News Roundup - Hour 2
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-03-19/news-roundup-hour-2
President Barack Obama listens during a meeting about the current situation in Pakistan Oct. 7, 2009 in the Situation Room of the White House.
Pete Souza/Official White House Photo via Flickr
Top international diplomats call on Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations. And CIA Director Leon Panetta says U.S. attacks have hobbled al-Qaeda. The stories behind this week's headlines and answers to your questions. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
Abderrahim Foukara
Washington bureau chief of Al Jazeera Arabic.
Elise Labott
senior State Department producer for CNN.
Yochi Dreazen
military correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Comments
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Question: Why is housing in East Jerusalem called settlements? There were 60 synagogues and many Jewish residents in East Jerusalem in 1948. The Synagogues were destroyed by Jordan in 1948, and all Jews were exiled to other parts of Israel.
I am amazed that the commentators don't think the humilation of the Vice President is a significant factor in the dispute with Israel.
I'm glad to hear the admission that there was a US overreaction to the Israel's announcement of 1600 new housing units in an already jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalm. I don't think that such an overreaction would have happened if our leader, Obama, hadn't created an atomosphere of distance and condescension towards Israel. He spent 20 years attending a church pastored by a known antisemite. There's a reason for that.
Martha Dowling
Joe Biden isn't known for subtlety. He often reacts first and thinks later.
As a high ranking member of our government, he had the power to make less or more of the issue, and in the end, it was no issue. There was no moratorium on building in East Jerusalem in an established Jewish neighborhood.
QUESTION:
I am originally from Mexico City and still have family there. The stories circulating around about the amount and type of violence going on in Juarez claim that it is all due to the fact that Al Quaeda has joined some of the drug cartels in the north to finance their activities.
I heard this comment also in a news cast some time ago, but cannot place it.
Can you have your panel comment on that?
Let me ask: Have any of the panelists been in Israel in the last couple of weeks? I just returned from two weeks in Israel. I saw the chest beating that appeared in the Hebrew and English newspapers regarding the alleged snub of Joe Biden. (personally, I believe that the announcement of the building of the new settlements was orchestrated by a low level bureaucrat who wanted to send a message to the Obama administration that said, "We can and we will build wherever we want in Jerusalem."--it was not a high level snub). The panelists all chose to downplay Israeli mea culpas, including that of Binyamin Netanyahu. Sorry, guys, but only part of a story was told.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority wanted to honor the same day Joe Biden was visiting Jerusalem Dalal al-Mughrabi (who led a 1978 hijacking of a civilian bus that left 35 Israelis dead). Why hasn't the Obama administration reacted with the same indignation? Why hasn't the Vice-President said that such actions are similarly not helpful to bring about negotiations with the Israelis? Why isn't this provocation by the Palestinians mentioned in the American media or on the Diane Rehm show?
Didn't Biden insist that Iraq must be divided into three states? Wasn't Clinton the first first lady to ask for a Palestinian state when her husband was in office? And didn't she state that it takes a village to raise a child, rather than a mother and a father? I wouldn't put very much faith in the judgment of either one of them.
On health care, I do not understand the anger over making people buy insurance. We require people to buy car insurance, wear helmet to ride motorcycles. We all resisted that now it is expect. This is a good idea for everyone to have health insurance. Dennis
warrantless wiretapping happens while the gov uses accoustic weapons,http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/accoustic.htm, this site is just the tip of the iceburg, i am a victim of both spying and accoustic weapons, the hurt, no one knows, i don't have any evidence, wow