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Once upon a time, folks were apoplectic over Obama's appointment of Hilary Clinton to lead the State Department. Clinton just didn't share Obama's diplomacy-focused, tough-love approach to the Middle East, they said. She wouldn't play hardball with Israel on the settlements and Palestinian statehood.Well it turns out that Hillary -- duh! -- is a total team player. Here's what Israel's bellicose foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said about settlements during his press conference with the secretary of state yesterday:
First of all, we really don’t have any intention to change the demographic balance in Judea and Samaria. But we think that, you know, as – in every place around the world, baby are born (inaudible), people get married, some pass away. And we cannot accept – we cannot accept this vision about absolutely completely freezing call for our settlements. I think that we must keep the natural growth.This position is antithetical to peace. The "natural growth" of settlements looks like this. It involves thickening the density of these illegal communities, building up and out in ways that threaten the viability of the future Palestinian state. We finally have American leadership willing to call this spade a spade. And Hillary stood the administration's ground, responding:
Well, as President Obama, Senator Mitchell and I have said, we want to see a stop to the settlements. We think that is an important and essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive peace agreement and the creation of a Palestinian state next to a Israeli-Jewish state that is secure in its borders and future. ... I think that the whole issue that you’ve raised is one that we’ve expressed our opinion on.--Dana Goldstein
