Soros adds voice to debate over Israel lobby

[zengrifter]

Soros adds voice to debate over Israel lobby

By Bernd Debusmann,
Special Correspondent -REUTERS

12:03 a.m. April 16, 2007

WASHINGTON – The billionaire investor George Soros has added his voice to a heated but little-noticed debate over the role of Israel's powerful lobby in shaping Washington policy in a way critics say hurts U.S. national interests and stifles debate.

In the current issue of the New York Review of Books, Soros takes issue with “the pervasive influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)” in Washington and says the Bush administration's close ties with Israel are obstacles to a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Soros, who is Jewish but not often engaged in Israel affairs, echoed arguments that have fueled a passionate debate conducted largely in the rarefied world of academia, foreign policy think tanks and parts of the U.S. Jewish community.

“The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism,” wrote Soros. Politicians challenge it at their peril and dissenters risk personal vilification, he said.

...more - http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/p...ael-lobby.html

[zengrifter]

More obstacles to peace - an illegal Israeli land-grab! zg

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'Israel behind secret land grab'

By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 1:55am BST 09/07/2007

Israel has been accused of orchestrating a deliberate land grab in the West Bank by allocating 11 times as much land to Jewish settlements as is needed.

It has also been accused of doing nothing to stop settlers from spilling out of allocated areas and stealing even more land from their Palestinian neighbours.

The twin strands of Israel's land policy in the occupied West Bank is described by Peace Now, a respected Israeli land rights group, as a "deliberate and underhand" policy of expansion.
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According to a Peace Now report, the Israeli government has allocated 128,500 acres to settlements, even though only 11,120 acres are currently being used.

The government argues that the allocation takes into consideration the future growth of settlements, although it is unclear where the extra settlers will come from.

Under international law all settlement activity is illegal as the Geneva Convention forbids the development of land by an occupying power.

...more - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wisrael109.xml