Carr’s Comments Misplaced
AIJAC claims that comments made by the Australian Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr are “misplaced”.New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully has also spoken out against the new settlements.
Dr Colin Rubenstein
Dr Colin Rubenstein, the Australia/Israel&Jewish Council’s (AIJAC) executive director said today that:
“ Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s claim that construction in settlements constitutes a major obstacle to progress toward a two-state solution is misplaced.
Israeli policies in place since 2004 ,negotiated between President Bush’s administration and the
Foreign Minister Bob Carr
government of Prime Minister Sharon, have prevented all new settlement building or expansion of the municipal boundaries of existing settlements . Israel’s recent announcement is consistent with that policy, so any current or future growth in settlements will not take up any additional land nor reduce the viability of a future Palestinian state, as the foreign minister alleges.
Indeed, all the much discussed construction in settlements has taken place within the existing boundaries of existing settlements, which take up less than 2% of West Bank land.
By contrast, the recent UN vote and unilateral Palestinian initiative was both inconsistent with international law on statehood, and a violation of the Oslo accords.
But, as Prime Minister Gillard has noted, the primary means to pursue the government’s worthy goal of encouraging a two-state Middle East peace outcome must be to address the most important barrier to achieve that goal – to persuade the Palestinian leadership to engage in the unconditional, constructive negotiations which their Israeli counterparts are repeatedly requesting,” Dr. Rubenstein concluded.
Ariel Sharon dismantled settlements, and what did the Palestinians do? They used the area to launch rockets, and teach the children hate for Israel, and the kids grow up brainwashed to hate Israel. That is not the solution. Arabs live in Israel, and they are treated equally, and there are some Palestinians members of Parliament. All Arab countries have pushed Jews out of their countries, some of whom have lived there for many years, like my father, born in Iraq, and had to leave all his property behind,
and my mother too came from Iraq and had to leave all property behind. Jews were ill-treated, conscripted, few of them came back alive. If the Palestenians are sincere and want to live side by side, that would be the test to live side by side. But the ideology is Iran who has got its offshoot in Hisbalah and Hamas, and supplies them with rockets, and Iran and Hisbalah always voicing their threats openly, there will be no peace negotiations. They often portray the whole of of Israel as part of of Palestine. Peace negotiations have been tried before. They do not want peace. Just give me more land and we will make peace, give me more land and we will make peace, and give them the whole of Israel, and then they will make peace.
Unfortunately Abraham, even if they had the whole of Israel, there would never be peace, as we witness elsewhere in the Arab world, they would just fight each other. One sect of Islam against the other, unless like Saudi Arabia they are ruled by an authoritarian regime..
All of the new units approved and those planned for E1 fall inside the Clinton map. That is, all inside the 3 to 5% of the West Bank that Israel will keep in any 2 State Solution. E1 is the area between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem.
All of the new units approved and planned fall within the principle of no new settlements being built – they are all expansions of existing settlements. Note that Israel Law also does not allow even these units to be built on any private Palestinian Land if any would exist even within the planned settlements.
Israel is not moving away from peace negotiations at all – it is only expanding within the Clinton Map
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/clintonmap.html
December 2000 Clinton Parameters
http://www.cfr.org/israel/middle-east-peace-plans-background/p7736
The Clinton proposals do not represent a final agreement. In fact israel rejected parts if it incl the notion of a divided jerusalem. Clinton and Bush have always said that E1 was out of bounds and certainly Mrs Clinton is of the same view. Clinton never proposed or even contemplated continued building pending a final peace agreement, which would be an anathema anyway as all settlements are regarded as violations of int law, even by Detshovitz, one of Israel’s most strident supporters. Since the E1 proposals in mid 1990’s the world strongly opposed it in light of the damage it would do to a viable Pal state. Isr has known for a long time that this was a red line.
We are called Jews because we came from Judea.QWe will build where we want in our land.And Robert Carr will not tell us what to do.
Carr never misses an opportunity to cuddle up to his arab mates and spew anti-Israeli rhetoric. He fits in perfectly well with the rest of the Gillard ministry who stand for nothing but hot air and wastage.
“Settlements” – no such thing unless you call you want to define the outer suburbs of every Australian city as a “settlement”. I think not, every single Australian would call these developments an expansion of an existing city, no more, no less. All of Jerusalem is located in Israel and all of Jerusalem will remain in Israel so Bob Carr and your hateful cronies, go to hell.
The settlements occupy about two per cent of Palestine – true enough but not the complete truth. The settlements are linked by eclusive roads, have security zones around them, are linked with checkpoints, military posts and zones, agricultural settlements and the barrier cutting into the West Bank. So the bland fact conceals more truth than it reveals.
The terrorist attacks by Palestinians, encouraged by Fatah leader Abbas and by other Palestinian leaders, are the cause of the protected roads, military check-points, etc. So the Palestinians have only themselves to blame for the security measures, including the security fence itself. They have an easy way to eliminate them: make real peace with Israel and stop the racist hate-incitement and glorification of violence. By the way, the roads are only those linking the Jewish communities in the 1% plus of the West Bank with each other and the rest of Israel; together with these linking areas the Israeli areas take up only about 3% of the West Bank at most. Palestinian movement within the PA is not prevented. The protected roads are not “eclusive” (sic) but can be travelled by anyone coming from Israeli-linked locations including Israeli Arabs and tourists so the slurs are mere demonizing.
Colin, it is vital that you clarify what you are saying.
Firstly the new proposal for area E-1 are plans to build on new land where at the moment there is nothing but desert. Please explain then how you can say Israel is not expanding existing settlements.
Secondly I understand that the Oslo accords effectively expired a long time ago so how can you summon them as an argument at this time?
Carr does not like Jews, fullstop. As to Gillard, well she makes even Pontius Pilate look strong.
“””“misplaced”””” ?
Is that the best you could do Colin Rubenstein?
That’s truly pathetic.
How about calling a spade a spade?
new settlement agreed with Bush are prohibited so Israel is building new settlements!