B"H Building Jewish housing is not equivalent of Arab incitement to kill Jews.

The facts he is blind to is the FACT that the UN is corrupt, totally dominated by Oil Sheiks money. It should have been disbanded long ago. Most Americans have no use for the UN. If the UN resolutions were purchased then they are not valid. No one respects the resolutions anyway. Number 29, your post is invalid.

John R. should read article 49 of Geneva Convention...then he will explain us when Israel forcibly transferred part of its population in occupied Jordanian territory ? Never. Then he will explain us by which magic those occupied Jordanian territories became occupied Palestinian territories....The 9 UNSC resolutions were not accepted as they were vetoed. forget about them ! How much is USA spending in half the Middle East, in Iraq ? 3 billions only ? Much more. So paying Israel 3 billions to take care of the other half is a very good deal...and no american military risks his life...finally it is a very good incentive for american economy as the 3 billions are earmarked to be spent with US companies :-)))

And what do you think prompted hillary to reward the palis with 150 millions in aid, just about a week ago ? Was it a bribe or rewrd to palis for the potential good behavior ?The freeze of settlements has no effect on the whole situation. You are bothered by Israel, building peaceful homes, verses palis hostility and inability to recognize the right of Israel to exist for over 60 years. When will the Kurtzer's of the world understand, that all that the palis want is Israel. They want to destroy Israel, plain and simple..They don't say it out loud during talks, but their textbooks and history of inhuman terror acts call for it, their charter calls for it, they religion calls for it & their actions clearly point to it..And America is still on the wrong side, trying to appease the chamas,fattah&hisbollah by putting Israel on the altar...IT won't save any of us,Mr.kutrtzer....The settlemets were never the real issue, because if you take the time to find Israel on the map, you would get the picture.. So if you are afraid of the heat, get out of the kitchen...

The section of article 49 you refer to covers "protected persons" who are the Palestinians per the 2004 ruling by the ICJ. Since Israel is not forcing Palestinians into Israel proper, that section of article 49 does not apply. (read the 2004 ruling) What does apply is the last line which reads" The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." That Israel has spent over $16 billion dollars to appropriate land ,build a security fence, build and subsidize housing, schools ,post offices and government administration buildings and given Knesset representation(all to subsidize the settler movement) is obviously a government transfer. There are a host of rulings by Israel's high court which says it(Israel) is an occupying force. There are over 60 UNSC resolutions condemning Israel which passed. The 9 I am refering to are among them. The Iraq war started as a result of 9/11. According to the 9/11 Report, the 9/11 mastermind committed the act as a result of his violent disagreement with US foreign policy favoring Israel. About 25% of the $3 billion goes directly to the Israeli arms manufacturers who are competing w/US companies.Nothing you say makes any sense.

Since 1983 ,every year the UN General assembly votes on a resolution entitled"Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine" . That resolution requires Israel to comply with international law, the UN Charter and existing agreements. IT was first passed by a vote of 122 for to 2 against in 1983. The 2 against were the US and Israel. Now there are more countries in the UN (virtually every country in the world) so the vote last year was 164 for to 7 against. Every one of our closest allies(Britain, France, Germany and Japan) all vote for it. For the over 60 UN Security Council resolutions that were approved condemning Israel under article 25 of the UN Charter, Israel is required to abide by them. Instead they ignore them. Under the 2004 ICJ ruling which stated Israeli settlements were illegal, Israel was required to accept that ruling as settled law under article 94 of the Charter. Instead they ignore it. Because Israel has no constitution they ignore the rulings of their own high court of justice.Oil sheikdoms don't control the UN. The collective economic power of the western powers dwarfs the wealth of the sheikdoms and none of them (sheiks)have veto power in the Security Council. This is a question of abiding by the law or ignoring it. North Korea ignores it. Iran ignores it. Somalia ignores it. Israel is in bad company.

We have a dispute over lands. If the Palestinians want to resolve it, they know where to find us. If they want to take a piece now to take the rest later or play stupid games such as claiming our capital as theirs then let us at least get on with our lives. I'm sorry it is an affront to Islam that Israel still exists, that they have not managed to remove Jewish sovereignty from every Jewish holy site and turn it into a mosque. This was our land a thousand years before Muhamed was born and even so we are willing to give up large parts of it for peace. But don't tell us to put our lives on hold until the Palestinians learn to love their children more than they hate us. We have learned all too well that such Palestinians if they exist are not willing or able to stand up to their brothers.

Egypt.

Amusingly, the “U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005” and “visiting professor of Middle East policy studies at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs” denies any Palestinian existence in this matter, if it were only for – encouraged by persistent, generous and spontaneous terrorism dividends and dividends to their anti-Jewish ‘raison d’être’, not at least from Europe – thus for their unilaterally staying away from the historic opportunity for advancing peace, generated by Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the U.S.. Somehow it sounds as if he has been NGO’ed up by NYT T. Friedman. Intrapolated ‘ad absurdum’, the writer is proclaiming that in ‘fact’ Israel’s PM Netanyahu is the biggest threat to the international community and peace in the world. It is very amusing indeed, but not yet clear from which pattern of non-pecuniary corruption Mr. Kurtzer suffers. Finally, two points. (i.) The least one would expect from someone of this calibre is one persuasive argument to have the Palestinians back at the negotiation table by tomorrow, November 21, 2010. In fact, that looks a little bit fraught, isn’t it. (ii.) It looks quite naughty, someone of this calibre treating one of the most impressive new advanced democratic economies after WWII as a Pavlov dog to be treated with primitive behavioural positive and negative stimuli. And he is reading this on an academic level at an American university? Thank God, I am too stupid for that. Oh, sorry, a violation of religious freedom.

Before 1948 Israel had the right to build everywhere in the WB based on UN Charter confirning legal internationally binding decisions made by the League of Nations. Also the US confirmed those rights in 1924. What changed the situation was Arab attack to destroy Israel in 1967 and Jordan then conquered and illegally occupied the WB. The UN did nothing because they are Arabs. in 1967 Israel liberated the WB from Jordan and peace agreement with Jordan has been made in according to UN Res. 242. The border is the river Jordan. Israel has tried to make a peace ever since then but no Arab has been found who would agree to make an agreement based on UN Charter. 242 requires negotiations to determine secure borders and the UN especially rejected in voting Arab proposal of 1967 borders to be mentioned there. Thus to start with Israel is not occupying anything. In the WB Israel is building in the Jewish homeland confirmed by the UN and nobody has ever cancelled that.. Besides, US presidents who try to prevent Israel building in the WB are breaking also American laws. In the UN Obama has even stated: :the US does NOT ACCEPT THE LEGITIMACY OF SETTLEMENTS". And Obama's opinion of accepting or not accepting something is not international law.

This deal makes no sense no matter how you dice and slice it unless AIPAC is already running the white house not only congress. Save your energy folks its not going to happan.

The freeze idea is a complete waste of time. If the Palestinians want to end settlement expansion, they must negotiate with Israel and sign a peace treaty that will end the conflict and define fixed borders of a state. The borders of the state will end all settlement expansion forever. Israel is willing to negotiate; Abbas is using the freeze to prevent negotiations - no more, no less. End the whole discussion of the freeze and fast-track negotiations, or quit whining.

Kurtzer needs publicity, even a bad one to put him back at the radar's range. Why use your Judaism to make a point then?

and sure Obama promises to Netanyahu are non-binding too, and will not oblige us.

Very instructive article. There is indeed a group of Middle-East "specialists" close to the Democratic party which are preaching towards an anti-Israeli strategic change. Many of them are preaching to the Jewish community using their "creditability" as Jews Their advise to the new administration to bribe the Palestinians by asking Israel to freeze the building as pre-condition to negotiations prooved to be the worse possible advice

Article 6 of the League of Nations Mandate gives Jewish right of close settlement for one purpose only, to create a Jewish State. Once Israel accepted UN Resolution 181(which is referenced in the Israeli Declaration of Independence as legalizing statehood) then all their Mandate rights ended. Read article 78 of the UN Charter. What you are referring to is article 80 of the UN Charter which is conditional only if Israel is a party to the Mandate. Once they achieved statehood they ceased to be a party to the Mandate. Resolution 242 gives Israel the right to negotiate borders not to build settlements in occupied territory in violation of article 49 of the Geneva Convention. It is not simply the US that says Israel is breaking international law, it is every country in the entire world. Not a single country recognizes the legality of settlements or the annexation of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Obama has a different opinion than you. He rergards settlements legal and he should have the best lawyers available. In spite of it, he humbles himself in front of GA of the UN by declaring them legal. 181 is void because both parties did not accept it. Israels indepence is dependent upon Mandate rules. The independent countries can be formed when the population is ready to run a country. In 1948 Israel showed very clearly that they were ready for it. Because 181 is void it can not determine Israel's borders. 242 determines OBLICATION for parties to determine the borders because, as the writers of resolution said. they could not determine secure borders. In the same year Pentagon made a proposal of borders which included the majority of the WB. Mandate is finished but finishing it did not change or finish the decisions of the League of Nations, they remained in force.

There are 162 nations in the world that recognize the State of Israel based on its acceptance of UN Res 181. Israel itself does not question its legality. If it was void as you say why does Israel reference it in their own Declaration of Independence as giving legitimacy to its statehood. Obama doesn't have a different opinion than me. US policy since 1967 has been that the settlements are illegal. In 1967 Theodor Meron, Israel's legal counsel to their Foreign Ministry, was asked by Levi Eshkol the then PM if the settlements were legal . Meron said what the whole world is saying, they violate the Geneva Convention and are illegal. You don't know the law and your response is nonsense.

were illegal? Never mind that the majority of "judges" were from muslim and arab nations.

The 2004 ruling said both the settlements and the route of the security fence were illegal. Try reading the ruling. In addition the majority of the judges were not arab or Muslim and per article 94 of the UN Charter ,Israel is required to respect their ruling. Stop inventing facts.

"then he will explain us when Israel forcibly transferred part of its population in occupied Jordanian territory ?" The prohibition on FORCIBLE transfer refers only to the transfer of "protected persons (= Palestinians) OUT of occupied territory. The sentence that deals with the transfer of "citizens of the occupying power" (= Israelis) INTO occupied territory deliberately omits the word "forcible" i.e. the colonization of occupied territory is UNCONDITIONALLY prohibited by Art 49.

That's one of your problem's. Nothing is binding, your people and no obligations either?. So it's no surprise, that the IDF forced to show you the way. You asked for it.

I recommend Robert Fisk's article in the Independent on 19th November 2010