Settlements Red Herring Deepens

"Obama Calls for Swift Move Toward Mideast Peace Talks"
A10, Friday 5/29/09,
By Helene Cooper

President Barack Obama, May 28, 2009:

“I mentioned to President Abbas in a frank exchange that it was very important to continue to make progress in reducing the incitement and anti-Israel sentiments that are sometimes expressed in schools and mosques and in the public square, because all those things are impediments to peace.”

That all or at least part of this admonishment from President Obama was not referenced in this article is testament to the misguided obsession the New York Times has with Israeli settlements. This article was the lone piece dedicated to the Obama-Abbas meeting and the absence of these remarks by the President is simply unacceptable.

There is also something perverse in the admonishment itself, if one can even call it that. The Palestinian Authority (PA) should “continue” to make progress in reducing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement, that are "sometimes" expressed? What specific progress has the PA made? Has the Times been monitoring this? What does it mean that Israel is systematically demonized by its supposed peace partners?

Perhaps this incitement, and the associated anti-Israel terrorism, helps explain Israel’s reluctance to expel West Bank Jews from their homes and demolish their communities – especially if such actions are meant to make room for a peaceful Palestinian state.

As the prominent Arab-Israeli journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh recently conveyed at a forum in Canada, “Israel's West Bank settlements are no obstacle; they’re a red herring: a minor issue that Jerusalem will easily handle—based on its readiness to dismantle its settlements in the past—when the moment is right. That time is not now, and is not coming soon.”

Blinded by a dogma that overlooks this unfortunate reality, the Times obsessively focuses on the red herring of settlements, and in so doing, misleads the public regarding the issues that matter.