Matthew Yglesias

Jun 5th, 2009 at 10:35 am

Rep Ackerman Clarifies Position: Supports Peace, Supports Obama, Supports Settlement Freeze

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Americans for Peace Now has an important story clarifying the views of Rep Gary Ackerman (D-NY) on the Obama administration’s push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians:

On the heels of this morning’s historic Obama speech in Cairo, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) — the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia — issued a statement this afternoon entitled “ACKERMAN URGES FREEZE ON SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION, NOT GROWING FAMILIES.” (the text is not yet available online, so the document is copied at the end of this post).

The genesis of this statement is reports in the Jewish press last week that seemed to imply that Chairman Ackerman was endorsing so-called “natural growth” of settlements, and was thus breaking publicly with President Obama’s demand for a settlement freeze that includes “natural growth.” Earlier this week, an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper “Politico” used apparent Ackerman quotes to bolster its highly questionable thesis that even Democrats in Congress are urging Obama to “back off” on the settlement issue.

Well, whatever the Jewish press and Politico thought (or hoped) Ackerman’s views might be, today’s statement is clear: Chairman Ackerman is not saying families shouldn’t grow, or that people should not have babies, but he is saying that settlement construction must stop, period. This is the view that the Chairman, clearly and unequivocally, has articulated today. It is a welcome and important clarification from Chairman Ackerman.

I did an item critical of Ackerman based on that Politico report, so I feel a special obligation to correct the record. Ackerman, as a Jewish representative from a district with many Jewish constituents, has—like Rep Robert Wexler (D-FL)—an especially important role to play as an advocate for a progressive approach to the region. He should be the kind of member who signals to other members that it’s kosher to be against settlement expansion.

Meanwhile, it’s too bad that The Washington Post thinks its readers need to get commentary on this issue from the slipshod and dishonest Charles Krauthammer. Much better information is available at TAP Online where Gershom Gorenberg has a piece on the truth about settlement expansion, including the fact that “natural growth” apparently includes the ability of current residents of Israel proper to buy heavily subsidized housing in West Bank settlements.

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Filed under: Charles Krauthammer, Gary Ackerman, Israel

Jun 4th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Israeli Peace Camp Heartened By Obama’s Approach, Some NY Democrats Pushing Back

My man AD sent me these two links from Haaretz showing Israel’s once-demoralized peace camp is taking heart from the Obama administration’s recent hard line on the settlement issue. Meanwhile, back at home Israel hawks are working to undermine Obama’s effort to simply enforce what’s long been actual American policy. Leading the way are opportunistic Republicans, and some Democratic members of congress from New York:

Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House foreign affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, said focusing on settlement activity “detracts” from top U.S. goals in the region. However, he added: “I do not support a settlement freeze that calls on Israeli families not to grow, get married, or forces them to throw away their grandparents. Telling people not to have children is unthinkable and inhumane.”

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday that “we have to be careful not to cross the line where it sounds like we are exerting overwhelming pressure . . . on our rather isolated ally.”

Weiner here is capturing the cognitive dissonance that afflicts a lot of the conventional discourse on this subject. He doesn’t want to say that he supports continued Israeli land grabs or that he stands with the settlers. But heaven forbid anyone actually criticize Israel or exert meaningful pressure on the largest recipient of American foreign aid! Ackerman, meanwhile, is more straightforward. To him, halting settlement expansion means telling people not to have children. And telling people not to have children is unjust. But of course as Ackerman well knows, people are never going to stop having children. Which means that, by Ackerman’s logic, the settlements can never stop expanding. But everyone knows that for peace to be achieved, many settlements would have to be removed. Ackerman’s position is just the position that peace is impossible, and that Israel must fight forever to squeeze the Palestinians out of the West Bank, while the Palestinians must fight forever for the destruction of Israel.

This is a bleak vision, and I think it would be nice if the people who hold to it would come out and say so rather than pretending they’re interested in peace.