A number of points about the recent dust-up over Vice-President Biden's visit to Israel, and the "humiliation" visited upon him by the announcement of the issuance of building permits in East Jerusalem. But first, a little background. There are two different definitions of East Jerusalem. To Westerners, East Jerusalem generally means Arab East Jerusalem. To Arabs, however, specifically to Palestinian Arabs, East Jerusalem entails an entirely different meaning. Though it would include Arab East Jerusalem, it also encompasses that part of Jerusalem which is east of the "green line"-in other words, any part of the area taken by Israel in the 1967 war.
So, with this in mind, which part of East Jerusalem do you think the recent announcement during the Biden visit was concerned with? Arab East Jerusalem, or the entirety of East Jerusalem that is east of the "green line"?
The answer-neither. That's right, neither nor. Ramat Shlomo, the neighborhood-the JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD, incidentally-that is slated or at least was the subject for the announced future housing units, is-in NORTH JERUSALEM. A JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD at its core. It is not now, nor has it ever been, a part of East Jerusalem, nor is it a part of the territories taken by Israel in the 1967 war, nor, finally, is it an Arab neighborhood, but a Jewish neighborhood.
So what is all this about? I don't know, but I suspect its an attempt to destabilize the current Israeli government with the goal of bringing down the coalition headed by Netanyahu, the current conservative Prime Minister. It may also have to do with appeasing the Arab, and especially, the Palestinian Arab populations, who, far from being appeased, have started protests and even riots in Jerusalem in response to the controversy.
Here's the main problem, as I see it. The American left, including the majority of politicians, bureaucrats, and office-holders of the Democratic Party, see the Israelis as responsible for the lion's share of the problems in the Middle East. Not just in their own neck of the woods, if the truth were known, but probably for the entire region. It doesn't hurt that possibly a majority (certainly a large and vocal segment) of the rank-and-file Democratic voters in the US sees Israel as the major problem and obstacle to Mid-East peace.
However, here is another important point to remember. The earlier promise by the Israelis to refrain from building any further settlements, did not apply to Jerusalem, at least not to those sections of Jerusalem that are Jewish neighborhoods, which is exactly where Ramat Schlomo is located-again, it can't be stressed too much, in North, nor East, Jerusalem. Their agreement to refrain from building future settlements simply applied to territories taken in the previous wars-Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan.
So what does this all mean? It means that Obama, Biden, Clinton, and everyone else pursuing this reckless disregard for the facts, and for regional stability, and for the sake of our decades long alliance with the Israeli government and people-are frankly full of shit. They are playing geopolitics with an aim of establishing a position of solidarity with a group of people (in this case Fatah, but also, looking at the long-term, Hamas and Hezbollah) with a history of terror, murder, and corruption. If they can cause the current Israeli government to fall and hopefully be replaced by a more liberal government, one more to their liking, so much the better.
Very much more of this and the whole thing could unravel. Bear in mind, the Palestinians are not being unduly pressured by the Obama Administration to make concessions, only obliquely encouraged to come to the table and to not conduct terror or otherwise assault the Israeli citizens. The Israelis get the smackdown-the Palestinians are presented with "pretty please". And they are responding to this, again, by staging riots.
And the whole thing, the entire scenario as presented by the American media and by the Obama Administration-is a lie, a complete fabrication.
It's beyond disgusting.
