STANDING UP TO OBAMA

Benjamin Netanyahu has shown some courage and rebuffed Barack Obama's call to freeze "settlement" activity (Hat tip: Hot Air):

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed U.S. calls for a full settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank and vowed not to accept limits on building of Jewish enclaves within Jerusalem.

The note of defiance set the stage for a possible showdown with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, which, in talks with Netanyahu in Washington last week, pressed for a halt to all settlement activity, including natural growth, as called for under a long-stalled peace “road map.”

“The demand for a total stop to building is not something that can be justified and I don’t think that anyone here at this table accepts it,” Netanyahu told his cabinet, referring to Jewish settlements in the West Bank, according to an official.

Netanyahu said Israel had no plans to set up any new West Bank settlements. But he told Obama, according to the official, that his government “does not accept limitations on building” within what Israel defines as its capital, the Jerusalem municipality, an area that includes Arab East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank captured in a 1967 Middle East war.

Of course, he's going to have to prove that he can provide any necessary permits for building if needed, and that he won't let Ehud Barak try to stall any projects.

In a related report in the Jerusalem Post (via Power Line), Moshe Yaalon said something very important too:

"We will not follow American dictates. We will not halt construction in the settlements," Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon told Channel 2's Meet the Press on Saturday.

Ya'alon was referring to the American demand that Israel halt all settlement activity, voiced by US President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during their meeting last week.

"Settlements are not the reason that the diplomatic process failed," Ya'alon said. "The settlements were not an obstacle to peace at any point [in the talks]. Even when Israel evacuated swathes of land, terrorism continued. Even when we uprooted communities, all we got in return was 'Hamastan'. This is why I suggest we think it over - but not with slogans or dictates."

The former IDF chief of staff emphasized that the government will not allow the establishment of new outposts, but clarified: "We will not halt the expansion of settlements which is a result of natural growth. There are people living here, raising their children here. We need to build homes for families' residence - it's not this which has prevented peace."

"What the US demands," he said, is "not a dictate. We'll see how they translate the statements into policy. Their envoy [to the Middle East, George] Mitchell will come, and we will talk to him. I suggest that neither the US, nor us, decide on a timetable in advance."

"From the banks of the Potomac, you don't always fully understand the situation, and here Israel's job is to help its ally," Ya'alon said, also criticizing dissent from within: "The dialogue in Israel presents us as peace objectors - the problem is within us."

I highly admire Yaalon for his courage as well. He is correct in pointing out how concessions to date have only led to war, and that's why such an approach cannot continue.