Send Adjectives to Israel!
Jerusalem-based Isabel Kershner is running out of adjectives to describe how right-wing some Israelis are, as seen in her Monday story, "March on East Jerusalem Stirs Anger as Envoy Visits."
A small group of ultra-right-wing Israelis marched through a volatile neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Sunday, arousing passions over the future of the contested city as an American envoy wrapped up an inconclusive three-day visit aimed at getting peace talks under way.
The Obama administration's Middle East envoy, George J. Mitchell, met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the weekend in an effort to reach understandings that will allow the start of indirect, American-brokered negotiations.
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The peace efforts were derailed last month after the Israeli announcement of plans for 1,600 new apartments in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The Palestinians have demanded an end to all Israeli settlement building, including in East Jerusalem, which they claim as their future capital, as a precondition to direct talks.
Mr. Netanyahu has rejected any building freeze in East Jerusalem, and the announcement, during a visit here by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., strained Israel's relations with the United States.
But on Sunday it was another neighborhood of East Jerusalem that illustrated the complexities and conflicting interests that define the city. About 40 far-right nationalists marched through the Wadi Hilwe section of Silwan, a predominantly Arab neighborhood, waving Israeli flags in a demonstration of Israeli sovereignty.
Kershner has a history of alarming labeling; a January 2009 story used the term "far-right-wing government"to refer to a potential political coalition involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
