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Sticking it to the Americans

The Israeli PM comes to Washington, takes on the President and then preaches to the converted and one-eyed supporters of Israel at AIPAC. Netanyahu speaks of peace but all his actions, and those of his government, are totally the opposite. There is no one, apart from the Israelis, who agree with Israel's building of so-called settlements in the West Bank - occupied territory. In fact the development of the settlements and cities is totally contrary to international law. Of course, Netanyahu now says that the facts on the ground prevent Israel returning to the borders as they existed in 1967 pre the Six Day War. But who created that situation, deliberately of course, in the first place?

But to stick it to the Americans, just before the Israeli PM ventured off to America, approval was given to build more settlements.

"On the 26th of September 2010, the 10 months settlement moratorium came to an end. Since then, the settlers have managed to “catch up” with the construction freeze and erase its effect, starting construction of some 2,000 housing units in 75 different settlements and outposts, one third of them in settlements east of the Separation Barrier (this number is higher than the yearly average for the last few years). Meanwhile the Israeli Government has approved the planning and marketing of at least 800 new units in 13 settlements."

Continue reading here and see a summary of all the building undertaken or approved together with a map to put it all into context.

Meanwhile, over at truthdig Barry Lando has written a piece "The Speech Obama Should Have Given to AIPAC". Lando spent 25 years as an award-winning investigative producer with “60 Minutes.” He has produced numerous articles, a documentary and a book, “Web of Deceit,” about Iraq.

"In the end, your attempt to defeat my desire to pursue a policy that is in the interests of all Americans—as well as the state of Israel—could lead to your own downfall."

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