Netanyahu stakes a claim to Jordan Valley

Jerusalem Mayor Delays Plan to Raze Palestinian Homes | Middle East | English

This story is already a few days old - but as welcome as was the decision to delay razing Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, I'm very concerned with Netanyahu's decision that Israel will not relinquish its illegal settlements in the Jordan Valley. He cites strategic necessity. That's crap. What he's doing is rendering an already unlikely Palestinian state in the West Bank more or less impossible. It would be entirely surrounded, and with no control over its borders.

So, the humiliation continues. That Netanyahu can speak of a serious Israeli interest in achieving peace through negotiations, even as he summarily makes such decisions the pre-determine the shape of any future Palestinian state, beggars belief. That the US and most of its allies let him get away with it tells us that Obama's celebrated outreach to Muslims wordlwide was made with alligator arms.