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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/57472/full/57472/u.s.-rebuke-of-israel-fans-flames-hurts-peace/ <br /><br /> <b>U.S. rebuke of Israel fans flames, hurts peace</b> <br /> Thursday, March 18, 2010 | by <br /><br /><p>No matter how hard the White House tries to ratchet down its latest diplomatic debauchery with Israel, there is no mistaking the damage done by the Obama administration.</p> <p>It’s true that Israel made a dumb mistake by announcing plans to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem while Vice President Joe Biden visited the country last week.</p> <p>Not only was Israel rightly upbraided for the timing of the announcement, it offered an immediate apology. The vice president seemed to accept that apology, as indicated by his departing speech in Tel Aviv. But hours after he left, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pounced on America’s strongest Mideast ally.</p> <p>She called Israel’s announcement of the building plan an “insult” and said the Jewish state can redeem itself only with a substantive gesture to the Palestinians, a renunciation of the housing starts, and an agreement to include Jerusalem and refugees in peace talks.</p> <p>Why did such a rebuke come from Clinton, who is a longtime friend of the Jewish community? Pundits say it’s because President Barack Obama is calling the shots. Although the Jewish vote helped propel him to the presidency, his latest way of saying thank you has offended mainstream Jewish voters.</p> <p>The Palestinians have been using Obama’s attacks on Israel to their advantage. First, Obama wanted Israel to agree to a housing freeze in the West Bank. Under tremendous pressure, Israel eventually agreed to a one-year freeze, which Obama reluctantly accepted.</p> <p>But by then, the Palestinians refused to sit down with Israel at the same negotiating table unless there was a permanent building freeze.</p> <p>After Obama upped the stakes on east Jerusalem this week, so did the Palestinians. They recently had agreed to indirect talks with Israel — until the incident with Biden. Now they have canceled those talks unless Israel stops all construction in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital.</p> <p>What kind of reproach are the Palestinians facing from Obama? We haven’t heard of any. Obama has effectively given them one excuse after another to avoid peace talks, and doesn’t rebuke them when they do so.</p> <p>We hope Clinton undoes some of the damage when she speaks at the AIPAC Policy Conference on Monday, March 20. But it will take more than a speech for the Obama administration to erase its latest misdeeds in the Middle East.</p>

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