Biden calls for more Israelie ass kissing


Visiting vice-president seeks to keep peace process on rails after Israel says it will expand East Jerusalem settlement

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, has said the Palestinians deserve a "viable" independent state with contiguous territory, hoping to reassure them of America's support after Israel announced plans to expand a Jewish neighbourhood on occupied Palestinian land in East Jerusalem.

After a day of meetings with Palestinian leaders, Biden repeated his strong condemnation of the plan and said the US was committed to brokering a final peace deal in the Middle East – something that has eluded successive American presidents.

"The United States pledges to play an active as well as a sustainable role in these talks," Biden said. He stressed the Palestinians needed an independent state that is "viable and contiguous", meaning the territory should not be broken up by Israeli settlements and sending a signal that the US expects Israel to withdrawal from the West Bank as part of a deal.

Standing alongside the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Biden urged both sides to not to act in a way "that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks".

"It's incumbent on both parties to build an atmosphere of support for negotiations and not to complicate them," he said.

Abbas said Israel's continued expansion of settlements, especially in Jerusalem, threatened the negotiations before they got off the ground.

"We call on Israel to cancel these decisions," Abbas said. "I call on the Israeli government not to lose a chance to make peace. I call on them to halt settlement building and to stop imposing facts on the ground, and to give the efforts of the Obama administration and Senator Mitchell the chance to succeed."


Earlier an Israeli cabinet minister apologised for the timing of the settlement announcement but not for its substance. "This should not have happened during a visit by the US vice-president," the welfare minister, Isaac Herzog, told Army Radio. "This is a real embarrassment and now we have to express our apologies for this serious blunder."


Aides to the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu said he had been blindsided by the project's announcement by the interior ministry, run by Shas, an ultra-orthodox nationalist party that is a key member of his governing coalition.


The approval of the plan cast a cloud over Biden's visit, just hours after he pledged strong support for the Israeli government.


It was announced a day after the Israeli defence ministry confirmed 112 apartments would be built in Beitar Illit, a settlement on the occupied West Bank.


Ramat Shlomo, built 15 years ago, is on land captured in the West Bank in 1967 and annexed to Israel in a move not recognised by the international community.


Israel's interior minister, Eli Yishai, who heads the Shas, said the timing was coincidental. "There was certainly no intention to provoke anyone and certainly not to come along and hurt the vice-president of the United States," Yishai told Israel's Channel One television.


"Final approval [for the project] will take another few months. I agree that the timing [of the announcement] should have been in another two or three weeks."

Best you get a map out or visit Israel.

The West Bank is not Gaza.

Palestinians Selling Land in the West Bank
http://www.meforum.org/370/can-arabs-buy-land-in-israel

Can you discuss truth without profanity?

Think Pindz was saying that the $2Billion/yr backed Israeli Military is more than the "Underdog" in this situation, and that those who are trying to support the real defenders of truth and justice, dont need the posts tied up with spelling lessons from a Brit

No profane.speech, no lies....just the fact that reality is more impending seeing as we are being "Occupied" everywhere if you haven't noticed.......

I am a DJ and we know what a douchebag Biden is, as well as the perv Patrick Leahy..........they both were responsible for putting DJ's outta work, by banning the Rave parties across the US.........Who writes a federal bill to ban a certain type of music?.....a fucking asshole.......

Then the same type of politician Leahy, writes a bill to control the internet, PIPA/SOPA, and now Biden strolls into Israel and refuses to address a single implicating fact against Israel, but its go go go go go to Iran right?? ........

There must be some form of totalitarian control fix that these guys get from doing this sadistic shit to people........tables will turn no matter what they say.......J Dub