MIDDLE EAST:
Soft Washington emboldens Israel, says UAE paper
Att.Editors: The following item is from the Emirates News Agency (WAM)
ABU DHABI,Mar. 10
(WAM) - Despite the Arab League's decision to support the Palestinian resumption of peace talks with Israel, the Netanyahu government Monday proved to the world yet again that peace is not on its agenda, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) paper commented.
Hours before U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel to discuss peace, but also to listen in to Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, the Israeli Defence Ministry approved the construction of new colonies in the West Bank. Are the Palestinians expected to tolerate this aggressive and provocative attitude? asked the ‘Gulf News’ in its editorial today.
Every time the weakened U.S. special envoy George Mitchell makes a breakthrough in terms of getting the two sides to agree to talk, Israel slaps another illegal expansionist colony project on everyone's faces, as if to say, now will you agree to sit down to talk to us? "Even more disturbing is the fact that Washington seems to have softened its stance on Israeli colony-building and expansion. Gone are the days when the U.S. government used strong language to condemn Israel's colony activity and now, all we hear is that Israel is really committed to peace and Israel's security is ‘essential’ to the U.S.," the paper said.
Biden is due to meet with the Palestinian leadership today. "Unless he succeeded in putting pressure on Israel to drop its illegal colony plans, this visit will turn out to be another massive failure," it concluded. (WAM)
(END/2010)
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