In a slap at Washington, Israel announces 900 settlements in East Jerusalem - 18-Nov-2009 - Generational Dynamics

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Nov-2009

In a slap at Washington, Israel announces 900 settlements in East Jerusalem

The Obama administration sharply rebuked the Israeli decision to tear down Palestinian homes in a disputed East Jerusalem region of the West Bank and build 900 settlements.

This follows by two weeks the announcement by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that he'll step down, as the Mideast situation continues to deteriorate.

According to a report sympathetic to the Palestinians,

"Israeli bulldozers demolished a four-story house in Jerusalem as reports in the Israeli media announced the approval of construction of 900 new settlement homes in the Israeli Gilo settlement on Tuesday.

Neighbors of Nasry Nassar Al-Husseini said his home, a four-story, multi-family structure in a neighborhood south of the Old City of Jerusalem, was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers as the family looked on. The structure was home to 30 Palestinians.

The demolition is part of what Palestinians call an ongoing campaign of Judaizing Jerusalem, including the eviction of Palestinians from their homes, the destruction of Palestinian homes and the continued construction of settlements.

According to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, the plan involves the construction of 900 four- and five-bedroom housing units, "in an effort to lure relatively well-off residents.""

A report sympathetic to the Israelis blames the growing rift between Israel and the US on President Obama:

"There is no place outside the US (where, in view of the likelihood of Senate approval of health reform, the situation is a bit different) where people are not disappointed in President Barack Obama. This is not an entirely justified disappointment: Anyone with eyes, particularly here in the Middle East, should have known that his commitments and style could not produce the results he promised. True, the man has vision, charisma and natural leadership qualities, but the trees he has climbed are too high."

This corresponds to an article I posted in September, "After a week of foreign policy disasters, President Obama's entire program is adrift."

(An article in Der Spiegel on Tuesday begins, "US President Barack Obama came to office promising hope and change. But on climate change, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Now, should the climate summit in Copenhagen fail, the blame will lie squarely with Obama. ... Obama Lied to the Europeans. Barack Obama cast himself as a "citizen of the world" when he delivered his well-received campaign speech in Berlin in the summer of 2008. But the US president has now betrayed this claim. In his Berlin speech, he was dishonest with Europe." Readers may wish to look back at how I described that speech in July, 2008, in "Barack Obama in Berlin calls for greater European militarism.")

Ever since I first posted "Mideast Roadmap - Will it bring peace?" in May 2003, I've been following the turns in the Mideast, especially the continuing deterioration that followed the death of Yasser Arafat in November, 2004. This includes three wars that have occurred since Arafat's death: Israelis vs Hizbollah in Lebanon in 2006, Palestinian Fatah vs Hamas in Gaza in 2008, and Israelis vs Hamas in Gaza in 2009.

I can't prove this, but it now appears to me that there is a change in attitude going on in the Mideast. I began to touch on this a couple of days ago in "Lebanon agrees on a unity government with Hizbollah."

During the Bush administration, it seems to me, the Israelis felt that they were being fully supported, while the Palestinians felt resigned to wait for something to change. But Obama's campaign and presidency raised hugely unrealistic expectations on both sides, and now both sides are becoming aware how unrealistic they are. This is going to shift power away from moderates into the hands of Hamas and the radicals.

I've been very critical of Obama's extravagant and unrealistic promises, and of the mistakes he's made because of his youth and inexperience. But this is a good time to say again that, from the point of view of Generational Dynamics, what politicians do makes no predictable difference on the course of events.

The Mideast is headed for a major war between Israelis and Palestinians, refighting the genocidal war that began in 1948 with the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel, and there is nothing that President Obama or any other politician can do to cause this or prevent it.

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Middle East thread of the Generational Dynamics forum.) (18-Nov-2009) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Nov-2009 In a slap at Washington, Israel announces 900 settlements in East Jerusalem

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Nov-2009
In a slap at Washington, Israel announces 900 settlements in East Jerusalem