Can you look at this map and say Israel does not systemically appropriate land?

Not the Same Old, Same Old
April 15, 2014
Thomas L. Friedman
[...] The truth is Kerry's mission is less an act of strategy and more an act of deep friendship. It is America trying to save Israel from trends that will inevitably undermine it as a Jewish and democratic state.

But Kerry is the last of an old guard. Those in the Obama administration who think he is on a suicide mission reflect the new U.S. attitude toward the region. And those in Israel who denounce him as a nuisance reflect the new Israel.
Kerry, in my view, is doing the Lord's work. But the weight of time and all the changes it has wrought on the ground may just be too heavy for such an act of friendship.

If he folds his tent, though, Israelis and Palestinians will deeply regret it, and soon.

Kerry harshly criticized Israel for plans to build 14 thousand new housing units in the settlements advanced during the past nine months of negotiations.

Kerry also said that at some point he might unveil his own peace proposal, and tell both sides to either “take it or leave it.”

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in response to the tape that Kerry was simply expressing his position, which is shared by many others, and that the two-state solution is the only way Israel could remain a Jewish state that lives in peace with the Palestinians. She added that similar positions have been expressed by Israeli leaders such as Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni.

Kerry told the simple truth



The Israeli public deserves a government that clearly admits it has no desire for a peace agreement.

One can only regret the American administration’s attempts, coated with praise for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s government, to clarify and modify Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

Describing the events leading to the collapse of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said Israel had not released prisoners as it had pledged to do as part of the agreement to resume the talks, and had then approved tenders for constructing 700 new settlement units in East Jerusalem (which followed other huge tenders for accelerated construction in the settlements).
[...]
His words hewed to the simple truth. Throughout the negotiations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been busy spreading fog around his intentions and inventing spin tactics aimed at avoiding any significant decision. Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have done everything they could to sabotage the talks. Finance Minister Yair Lapid made do with lip service to the peace process, while Justice Minister Tzipi Livni served as a fig leaf trying to cover Israel’s insincerity.

So instead of automatically blaming the Palestinians for the negotiations’ failure, they should ask themselves what their own part was in the foot-dragging and obstructionism in the talks, and how they helped create he pretense that Israel and the Palestinians are two state entities with equal military and economic status.

The Israeli public deserves a government that is candid with it and admits clearly that it has no desire for a peace agreement, and that its main motivation is to continue developing the West Bank settlements. In other words, it wants to continue the occupation and separate the Palestinians from their lands.

Once the government admits that, Israelis will be able to choose which kind of state they want to live in and which vision of a state they want to vote for – that of a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights and sees international relations as a vital asset, or of a messianic, separatist state with features of an apartheid regime, in which a privileged Jewish population rules over millions of Palestinians.

These are Israel’s options. Any other portrayal of them is a false one.

The Israeli public deserves a government that is candid with it and admits clearly that it has no desire for a peace agreement, and that its main motivation is to continue developing the West Bank settlements. In other words, it wants to continue the occupation and separate the Palestinians from their lands.

Once the government admits that, Israelis will be able to choose which kind of state they want to live in and which vision of a state they want to vote for – that of a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights and sees international relations as a vital asset, or of a messianic, separatist state with features of an apartheid regime, in which a privileged Jewish population rules over millions of Palestinians.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry thinks at least that Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state”.

The Israeli public deserves a government that clearly admits it has no desire for a peace agreement.

One can only regret the American administration’s attempts, coated with praise for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s government, to clarify and modify Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

Describing the events leading to the collapse of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said Israel had not released prisoners as it had pledged to do as part of the agreement to resume the talks,

Once the government admits that, Israelis will be able to choose which kind of state they want to live in and which vision of a state they want to vote for – that of a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights and sees international relations as a vital asset, or of a messianic, separatist state with features of an apartheid regime, in which a privileged Jewish population rules over millions of Palestinians.

These are Israel’s options. Any other portrayal of them is a false one.

Daily Beast is a hack outfit with a history of lying.

Actually, Israel released prisoners over and over throughout the talks.

It was only the very last round of releases that they held back on.

Leaders of Israel’s Arab minority have reacted with fury to plans by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to spearhead legislation defining Israel as “the nation state of the Jewish people”.

Arab Israelis say the law will pave the way for discrimination against them to be entrenched in law.

Liberal Israeli Jews are also warning that Mr Netanyahu’s announcement that his government intends to “provide a constitutional anchor for Israel’s status as the nation state of the Jewish people” is “undemocratic”.

Netanyahu’s ‘Jewish state’ law angers Arab Israelis

Quote:

Leaders of Israel’s Arab minority have reacted with fury to plans by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to spearhead legislation defining Israel as “the nation state of the Jewish people”.

Arab Israelis say the law will pave the way for discrimination against them to be entrenched in law.

Liberal Israeli Jews are also warning that Mr Netanyahu’s announcement that his government intends to “provide a constitutional anchor for Israel’s status as the nation state of the Jewish people” is “undemocratic”.

In my opinion you might be comparing apples to oranges, by not including those nations that have a veritable national church.

The Queen is the spiritual head of the Anglican Church. Non-Anglicans live in the UK and have all the rights of Anglican citizens. In my opinion you might be comparing apples to oranges, by not including those nations that have a veritable national church.