A month or so ago our President came out with his Mideast Policy. In that document he explained how the U.S. would allow "natural expansion" of the settlements. It is one of those moments that anyone who actually followed the long history of Israel post six day war could only shake their heads at.
The decision was proof positive that the term "conventional wisdom" is an oxymoron. You could have created a better policy document by hiring a team of late-term Alzheimer's patients than what conventional Washington, via Barack Obama, came up with. At least there would be a good reason for the amnesia about how badly this work out the last time the U.S. tried it.
For those with short memories or short attention spans let this article from Al Jezeera lay it out for you: http://bit.ly/7aqDl6 . The number of settlements is exploding under the freeze. As stated before the "natural expansion" exception was a loop hole that fleets of moving vans would pass through.
As for the president, there are only two possibilities for his letting the "natural expansion" exception see the light of day, both of them start with "C." Obama was either clueless or cynical when he made his pronouncement. Either way the end results are ruining our store of good will in the Mid East. Either way this was a pass for the bad behavior of Bibi and his partner in slime Avigdor Lieberman. They have taken this gift from official Washington and ran with it. Without a major reversal we can say goodbye to the two state solution. (http://bit.ly/7jqsyb)
Unlike Mr. Mehdi Hasan's supposition the one state solution will not be Israelis and Palestinians living in a secular state and singing kumbaya. It will be ethnically cleansed Israel that owns the West Bank with a rump Palestinian failed state / open air prison in Gaza. This bit of news puts us one step closer to the second Nakbah.
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