Friday, February 03, 2017

TRUMP WARNS ISRAEL: STOP ANNOUNCING NEW SETTLEMENTS

The White House warned Israel on Thursday to cease settlement announcements that are “unilateral” and “undermining” of President Donald Trump’s effort to forge Middle East peace, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post. 
For the first time, the administration confirmed that Trump is committed to a comprehensive two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict negotiated between the parties. 
The official told the Post that the White House was not consulted on Israel’s unprecedented announcement of 5,500 new settlement housing units over the course of his first two weeks in office. 
“As President Trump has made clear, he is very interested in reaching a deal that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is currently exploring the best means of making progress toward that goal,” the official said. 
"With that in mind, we urge all parties to refrain from taking unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress, including settlement announcements,” the official added. 
“The administration needs to have the chance to fully consult with all parties on the way forward.” Trump plans to bring up the peace process in his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House scheduled for February 15. 
Trump looks forward to those discussions, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in response to this report. 
"The American desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained unchanged for 50 years," Spicer said. 
"While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal."

5 comments:

Pete Rowe said...

That is disappointing. Israel should build where Israel believes it to be in her interest to build.

Redneck Texan said...

So ..... where did we leave off? New President same message to Israel.

Assuming the post is truth ... as I rarely believe anything in the MSN these days, Trump has, like every President since Nixon, told Israel to stop building shit in the West Bank.

Israel will of course keep doing it. They view it like we did manifest destiny in the 1800s.

Which I have no problem with them doing it. I would do if I were them. They need to expand, but cant let the current occupants vote until there's enough of an indigenous exodus to assure a Jewish majority electorate. They're playing the long game and will probably annex in segments.

.... But when your ONLY Patron publicly tells you to stop doing something and you keep doing it ..... You're essentially biting the hand that guarantees your survival.



I admire Israel having the balls to ignore our requests, just dont want to hear them, or any Israel supporter here, whine when their disobedience has negative consequences for them as far as our unwavering support at the UN goes.

Anonymous said...

I think the key word here is "announcing". Trump has repeatedly stated that it is counter productive to telegraph your intentions to your enemy. Maybe he's telling Bibi, go ahead and build what u want just stop telling everyone you're doing it.

Pastorius said...

IMO,
Israel is an ally. We are their only real ally.

This kind of business should not be taken care of in public. It should be absolutely private.

Epaminondas said...

Trump just said, stop talking about it

I never understood why they go out of their way to make an announcement.

"Hey world, FUCK YOU"?

The actual text of the admin is that this 'may not be helpful' . Pretty vanilla

But Israel should just do what they think they can and should and work it out with the ARabs