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'Where to begin?' Friedman

Friedman: US trying to bribe Netanyahu

NYT columnist says by not renewing settlement freeze PM 'makes Israel look like it wants land more than peace'

Senior New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman claims the Obama Administration is "basically trying to bribe" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to renew the settlement construction moratorium.

 

In an editorial published Saturday, Friedman writes, "Netanyahu toys with President Obama, makes Israel look like it wants land more than peace and risks never forging a West Bank deal — thereby permanently absorbing its 2.5 million Palestinians and eventually no longer having a Jewish majority."

 

Referring to the Israeli premier, the influential columnist says, "Reading the headlines these days, I can’t help but repeat this truism: If you jump off the top of an 80-story building, for 79 floors you can think you’re flying. It’s the sudden stop at the end that tells you you’re not. It’s striking to me how many leaders and nations are behaving today as though they think they can fly — and ignoring that sudden stop at the end that’s sure to come.

 

"Where to begin? Well, first there’s Israel’s prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, who has been telling everyone how committed he is to peace with the Palestinians while refusing to halt settlement building as a prerequisite for negotiations," Friedman writes. 

 

"At a time when Israel already has 300,000 settlers in the West Bank, Bibi says he can’t possibly take another pause in building to test whether the Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas — a man Israelis say is the best Palestinian security partner Israel has ever had — can forge a safe two-state deal for Israel."  

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.14.10, 13:48
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