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US SECRETARY OF State John Kerry has urged Palestinians “not to react adversely” to Israel’s announcement of new settlement building, stressing the need to return to the negotiating table.
With a fresh peace dialogue in its early stages after a three-year hiatus, the approval of almost 1,200 housing units in annexed east Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank on Sunday infuriated Palestinians.
The plan was swiftly followed by Israel announcing it would release 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners ahead of a resumption of peace talks Wednesday in Jerusalem.
As some Israeli ministers criticized the government’s prisoner release, Palestinians denounced the settlement plan, which Washington and the European Union said Monday was illegal and detrimental to peace efforts.
The last peace talks in 2010 broke down on the issue of settlement building.
Kerry, on a trip to Colombia Monday, sought to neutralise the atmosphere in the Middle East, noting that the settlement plans were “to some degree expected,” and calling for both sides to resolve their major issues.
“We have known that there was going to be a continuation of some building in certain places, and I think the Palestinians understand that,” the chief US diplomat said in Bogota.
But he added: “I think one of the announcements or maybe one of them was outside of that level of expectation, and that’s being discussed right now.”
Kerry, who took the lead in securing last month’s resumption of peace talks, said he did not expect the latest developments to become a “speed bump,” but he reiterated that the United States regards all settlements as illegal.
“What this underscores, actually, is the importance of getting to the table… quickly, and resolving the questions with respect to settlements, which are best resolved by solving the problem of security and borders,”Kerry told reporters.
“Once you have security and borders solved, you have resolved the question of settlements. And so I urge all the parties not to react adversely or to provoke adversely, whichever party may do one or the other in any way,” he said.
“With the negotiation of major issues, these kinds of hot-point issues really become much easier to – in fact, they are eliminated as the kind of flashpoints that they may be viewed as today.”
Kerry said he had put in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who underwent surgery at the weekend, and that he expected to speak to him very soon.
The 26 prisoners constitute the first batch of a total of 104 long-term Palestinian and Israeli Arab inmates to be freed in four stages, depending on progress in the talks.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat underlined the importance of the prisoner release for the renewed peace initiative to continue.
“We hope to put into effect what we’ve agreed on… we hope for the release of 104 prisoners. Each will return to his house. This is what we’ve agreed on,” he told Israeli Arabic-language radio.
“There is a clear understanding between us and the Americans and Israelis. Any change (in that) will mean the agreement is off the table.”
The decision to free prisoners, however, has angered the families of those killed in assaults.
“This is a day of celebration for terror organizations,” Meir Indor, head of Almagor, a group representing Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks, told AFP.
Most prisoners being freed were arrested for “murder,” with five being “accomplices to murder” and one being guilty of “abduction and killing,” Israel says.
All prisoners had been arrested before 1994 except one who was arrested in 2001.
Palestinian officials slammed the settlement announcement as a move aimed at “preventing” peace talks.
Russia described the Israeli move as “a counterproductive step that complicates the atmosphere of the talks”.
But a spokesman for Netanyahu insisted that the new settlement units were “in areas that will remain part of Israel in any possible future peace agreement.”
“It changes nothing,” Mark Regev added.
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The Israelis clearly don’t want peace but want to engineer a provocation so that it appears the Palestinians break off the talks.
Spot on Bramley they do those very time there are talks it’s a play straight from the schoolyard bully handbook. Provoke the Palestinians during the talks and blame them for the failure.
Thats the intention. Its been done several times before.
Bingo. Just even look at this article. The focus is being put on the possible palestinian reaction that hasn’t happened rather than the illegal Israel action which has.
Zionists, worse than loyalists.
FYI guys, I’ve just seen reports that a further 942 settler homes have just been approved, in addition to the 1200 on Sunday.
The US needs to put its foot down NOW.
I won’t be holding my breath for that.
The U.S. support everything the Israelis do because AIPAC has the political establishment over there by the wallet.
They couldn’t give a toss about the plantation that’s happening in Palestine, which is in fact a fully blown invasion, but in slow motion.
Well the most practical thing that the ordinary person can do is boycott the Israeli goods! The Israeli government may then understand how the world feels about their “settlements”!
Well said. Anybody interested in joining the boycott can do so by keeping an eye out for barcodes on products which start with the digits ’729′, the EAN/GS1 barcode assignment for Israel.
I haven’t knowingly allowed an Israeli good into the house for twenty years and don’t plan in changing that either.
The arrogance of the Israelies is something to behold.
O look Israel makein problems again.
I’m a strong supporter of Israel & the right of the country to exist but this announcement of more settlements makes me despair about the current Israeli govt. Settlement expansion needs to stop if there is to be a realistic 2 state solution. Ordinary Israelis & ordinary Palestinians deserve to right to peaceful futures in their own states & the Hawkish right in Israel & the Islamist extremists in Hamas/Hizbollah & their Iranian masters need to stop putting their political ambitions & power hunger ahead of their people.
Why does the country have a right to exist by taking land of other people aggressively with support of the US, then taking more and more. What right do they have?
They have every right to their nation. These settlements arent helpful but im glad you got the chance to shoehorn in a query on whether they should be. Im sure you’ll find great friends in the middle east. Well done.
You obviously know nothing about the history if this illegal nation, they went in and took over in the 50′s, they have murdered plenty of men women and children for their nation they are entitled to, and consistently persecute the Palestinians. But yeah they deserve it because world war 2 entitled them to it right!
Youre a rascal mr geraghty. Do some more reading first.
Michael, do you actually know anything about the middle-east or do you just talk rubbish from some Eirigi site. Arab states occupy 99.3 % of the area of the Middle East and all have Muslim majorities and governments. Israel, even with the West Bank included, occupies less than 1 % of the Middle East. But no matter how small, its existence cannot be tolerated by Islamists. Right now in the West Bank, Salam Fayad, the PM, is building the infrastructure of a state for the Palestinian people and there is relative calm there. It will take time but the basis for a future state that is now being created and will hopefully emerge in due course. Gaza on the other hand is in chaos. Hamas is, as their charter points out, not just opposed to Israel, but to all Jews globally. As things stand, negotiations and compromise with Hamas are impossible – you cannot negotiate with people that do not accept your right to life. Israel has one of the most powerful military machines in the world. Why would Hamas continue to antagonise it by firing rockets at its civilians unless they wanted a reaction?
Hamas deliberately and cynically engineer conflict as a way of diverting attention away from Syria and Iran. It fires missiles from within inhabited civilian areas specifically to force retaliation that will cause casualties. Those casualties are then held up to the world as examples of Israeli aggression, and those who want to find fault with Israel are given a cause to promote.
I’m sorry where do you pull the “accurate” nuggets of
Information from, http://youtu.be/yYwVj03l5dU facts!
Thanks for the youtube video. For a second there I thought educating myself by reading books from both perspectives would give me a balanced view. Luckily this video has cleared everything up. Rascal
Oh you’re against YouTube, I’m sorry I didn’t realise the using multiple sources for information was against your very very high standards of information. I’ll just go crack on my encarta 97 cd while I wait for you to get back on your high horse. You scoundrel!
Did hamas exist when the jews arrived ” with a bible in one hand and a rifle in the other” (love that quote, google it) where they drove out entire towns and villages and killed thousands?
Hamas is after the fact. They are the response, not the root cause as you well know.
Jewish and Arab people got on fine before the zionists arrived from America. They even babysat each others kids.
There. Glad we’re in agreement. Finally. Ive no problem in the world with youtube. Biased reporting I what dislike. probably naive to expect open minds on this subject either way… incidently im more of a bounder :)
You’re dead right, Hamas is a group caused by the Israeli occupation, this Nation and expansion is forced on other people. What if it was Ireland and the British did this… Oh wait…
If you have no problem with YouTube why did you dismiss it and say it was books needed to make decisions/opinions? Why? Because you realised you came across like an arrogant ass and decided to change your tune to the content of the video. I’d also like to know your unbiased source of information on the Israeli occupation.
No you oaf. I enjoy youtube for various reasons- mostly music.
If I want to research/ learn about something ill try a little harder. The content provider of your ‘facts’ was offering anything but balance. Fair and impartial is tough to find on youtube.
The change of tune was to avoid personalising the discussion. Ive changed that tune too now.
You have still not told me your balanced sources? Do you have any?
Tell you what. Have a read of martin gilberts israel for starters. Warts and all. Excellent book. Its a big read and may require you to step away from the blinkers. I doubt you, like many here, are prepared to open your mind beyond the green thumbing of anything that sounds vaguely anti israeli.
Theres a huge difference between various israeli governments – which lets be fair arent blameless – and your ordinary joe soap on the street in tel aviv etc.
Commenters are happy to tar every single citizen of this nation with broad cheap rhetoric, question their right to exist. Also they turn what must be a wilful blind eye to the behaviour and intentions of their neighbours governments and various militias.
Bring the red thumbs. I care less…
Well look at you, funnily enough i have read that book, thats actually called Israel: A history. Ive also watched numerous documentaries and my god even gone as far as to speak to Israeli soldiers about the issues and watched youtube. And i still have my well worked opinion that the state is illegal. Well done on reading one book to form an opinion. No-one questions Israels or Jews rights to exists, he’ll id almost say i wouldnt blame them for what they did to take Israel after visitng Auschwitz which would cause any culture to take action, but what they did to the palestinians was wrong, and its still wrong, and unfortunatly, you’re wrong!
Why are either of you taking a side? There is nothing good to be said for Israel or Palestine, one’s a Zionist babykilling band of landgrabbers, and the other crowd are an Islamic nation, I say build a wall around the whole area and leave them at.
Why is this terrorist country able to continue this.
The world needs to sit up and impose sanctions on Israel. If this was any other country the yanks would be all over this throwing thier weight around.
The sooner Iran get nukes the better so israel will lose one of its bullying cards.
My god that has to be one of the stupidest comments I seen in a longtime. Iran having a nuke is like giving kids hand grenades it aint going to end well.
Israel is the only country in the region where every citizen, including Arabs, both Christian & Musilm, minorities like Druze, & people of no religion & all sexualities can & do serve in the military, legal profession, education system & in the parliament). What is it about Israel that causes you to ignore these facts? Israel has a population of under 7 million where as the Islamic nations that surround it (and are loosely allied) have a combined population of over 300 million. Israel isn’t the bully here, It deserves our support. If Hamas & it’s backers ended attacks on Israel tomorrow, there would be peace, Can you imagine what would happen if Israel was to allow it’s defenses to rest for even a second? There will only be a peaceful solution when there is a 2 state solution, one Palestinian and one Israeli. Israel has accepted that, but Hamas & co haven’t. The UN is useless with regards to the Middle-East. Any motion however stupid against Israel will get the support from the Block Voting Islamic states.
Tomas, Israel isnt the bully? How many times have israel invaded other countries in the last 60 years and how many countries have Iran and Syria invaded in that time. Also, who have nukes?
Im interested to know will you actualy addressvthe above or go around it.
Thomas, giving minorities a little freedom does not excuse blatant violations of international law. Donating to charity doesn’t entitle me to build a shed in my neighbours back garden.
Time for some new material, TFM. Getting tired of Preface, Cut and Paste.
Your lack of original thought is distressing and lends itself to a propagandist agenda. ‘Tell the same lie long enough…’
It wont be long before the Palestinians are made wear symbols on their clothes to show Israel who they are!!!!They are already forced out of their homes and imprisoned without charge. It seem that they are getting their ideas from Europe from the 1930s and America supports them.
Come on Niall, seriously? Palestinian Arabs have increased in number from approx 800,000, to approx 7,000,000. Since 1948. That’s some holocaust that Israel is carrying out. Just a little historical fact that some people here should know. The creation of Israel came after the collapse of the Ottoman empire. Britain and France helped the Arabs create new countries in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The League of Nations gave Britain the task of creating a mandate territory in order to create two new states, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews now living legally in Palestine. The UN sanctioned a partition. In 1967, the UN also recognized that Israel had legally occupied the West Bank and Gaza (which had previously belonged to Jordan and Egypt respectively) in fighting a defensive war against several Arab countries. UN resolution 242 made it clear that Israel could remain but that it had to vacate SOME of the territories (but not all) when the Arabs made peace, something their leadership have steadfastly refused to do since 1948, whatever the price their people have to pay for that infantile refusal.
They dont need to wear anything. They are already boxed in like animals.
TFM cut and paste jobs once again. Yawn……
Israel is a classic case of the abused eventually becoming the abuser.
What a joke; “John Kerry has urged Palestinians “not to react adversely” to Israel’s announcement of new settlement building, stressing the need to return to the negotiating table.” Why doesn’t he urge the Israeli’s to stop breaking UN resolution 242, or the Geneva converntion article that states that you cannot move your population to areas aquired through war?
This is so when the Palestinians rightfully don’t want to agree to peace talks because of the settlements, the Israelis can say “see, they don’t want to talk.”
Whether there was expectation of building new houses or not, the occupation and development of said houses is illegal under international law.
I’m sure this will descend into the usual Israel & US bad/ Palestinian good simplistic nonsense that is popular with the barstool republican anti-everything crowd. The situation in the region is very complex & there can be no peace until the Islamic extremists accept that Israel is not going to be defeated militarily. Until that happens & these brave martyrs stop using their civilians as cover for pointless attacks on Israel then progress won’t be made. The Israeli govt needs to step up & tell settlers NO, Iran & Egypt need to start acting responsibly too.
+1
Aint going to happen.
“The situation in the region is very complex”
No, it isn’t. It’s quite simple actually. Jewish Fundamentalists believe that they have a divine claim to all of Palestine. In order for a 2-state solution to be achieved, the Israeli Government needs to stop acquiescing to the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel – allowing them to build illegal settlements.
Talks continuously break down because after talks are announced, settlement plans are announced. This shows that Israel have no intentions of engaging in meaningful dialogue.
This situation could be resolved in Israel halts settlements, agrees to revert back to the 67 lines. That is the only fair solution. Peace is prevented because the issue of settlements antagonises Palestinians, and allows the likes of Hamas to gain support.
Did you know Sean that under an Arab League policy, formulated in the late 1940′s, Palestinian Arabs living as refugees in any Arab state, cannot have a passport, citizenship, meaningful employment or in many cases, health care or education? They are the lepers of the Arab world and are treated appallingly by their ‘brother’ Arabs.
And that has what exactly to do with the issue of settlements, and a two state solution? Do you think I’m not aware of the failings of the neighbours of Palestine?
news flash !!! refugees cannot claim citizenship, passport or employment in the country the take refugee in. do you think Ireland gives the refugees in Mosney a Irish passport, citizenship and a full time job ?
News Flash Shane.
Since 1948 when the State of Israel was recognised by the UN, Palestinian Arabs have increased in number from approx 800,000, to approx 7,000,000. In 1948 following the Israeli War of Independence, approx. 700,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees. In the following years, approx. 900,000 Jews from Arab lands became refugees too, ‘encouraged’ to leave those countries. Do they have a right of return?
Today, there is not a single Jewish refugee from that time; there are however hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arab refugees, along with their families. Why? Why has not the Arab League absorbed it’s brother Arabs?
That’s wonderful – Any chance you might discuss the topic at hand? The issue of settlements as a precursor to talks.
Thomasfrancismeagher are you one of these people that Israel employ to monitor “anti-semitism”? And that gets into arguments to show everyone how good is Israel is?
2000 dollars is the going rate. Easy money for a copy and paste nixer.
Anytime Israel is defended on here the usual suspects respond with their “oh you’re Jewish” or “oh you must work for the Israelis” Well I’m not Israeli or Jewish. I am just fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel quite a lot in the Middle-East, including Gaza, The West Bank & Israel. I am bemused by the lies that are thrown around about ” Israeli apartheid” etc because anybody who has been to the region knows that this just isn’t true. It seems to be a glamourous thing to be anti-Israeli, a modern version of wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt. If these “friends of Palestine” really cared about the ordinary Palestinian people they wouldn’t be supporting Hamas/Hizbollah & their masters in Iran, These groups & their refusal to accept that Israel isn’t going to be defeated militarily are the real enemies of the ordinary Palestinian people. The IRA realised after 30 years that they weren’t going to “bomb the Brits out of Ireland” & sat down & negotiated. Supporting Hamas/Hizbollah & their supporters in Eirigi/32CSM is the equivalent of supporting the CIRA or RIRA. Most people in Ireland feel sympathy with those they see as oppressed, but it’s Hamas/Hizbollah are the ones doing the oppressing in Palestine, not the Israelis. As soon as the threat of attacks by militants no longer exisit, the restrictions imposed by Israel can be lifted.
You posted the exact same comment in July.
http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-born-samantha-power-says-un-has-anti-israel-bias-998022-Jul2013/
Ignore TFM. He can’t make a point himself so has to carpetbomb threads with propaganda thats been spoonfed to him from various zionist sources.
He considers this to be helping his cause.
What do you think causes the Palestinians to act in such an “extreme” fashion?
Always interesting to see ‘cognitive dissonance’ in action — the kneejerk responses of the Israel-hating ignoramuses on this site when confronted with the reasoned arguments and clear information provided so superbly here again and again (though why he bothers I don’t know) by Thomas Francis Meagher.
‘Ignore TFM’ says it all. The only answers the inhabitants of this incestuous world are capable of are (i) ignore the arguments and counter with schoolyard attempts at sarcasm, (ii) repeat the most outlandish lies about israel without any supporting evidence, (iii) suggest that the commenter couldn’t possibly hold such views but — and this is where it enters the murky world of anti-Semitic conspiracy theory — is being paid by ‘Tel Aviv’ to ‘cut and paste’ its ‘propaganda’. In case anyone thinks (iii) is new, the line of ‘Jewish gold’ being used to buy political support was being used by Irish anti-Semite nationalists like Arthur Griffith and John Devoy a century ago.
Did you just respond to TFM being ridiculed for copy+pasting propaganda by copy+pasting your own post?
It is absurd to suggest that housing construction is the biggest obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. surely the biggest obstacle is the Palestinians’ unrelenting hostility to any Jewish state, however, tiny.
No falling for it Sean. Try again.
It is bizarre that any article on this site that mentions ‘Israel’ attracts scores of negative comments within a few hours whereas articles on Syria – where 100,00 have died over the past two years – gets maybe ten comments!
It is bizarre that your twitter account consists solely of posts relating to the iasrael/palestine conflict, and to this site.
Hmmmm
The Jewish lobby in US politics controls all foreign policy.. Never mind the economy, the fed reserve, media etc. Obama is just their puppet. The last White House chief of staff, Raum Emmanual did military service in Israel. One tiny example. Very despairing for us all. Read about the Jewish lobby- very worthwhile.
they’ve been at it ever since Kennedy was shot.
This is naked anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of course — the kind that flourished in Europe in the dark days of the 1920s and 30s, when Jews were supposed to control both international Communism and international finance capitalism.
If AIPAC isn’t such a powerful lobby, why do prospective US presidential candidates have to wh0re themselves to them in front of the worlds media to prove their loyalty prior to every single election?
I hope you mean ‘pro-Israel lobby’ Alessio – though I have my doubts. I despair when any complaint about Israel is cast as anti-semetic, but remarks like yours show the justifiable roots of that complaint. You can’t really think that US foreign policy is controlled by ‘the Jews’? If you, like werejammin, had pointed to an actual group and said that their lobby was disproportionately powerful compared to the size of the group that they represent, I might respectfully disagree. On the other hand, what you wrote about ‘the Jews’ controlling the economy, the federal reserve, the media and US foreign policy is baseless and treads dangerously close to the zionist conspiracy rubbish put about by anti-Semites.
This issue is embarrassing for humans. Build a bridge get over it.
?????..is this a cryptic statement?
Nah I am too stupid to be cryptic.
re; Thomasfrancismeager posted the same comment in July
uh oh, it smells of Hasbara trolling to me.
Now that’s embarrassing Thomas!
Some people are a bit slow Kathleen & need FACTS repeated for them. Funnily enough none of these anti-Israel people can dispute the facts & instead have to resort to claiming that anybody opposed to their lies is some kind of spy. You lose your argument as soon as you start playing the man & not the ball.
Facts? LOL! The same 7-8 set-piece paragraphs spoonfed to you from the professional hasbara brigade repeated ad-infinitum in a transparently pathetic way that would have made Goebbels tell you its time to ease up on the propaganda??
Give me a break.
Always interesting to see ‘cognitive dissonance’ in action — the kneejerk responses of the Israel-hating ignoramuses on this site when confronted with the reasoned arguments and clear information provided so superbly here again and again (though why he bothers I don’t know) by Thomas Francis Meagher.
‘Ignore TFM’ says it all. The only answers the inhabitants of this incestuous world are capable of are (i) ignore the arguments and counter with schoolyard attempts at sarcasm, (ii) repeat the most outlandish lies about israel without any supporting evidence, (iii) suggest that the commenter couldn’t possibly hold such views but — and this is where it enters the murky world of anti-Semitic conspiracy theory — is being paid by ‘Tel Aviv’ to ‘cut and paste’ its ‘propaganda’. In case anyone thinks (iii) is new, the line of ‘Jewish gold’ being used to buy political support was being used by Irish anti-Semite nationalists like Arthur Griffith and Johnn Devoy a century ago.
This you mel?
“Mel McDermott lives in Dublin. He has been a teacher for most of his adult life as well as a student of history with a special interest in the Middle East. He is active in hasbara work and in the struggle to combat dishonest media coverage and delegitimisation of Israel in Ireland.”
Proving my point — see (i) above
Werejammin
Seems as if your sole role on this site is, rather than to offer anything meaningful or constructive, is to patrol and police it for any sign of an intrusion by someone offering an alternative to the usual welter of ignorance and hate. Now, ready with the red thumbs lads?
Here here Mel; the intellectual level of some on this site who condemn Israel is just pathetic.
Werejammin. Youre still playing the man. Youre some goon
This must remove any illusions that Israel wants peace. Another landgrab
So this article, in dealing with the 26 convicted murderers being released tomorrow (12 of whose 38 victims, incidentally, seem to have been Arab citizens of Israel) needs to put “quotation marks” around the word ‘murder’ and to add “Israel says” as if we’re not so sure. Here are a few details:
Isaac Rotenberg was 15 when his family was murdered at Sobibor death camp. He survived and went to Israel. He was 67 and working on a building site in Israel (inside the ’67 lines) when the Fatah operative Abu-Musa Salam Ali Atia “murdered” him with an axe in 1994 (“Israel says”). Atia will be freed tomorrow.
Moris Eisenstatt was 79 and sitting on a park bench in Kfar Saba reading a book when Ra’ai Ibrahim Salam Ali of Fatah “murdered” him with an axe in 1994 (“Israel says”). Ali will be freed tomorrow.
Israel Tenebaum was 72, a hotel security guard in Israel, when Salah Ibrahim Ahmad Mugdad “murdered” him with a steel rod in 1993 (“Israel says”). Mugdad will be freed tomorrow.
Simcha Levi was a 51-year-old woman who for a living drove Palestinian workers to their jobs in Jewish settlements in Gaza (you know, the ones containing 9,000 residents that Israel evacuated totally in 2005 in a vain gesture for peace) when three terrorists disguised as women workers stabbed her to death. Sha’at Azat Shaban Ata, who organised this “murder” (“Israel says”) , will be freed tomorrow.
There are 22 other “murderers” with 34 other victims in the batch to be released tomorrow.
“So this article, in dealing with the 26 convicted murderers…….”
Actually, this article deals with America asking the Palestinan side not to react negatively to Israels latest round of illegal actions under the Geneva convention and International law.
But nice try.
You need to read down to the second half of the article…
I did. Theres a couple of sentences dealing with the prisoner release, which you have jumped upon in the traditional hasbara brigade tactic of ‘look over there’.
Israeli propaganda 101: spin every negative story about Israeli illegality or crimes against humanity into a conversation about palestinians.
Mans inhumanity to his fellow man never ends and it is sad considering that both nations have experienced death and destruction at the hands of the other.
I do not agree with the new settlements in The West Bank, nor do I agree with shooting rockets into residential neighbourhoods and killing innocent civilians by Palestinians.
Neither is right, unfortunately, as is usually the case with a fight over land, neither side will ever be properly satisfied.
The level of hatred and propaganda on both sides fuels this conflict, along with the actions of both governments.
Have past events taught us nothing? I dont see the resolution of the conflict in Israel or Palestine happening any time in my lifetime but im not going to blame one side over the other. Both have blood on their hands, both are guilty of murder and intolerance.
have your say