Middle East Desk Update, March 16, 2010

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:
- Israeli settlement expansion

MOUIN RABBANI
Rabbani commented: “Since the 1970s the US has consistently worked to undermine the application of international law to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Most recently, it was the Obama administration that insisted on the continued expansion of illegal Jewish settlements (particularly in occupied East Jerusalem) as a precondition for renewed negotiations -- negotiations that for this reason alone have been rendered entirely meaningless. Given the enormous support the US has provided Israel's settlement enterprise over the years, for the US to whine about Joe Biden being insulted by Israel's proclamation of yet one more settlement project -- as if Biden's dignity is somehow a final status issue and it is his backyard that is being colonized -- is beyond unseemly.”
Mouin Rabbani is an independent analyst based in Amman, specializing on Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a contributing editor of Middle East Report. He has published widely on Palestinian issues and travels to Palestine frequently.
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