Bibi Tells Obama “Officially”: No Jerusalem Housing Freeze

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
22 April '10

According to the AP, Bibi has told Obama — “officially” — to forget his Jerusalem housing freeze:

Aides to Israel’s prime minister said Thursday that he has officially rejected President Barack Obama’s demand to suspend all construction in contested east Jerusalem, a move that threatens to entrench a year-old deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

The aides said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his government’s position to Obama over the weekend, ahead of the scheduled arrival later Thursday of the U.S. president’s special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell.

This report suggests that Bibi may have offered some other “confidence building gestures.” (”The release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails; the easing of the flow of goods into the Gaza strip, and the removal of more roadblocks in the West Bank.”) And of course the Palestinians are threatening to walk from the proximity talks, having been served up a ready-made excuse by the Obami.

The players all continue the useless charade. The Palestinians claim outrage. Israel will be pressured to cough up more concessions. And for what? To lure the Palestinians back to “proximity” talks — where precisely nothing productive will be accomplished.

(Read full post)

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