No U.S. Aid to Israel Next Year

Israel plans first settlement in ten years, says the New York Times.

Israel announced plans on Tuesday to construct a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank for the first time in 10 years. The planned new settlement will be called Maskiot, and approval was given for the construction of some 30 houses. The decision, [an] official said, “sort of went through and now it’s done and would be very hard to undo.”

Dayenu! It's way, way too late in the game for this garbage. A two-state solution will require the evacuation of a significant proportion of the West Bank settlers. Any new or expanded settlement is simply another hurdle that blocks the way to a resolution of the conflict. It's also a spit in the face of the U.S., which has spent the last decade pushing for a two-state solution and asking for the cessation of settlement building and expansion. I care about Israel and have argued on her behalf in some very hairy circumstances, but I hope that Condoleezza Rice announces tomorrow that next year the U.S. will not give Israel one cent of our customary annual largesse of 2.7 billion dollars, and that this decision “sort of went through and now it’s done and would be very hard to undo.”