Egypt. The leftists gathered in Cairo from around the world to mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s defense against Hamas’ rocket and mortar attacks.
(Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
That’s what I meant, they should have declared unilaterally
and made the others live with it, Plus it should be their
stated policy that any attacks on Israel that result in
adjoining states losing land will result in that land
remaining within Israel proper. It’s only been that way
all through history.
Grrrrr I get wound up I’m so tires of seeing this
continued clawing at a people who only want to live
in peace.
Agreed, this will solve everything. I don’t know why they didn’t dispatch him sooner.
The list, ping
Thank goodness you’re back. All day I’ve been wondering where my pings were. ;)
Off topic. If you have time - and only if you have both the time and the inclination - how would you respond to the following:
< < I have mixed feelings about the state of Israel... on one hand, I think it wasn’t a terribly bright thing to do - imagine that you’re sitting in a desk at school and the teacher introduces Timmy to the class and gives him “your” seat, leaving you to stand or find another seat... even though you have no special claim to that desk, many people would resent the teacher, and even Timmy. I think that creating the state of Israel was very poorly handled in that way, and would have been better justified (and more accepted) if created out of part of Germany. > >
I am corresponding with a person who is 1/4 Jewish, and who made that statement. (I get the impression the person is very liberal.) I wasn’t sure what the most concise yet effective answer would be. So fwiw, there is the statement and the question. Thank you in advance.
Did you know that Sen. Kerry served in Viet Nam?
Off topic. If you have time - and only if you have both the time and the inclination - how would you respond to the following:
< < I have mixed feelings about the state of Israel... on one hand, I think it wasn’t a terribly bright thing to do - imagine that you’re sitting in a desk at school and the teacher introduces Timmy to the class and gives him “your” seat, leaving you to stand or find another seat... even though you have no special claim to that desk, many people would resent the teacher, and even Timmy. I think that creating the state of Israel was very poorly handled in that way, and would have been better justified (and more accepted) if created out of part of Germany. > >
I would respond with another hypothetical. -....
Say-
What if a bunch of mean bullies beat the crap out of you at school, took your lunch, said they owned your desk, and then after making sure YOU couldn't sit in it said it belonged to them. Then, after telling everybody they knew that it really wasn't your desk, they fouled the area around your desk so badly that nobody wanted to sit there.
After a while, when you screwed up your courage, you moved back to your desk, fought the people around it so you could get there and rebuilt it at your own cost. When it was finally looking pretty good, the bully came back and started a bunch of bloody fights with you and then told everybody that you started it, kicked them out of their desk and told the teacher you were responsible for all the problems in the classroom...
....... That might be a differing perspective to the person (s) you are talking to.
Wow. I like that answer. I knew the question was [don’t hold this against me] above my pay grade. I love Israel and back her up to the hilt, but history is not my strong suit. I know my Bible, though. I knew the land comprising present day Israel (plus a lot more) belonged to the Jewish people for many centuries. I’m fuzzy on the in between times. But I will pass that reply along, and see what happens. If the person is indeed liberal then maybe not a lot will come of it. But who knows. It’s well written, and I’d be surprised if it had no impact at all.
You never know. Sometimes a seed takes a while to grow. :)
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