The Obama administration has clearly put Netanyahu against the wall, and it
will be very interesting to see how Netanyahu wriggles his way out of this
one. No matter what he does, someone is not going to be happy; either the
Americans and the Palestinians, or else the Orthodox Jews.

Unless Obama backs down on the demand to halt all housing construction in
East Jerusalem, Netanyahu has no choice but to either comply, or risk
angering the Obama administration even further.

So is it better to have the Obama administration angry at him -- and the
rest of the world as well -- or is it better to have his own Jewish race
angry with him?

As the article below states, if Netanyahu weakens -- which is doubtful; he
is a hawk after all -- the Jews will have him for lunch, and his coalition
government willl fall apart.

Of course, as Bible-believing Christians, we all know how this is going to
end. There may eventually be a temporary false peace; the Palestinians may
get their state with its capital in East Jerusalem; and the Jews may get to
build their temple on Mount Moriah; but ultimately, war will once again come
to Israel, and the Battle of Armageddon will be on the horizon.


Conflicting Demands Test Netanyahu

By ETHAN BRONNER - NYT

March 25, 2010


JERUSALEM -- After contentious meetings in the White House, Israel's prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, returned home on Thursday with the politically
explosive task of responding to an unyielding American demand that he limit
Israeli building in East Jerusalem.

The details of the American requests are tightly held. But indirect peace
talks with the Palestinians have been in jeopardy since Israel announced
1,600 new housing units in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood on land wanted by
the Palestinians for their future capital, marring a visit here by Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. two weeks ago. The goal of the current
American effort is to get those talks started.

Mr. Netanyahu's governing coalition, anchored by his Likud Party, views
Jerusalem, west and east, as the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish
people, where it can build where it wants. The Palestinians and their
supporters throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds view East Jerusalem as holy
and as rightfully under Palestinian sovereignty.

Since the disrupted Biden visit, the Obama administration has been telling
Mr. Netanyahu that Israel needs to rein in its Jewish construction in East
Jerusalem and offer other signs of good will to the Palestinian president,
Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr. Netanyahu has brought up several possible gestures, including
restrictions on Israeli troop activities in the West Bank, the freeing of
Palestinian prisoners, some latitude for reconstruction in Gaza and further
efforts to bolster the Palestinian economy.

The Americans have welcomed those gestures. The White House press secretary,
Robert Gibbs, said Thursday, "We're making progress on important issues."

But building in Jerusalem remains the sticking point. Mr. Netanyahu is
expected to meet on Friday with his top seven cabinet ministers to begin to
form his response. It may be some days or longer before it is complete.

The Arab League is scheduled to meet this weekend in Libya and is likely to
repeat demands for a freeze on Israeli building in occupied areas before
giving a final endorsement to the return of the Palestinian Authority to
peace talks with Israel. Mr. Abbas, the Palestinian president, has sought
pan-Arab cover for his decision to return to the talks.

Mr. Netanyahu returned to an overheated political atmosphere fed in part by
news coverage of his Washington trip, describing his treatment at the White
House as deeply humiliating because neither photographs or ceremony marked
his visit.

There is little doubt that Obama administration officials thought it was
appropriate to reciprocate the embarrassment felt by Mr. Biden here and to
send a tough message about the need for commitment regarding Jerusalem,
American officials said.

"People keep saying that the Israelis, by building these settlements, are
creating an impediment to negotiations," said David J. Rothkopf, a former
Clinton administration official who has written about the shaping of
American foreign policy. "My reaction is, no they're not. They're
negotiating. They're sending a message. And Obama is sending a message right
back."

In Israel, officials said they could not imagine how Mr. Netanyahu could
agree to a substantial reduction in building in Jerusalem and still expect
to hold on to his office. "The expectation and demand that there be no more
construction in Jerusalem is unreasonable," said Limor Livnat, culture and
sports minister and a member of Likud, on Israel Radio. "It is an
expectation that the Israeli prime minister cannot accede to."

In an interview with Yom Yom, an ultra-Orthodox newspaper, Eli Yishai, who
leads the Interior Ministry, which pushed forward the 1,600 units during Mr.
Biden's visit, said, "I thank God I have been given the opportunity to be
the minister who approves the construction of thousands of housing units in
Jerusalem."

American officials said that their goal was not to make the government
collapse, but that without a real reduction in Jewish building in East
Jerusalem, peace talks with the Palestinians would be imperiled.



Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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