Palestinian Authority insults the US – and no one says a word

Eldad Zioni
www.newsrealblog.com
23 February '11

Last March Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel to work on getting indirect peace talks underway.

While he was there, a Jerusalem planning committee announced the approval of an additional 1600 housing units in an existing Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem. The neighborhood, Ramat Shlomo, would never be handed over to the Palestinian Arab state in any conceivable peace plan, and the Jerusalem municipality approves or rejects housing plans all the time. Beyond that, the PA had already admitted that Ramat Shlomo would remain part of Israel.

Still, there was a firestorm of protest over this coincidental timing, as if the Knesset and Israel’s Prime Minister personally approve every housing project in Jerusalem. Secretary of State Clinton called the move “insulting” and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu had to express regrets over the incident.

The supposed “insult” was nothing of the sort, but the US publicly dressed down its closest ally in the Middle East because of the actions of a low-level city clerk.

Now let’s fast forward.

On Friday, the US vetoed a UN resolution calling Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria “illegal.” This occurred after a long phone call from President Obama to PA president Mahmoud Abbas begging him to drop the resolution. Abbas ignored the President’s pleas.

After the vote and the veto, UN representative Susan Rice gave an unprecedented speech clarifying the US position, and groveling towards the Arab world by insisting how distasteful the Obama administration considers Jews living in their historic heartland.

The response from the Palestinian leadership was published, in Arabic, on the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. It says, in part:

(Read full "Palestinian Authority insults the US – and no one says a word")

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