Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, speaking after talks with Abbas, condemned the continued Israeli settlements as an "act of deliberate vandalism" that did "immense damage" to the peace process and "threatened a two-state solution."
"Once you've placed physical facts on the ground that makes it impossible to deliver something that everyone has for years agreed is the ultimate destination... it is an act of deliberate vandalism to the basic premise on which negotiations have taken place for years and years and years," Clegg said.His strong words were welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a joint news conference. "This is exactly what we wanted to hear officially from the (British) government," said the Palestinian leader.
Read more here Haaretz and BBC
Lets see if the Prime Minister sacks Nick or backs Nick. Melanie Phillips has made up her mind already. Writing in the Daily Mail today she insists the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are both supporting racism and holocaust deniers.
Clegg should be condemned in the strongest possible terms for his support of racism. For he is supporting the ethnic cleansing of Jews from a future state of Palestine... That racist agenda is what Clegg and Cameron are supporting... Why are Cameron and Clegg supporting the Holocaust-denier Abbas and his racist Palestinian Authority which pumps out hideous, Nazi-style demonisation of Jews and the intention to destroy Israel... The Prime Minister and his deputy are siding with racism against its victims – and all of Britain is besmirched by this travesty.I wonder if this is a sign that the Daily Mail is going to shift its allegiance to the Labour party?
It seems we have conflicting, indeed mutually incompatible, definitions of racism, not helped by the use of emotive and inflammatory language by Ms. Phillips. If I have to choose, I am glad to support the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in standing against the blatant racism of the illegal Israeli settlements built on confiscated or annexed Palestinian land.
You may view photos of some I visited recently near Bethlehem here and here but please do not deduce that I therefore support them.
