News

Seemingly already damaged beyond repair, the prospect for peace talks
talk another hit today when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
declared portions of the occupied West Bank “eternally” part of Israel.

Attending a tree-planting ceremony in one of the settlements,
Netanyahu proclaimed that “we are planting here, we will stay here, we
will build here, this place will be an inseparable part of the state of
Israel for eternity.” He added that the settlements were part of
“sovereign Jerusalem.”

The settlements are built on land occupied by the Israeli military
in 1967 and are not recognized as part of the nation. They lie near
East Jerusalem, which was also occupied and is not generally recognized
as part of Israel either, though Netanyahu insists that this too will
remain part of the Israeli state.

The Palestinian Authority slammed the comments, saying they further
undermined efforts by visiting US envoy George Mitchell to resume peace
talks. Those talks already took a major hit last week when Prime
Minister Netanyahu demanded that any hypothetical future Palestinian
state allow an eternal Israeli military occupation and grant Israel
practical control over its border with Jordan.

Though President Obama has seemingly given up on the peace process,
declaring last week that it “is just really hard,” Mitchell insisted
that the... >>>