Could something other than Rick Perry’s business-friendly policies be keeping the Texas economy buzzing?
Governor Perry and his spin machine, while not openly declaring his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, are extolling his record of jobs creation in Texas as proof of his economic acumen, one of the many purported qualities that make him presidential timber. Is he really that good?
Texas is a jobs monster. Over the past two years, 37 percent of the net new jobs in the country were created in the state, a track record that governor and maybe GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is quick to tout. He credits his conservative, pro-business policies; skeptics say it’s mainly owed to immigration and the high prices the state is getting for its oil. But there’s another possible contributor to Texas’s growth that no one is talking about: the drug trade.
How so? Well, money pours across the US-Mexico border, proceeds of drugs sales in the US going back to Mexican cartels. Does the money then stay in Mexico?
Jack Schumacher, a recently retired Texas-based DEA agent, says that at least half the drug shipments coming from Mexico stop and offload in Texas. The product is repackaged in small units and resold at a considerable markup, with a share of the gross staying in the state. Even some of the money that gets expatriated to Mexico winds up back in Texas, laundered through Mexican currency exchanges. The state’s relative security is the draw. “If you have a few million,” says Schumacher, “would you invest in a war zone or a bank in San Antonio?” The DEA warns that traffickers are cleaning up their proceeds by buying businesses in South Texas. They also spend on guns, warehouses, security guards—and on luxury cars and houses.
Yet there is more, and the rest is not as intuitive as this example.
Mexicans in Texas are hardly new, but in recent years it’s middle- and upper-class families in Mexico’s north who have also made the exodus, bringing their savings and businesses with them. While most seem to be fleeing the kidnapping and extortion back home, one observer has a different take: “Some people, including me, suspect that some of these people come with funds from the drug trade,” says Michael Lauderdale, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Texas.
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
China to top US
Here’s a finding that will have any red-blooded American spluttering into his cornflakes. According to the Conference Board, a highly respected economic research association, China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy by 2012, or within two years.
Any? Point taken, nonetheless. That fact, and this picture, surely will infuriate many.
.Many people, especially those who already dislike Barack Obama, will take umbrage at the sight of the US president bowing to the Communist (or to a sheik or emir), ignoring the picture of George W Bush holding hands with the King of Saudi Arabia.
And this will add fuel to the fire: Wednesday, Obama was in Jakarta, the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation, issuing a call for trust and cooperation. He lived in Indonesia as a boy from 1967 to 1971 and found himself flooded with memories. "Let me begin with a simple statement: Indonesia is part of me," he said in Indonesian language, drawing cheers from the audience of more than 6,000 mostly young people at the University of Indonesia. Obama took care in his remarks to note that he is Christian; back home in the U.S., he continues to fight erroneous perceptions that he is Muslim..
Any? Point taken, nonetheless. That fact, and this picture, surely will infuriate many.
And this will add fuel to the fire: Wednesday, Obama was in Jakarta, the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation, issuing a call for trust and cooperation. He lived in Indonesia as a boy from 1967 to 1971 and found himself flooded with memories. "Let me begin with a simple statement: Indonesia is part of me," he said in Indonesian language, drawing cheers from the audience of more than 6,000 mostly young people at the University of Indonesia. Obama took care in his remarks to note that he is Christian; back home in the U.S., he continues to fight erroneous perceptions that he is Muslim..
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Who dat?
Blair Recalls Bush Asked, ‘Who Is This Guy?’ After Meeting Belgium’s Leader
By ROBERT MACKEY
Epa-Ansa/Alessandro Bianchi President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy with other world leaders at a Group of 8 summit meting in Genoa, Italy in 2001. Belgium’s prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, sat directly across a large table from the American president.In his new book, A Journey, Mr Blair writes that the former U.S. president was confused by the presence of Guy Verhofstadt at the 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa.
“He didn’t know or recognize Guy, whose advice he listened to with considerable astonishment,” Mr Blair writes. “He then turned to me and whispered, ‘Who is this guy?’ ‘He is the prime minister of Belgium,’ I said.
Mr. Bush soon became better acquainted with the Belgian leader, who visited the White House later that year and again in 2006, when my colleague Stephen Crowley captured this triptych of Mr. Verhofstadt making the American president laugh while recounting a mountain biking tale:
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times As photographers set up before a news conference at the White House in 2006, Mr. Verhofstadt, amused President Bush with a story about mountain biking.Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Pentagon in race for raw materials
Associated Press - The U.S. may stockpile lithium, thin pieces of which are shown here at the Center for Lithium Energy Advanced Research lab in North Carolina
Stockpiling Minerals Takes on Greater Urgency as Global Supply Gets Squeezed
The new plan, dubbed the Strategic Materials Security Program by the Pentagon, would give the military greater power to decide what it stockpiles and how it goes about buying the materials. It would also speed up decision making at a time when military technology evolves rapidly, commodity markets swing widely and countries around the world fight to secure access to natural resources.
China controls more than 90% of global production of rare-earth elements, which the U.S. military uses in lasers and high-powered magnets. The U.S. in October added several of these elements to its list of materials that it might warehouse.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Hu to visit
Andy Rothman, a former U.S. diplomat who is now a strategist for the brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Shanghai, said the announced visit "almost guarantees" that the White House has decided against officially pressing the issue.
That seems interesting: a former diplomat now a strategist.
"There is a possibility that the U.S. won't label China a currency manipulator as a return for China's compromise on the Iran issue, plus President Hu's visit to Washington for the nuclear security summit," said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. "I think it would be best for the U.S. Treasury not to name China a currency manipulator, as otherwise China will see another surge of anti-American sentiment among the public."
A second story, on the relationship between China and Iran, contains an interesting quote:
Guo Xiangang, a foreign-policy analyst at the China Institute of International Studies, said he doesn't think China's position is changing. Rather, he suggests U.S. officials are trying to demonstrate progress on Iran for political reasons. U.S. President Barack Obama "needs to raise his domestic profile," said Mr. Guo, whose institute is affiliated with the government. "He has gotten a lot of criticism from people saying he is too soft on Iran...So these statements that China is moving closer are for a domestic audience."
The relationship between Iran and China is extensive, and China has not supported calls for strong sanctions against Iran.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator came to Beijing for talks amid signs of headway in the U.S.-led effort to secure backing for sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program. Saeed Jalili arrived Thursday in the Chinese capital for his second official visit in two years. He was scheduled to meet with State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi before holding a news conference in Beijing late Friday.
China has some leverage on Iran, if only by virtue of not kowtowing to the US line.
But the talks come amid signs that Beijing may be easing its resistance to a fresh round of United Nations sanctions against Iran. On Wednesday, China participated in a conference call with the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany—known as the "P-5 plus 1"—to discuss a possible sanctions resolution. China in that call reaffirmed a commitment it made in a similar call last week to negotiations on the text of a possible resolution.
Why Germany is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council is a question without a good answer. WW2 is long over, and it is past time for realigning the global diplomatic schema.
Mr. Jalili is the latest diplomat to visit China to solicit its backing, underscoring how the Iran dispute has strengthened Beijing's international clout. In February, Israel sent officials to persuade Beijing of Iran's weapons ambitions; visitors in March included top China officials from the U.S. State Department and National Security Council, as well as U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
China is the second strongest country in the world, after the US.
China and Iran have extensive ties, particularly in the energy sector. China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer after the U.S., and last year overtook Japan as Iran's top crude-oil buyer. Iran accounts for about 8% of China's oil imports.
... last week's conference call marked China's first participation since mid-January in such a meeting about Iran with the other permanent Security Council members and Germany. It came after the U.S. backed away from pursuing several tough measures—including efforts aimed at choking off Iran's access to international banking services and capital markets and restricting its national air-cargo and shipping lines—to win support from China and Russia for a new sanctions resolution, people familiar with the situation said last week. Several analysts say the China-Iran relationship is shifting somewhat, in ways that could erode Beijing's sense of obligation to Tehran.
China is building a big presence in neighboring Iraq, where Chinese oil companies have signed a string of deals that could overshadow the Iranian supply in a few years. In the first two months of the year, China imported nearly 40% less oil from Iran than it did during the same period last year, and bought more oil from other countries. Monthly figures can be misleading, but Chinese oil companies have been struggling in Iran amid Tehran's unattractive commercial terms and sanctions that make it difficult to get parts for complex projects.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Depends on your point of view
President Obama was interviewed by Bret Baier of Fox News; that is, he consented to be interviewed by the Fox guy. These days my sympathy for, and support of, the President flags, but these Fox people are quite a breed.
I saw some of the interview on Countdown (with Laurence O'Donneell; I can not abide Olbermann these days). Granted, MSNBC is biased on the liberal side, so the excerpts played dovetailed with their point of view. Nonetheless, in one exchange Baier kept interrupting the President and reading him excerpts from letters received by Fox complaining about the Democrats and the President. In turn, the President said that he receives hundreds and thousands of letters completely counter to the letters Baier quoted. So, it depends on your perspective.
Fox has its own way of looking at things. Here is one article appearing today: Obama's Presidency Is On the Line -- And It Shows by Andrea Tantaros - FOXNews.com. Bret Baier's questions for President Obama revealed the uncertainty of our leader and the direction of our country.
Say what? It is an opinion piece, but, where is this person coming from? The extreme right wing, surely.
El Universal, Mexico City, has this story on its website: EU debe ayudar más a México: WP
El periódico estadounidense The Washington Post asegura en su editorial de este jueves que la estabilidad del país es tan importante como la de Irak, Afganistán o Pakistán.
That editorial is Is the U.S. doing enough to help dying Juarez?
THE BRUTAL slaying of three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Juarez, Mexico, last weekend has called attention to a crisis that is getting too little attention and resources in Washington: Mexico's desperate battle against drug traffickers. For Juarez, and for the democratic government of Felipe Calderón, this has become a fight for survival -- a war as bloody and as important as those being fought in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. But though Mexican stability is a vital interest of the United States, the federal government's investment in the problem is far below what it should be, on both sides of the border.
I saw some of the interview on Countdown (with Laurence O'Donneell; I can not abide Olbermann these days). Granted, MSNBC is biased on the liberal side, so the excerpts played dovetailed with their point of view. Nonetheless, in one exchange Baier kept interrupting the President and reading him excerpts from letters received by Fox complaining about the Democrats and the President. In turn, the President said that he receives hundreds and thousands of letters completely counter to the letters Baier quoted. So, it depends on your perspective.
Fox has its own way of looking at things. Here is one article appearing today: Obama's Presidency Is On the Line -- And It Shows by Andrea Tantaros - FOXNews.com. Bret Baier's questions for President Obama revealed the uncertainty of our leader and the direction of our country.
Say what? It is an opinion piece, but, where is this person coming from? The extreme right wing, surely.
El Universal, Mexico City, has this story on its website: EU debe ayudar más a México: WP
El periódico estadounidense The Washington Post asegura en su editorial de este jueves que la estabilidad del país es tan importante como la de Irak, Afganistán o Pakistán.
That editorial is Is the U.S. doing enough to help dying Juarez?
THE BRUTAL slaying of three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Juarez, Mexico, last weekend has called attention to a crisis that is getting too little attention and resources in Washington: Mexico's desperate battle against drug traffickers. For Juarez, and for the democratic government of Felipe Calderón, this has become a fight for survival -- a war as bloody and as important as those being fought in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. But though Mexican stability is a vital interest of the United States, the federal government's investment in the problem is far below what it should be, on both sides of the border.
Historical memory
Yesterday I blogged about two recently published books dealing with the history of the Crusades. Therein the reviewer quoted one of the authors (Holy Warriors, Jonathan Phillips): Why does something that happened 900 years ago, and that ended "ignominiously," "resonate so powerfully across the modern world"?
This article provides a hint of an answer, and it merely goes back 100 years.
Armenia Condemns Turkey's Threat to Expel Workers
By MARC CHAMPION
ISTANBUL—Armenia on Wednesday condemned a threat by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to expel Armenians without papers from his country, as tensions between the two neighbors rise over a bloody history and wavering efforts to reopen their border.
Mr. Erdogan told the BBC's Turkish-language service late Tuesday that of some 170,000 ethnic Armenians working in Turkey, only 70,000 were Turkish citizens. "We are turning a blind eye to the remaining 100,000," he said. "Tomorrow, I may tell these 100,000 to go back to their country, if it becomes necessary, because they are not my citizens."
Rather a personalized style of governing, stating it in the first person. And how does it suddenly become necessary?
Allowing the Armenians to work in Turkey without papers was a "display of our peaceful approach, but we have to get something in return," he said.
Ah, quid pro quo.
Tuesday's threat comes as Turkey seeks to dissuade the U.S. Congress from recognizing as genocide the slaughter of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. It also comes as Armenia has been threatening to pull out of a deal that would reopen its border with Turkey and set up a joint commission to examine the 1915 massacres.
"These kinds of political statements do not help to improve relations between our two states," Armenia Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan told the county's parliament Wednesday, according to agency reports. "It immediately for us brings up memories of the events of 1915."
That's it right there: memories of 1915, both resonate and are useful rhetorical tools.
Turkey has reacted angrily to recent resolutions in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Swedish parliament, which recognized the 1915 atrocities as genocide. Ankara withdrew its ambassadors from the two countries. Turkey maintains that the 1915 death tolls are exaggerated and weren't genocide because they took place during a civil war in which hundreds of thousands of Turks also died. Most Western historians believe the killings of ethnic Armenians did constitute genocide.
On Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan blamed the Armenian diaspora—often the families of those who fled or were killed in 1915—for driving the resolutions. He called on governments in the U.S. and elsewhere not to be swayed.
Sounds a familiar argument.
On Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told reporters the Foreign Affairs Committee resolution had damaged relations with Turkey, but that a full vote on the House floor remained possible, despite White House opposition. "Congress is an independent body, and they are going to do what they decide to do," Mr. Gordon told reporters, the Associated Press reported.
This isn't the first time that Mr. Erdogan and other Turkish officials have hinted they could take action against the thousands of Armenians who do mostly menial labor in Turkey without work visas. Officials from the prime minister's ruling Justice and Development party were quick to say Wednesday that no expulsion is imminent. Still, Mr. Erdogan's sharp comments come in the midst of a tense game of brinksmanship among Armenia, Turkey and the U.S. administration. Turkish officials have expressed frustration at the Obama administration's failure to lobby more strongly against the House Foreign Affairs Committee resolution, which passed by just 23 votes to 22, speculating that it was done to pressure Ankara into ratifying the deal with Armenia.
Well, if true, it is useful as a political ploy.
The U.S., meanwhile, has done little to hide its frustration with the reluctance of NATO member Turkey—currently a member of the 15-nation United Nations Security Council—to back tougher international action against Iran's nuclear fuel program. Iran says its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
This article provides a hint of an answer, and it merely goes back 100 years.
Armenia Condemns Turkey's Threat to Expel Workers
By MARC CHAMPION
ISTANBUL—Armenia on Wednesday condemned a threat by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to expel Armenians without papers from his country, as tensions between the two neighbors rise over a bloody history and wavering efforts to reopen their border.
Mr. Erdogan told the BBC's Turkish-language service late Tuesday that of some 170,000 ethnic Armenians working in Turkey, only 70,000 were Turkish citizens. "We are turning a blind eye to the remaining 100,000," he said. "Tomorrow, I may tell these 100,000 to go back to their country, if it becomes necessary, because they are not my citizens."
Rather a personalized style of governing, stating it in the first person. And how does it suddenly become necessary?
Allowing the Armenians to work in Turkey without papers was a "display of our peaceful approach, but we have to get something in return," he said.
Ah, quid pro quo.
Tuesday's threat comes as Turkey seeks to dissuade the U.S. Congress from recognizing as genocide the slaughter of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. It also comes as Armenia has been threatening to pull out of a deal that would reopen its border with Turkey and set up a joint commission to examine the 1915 massacres.
"These kinds of political statements do not help to improve relations between our two states," Armenia Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan told the county's parliament Wednesday, according to agency reports. "It immediately for us brings up memories of the events of 1915."
That's it right there: memories of 1915, both resonate and are useful rhetorical tools.
Turkey has reacted angrily to recent resolutions in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Swedish parliament, which recognized the 1915 atrocities as genocide. Ankara withdrew its ambassadors from the two countries. Turkey maintains that the 1915 death tolls are exaggerated and weren't genocide because they took place during a civil war in which hundreds of thousands of Turks also died. Most Western historians believe the killings of ethnic Armenians did constitute genocide.
On Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan blamed the Armenian diaspora—often the families of those who fled or were killed in 1915—for driving the resolutions. He called on governments in the U.S. and elsewhere not to be swayed.
Sounds a familiar argument.
On Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told reporters the Foreign Affairs Committee resolution had damaged relations with Turkey, but that a full vote on the House floor remained possible, despite White House opposition. "Congress is an independent body, and they are going to do what they decide to do," Mr. Gordon told reporters, the Associated Press reported.
This isn't the first time that Mr. Erdogan and other Turkish officials have hinted they could take action against the thousands of Armenians who do mostly menial labor in Turkey without work visas. Officials from the prime minister's ruling Justice and Development party were quick to say Wednesday that no expulsion is imminent. Still, Mr. Erdogan's sharp comments come in the midst of a tense game of brinksmanship among Armenia, Turkey and the U.S. administration. Turkish officials have expressed frustration at the Obama administration's failure to lobby more strongly against the House Foreign Affairs Committee resolution, which passed by just 23 votes to 22, speculating that it was done to pressure Ankara into ratifying the deal with Armenia.
Well, if true, it is useful as a political ploy.
The U.S., meanwhile, has done little to hide its frustration with the reluctance of NATO member Turkey—currently a member of the 15-nation United Nations Security Council—to back tougher international action against Iran's nuclear fuel program. Iran says its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Mideast Flap Hits Jerusalem's Streets
Palestinians Clash With Israeli Police in 'Day of Rage,' as U.S. Lawmakers Press White House to Change Its Tone
Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police, and a special U.S. envoy delayed a peace-talks mission to the region amid tensions over planned construction in East Jerusalem.
The conflict also flared in Washington, as Republican and Democratic members of Congress pressed the Obama administration to tone down its criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for its plan to build 1,600 homes in the disputed territory.
The administration saw Israel's announcement, during a visit last week by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, as a slap in the face amid intensified U.S. efforts to mediate indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Protests Tuesday moved the dispute into the streets, in the most widespread unrest in Jerusalem in years. Palestinian protesters, many responding to a call by the Hamas militant group for a "day of rage," hurled Molotov cocktails and stones, set tires ablaze and blocked roads.
The protests appeared timed to follow the rededication on Monday of a Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City, which Hamas said was part of a plot—denied by Israel—to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites.
Israeli police, who had deployed 3,000 officers around the city, responded to some protesters with stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets. Police also turned back buses headed to Jerusalem carrying Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who planned to join the demonstrations. The Palestinians said dozens were injured in the clashes, which flared in the morning and continued through the day.
"We are calling for the third Intifada to be sparked now,'' said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, referring to Palestinian uprisings against Israel.
Peace talks are now in limbo, though U.S. officials said special Mideast envoy George Mitchell hoped to return to the region in the coming days. The diplomatic flap has plunged the longtime allies into one of the worst chills in relations in decades.
Senior U.S. officials said Tuesday that the future course of the diplomacy depended on how Mr. Netanyahu responded to Washington's demand that he reverse the decision on East Jerusalem construction and agree to a more vigorous embrace of the peace process. These American officials said they had expected Mr. Netanyahu's government to provide an official communication Tuesday, but now were anticipating the response Wednesday.
"We thought it was important to be informed by the Israeli positions on some of the issues that the secretary discussed with the prime minister'' before sending Mr. Mitchell to the region, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
He added that Mr. Mitchell wouldn't hold meetings with the Palestinians or Israelis until after a meeting of the so-called Quartet working on Mideast peace—Russia, the European Union, the United Nations and the U.S.—on Thursday and Friday in Moscow.
Members of the U.S. Congress pressed the Obama administration to revise its approach. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking House Republican, said he expressed concern to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel late Monday that the administration was shifting U.S. policy.
Mr. Cantor said the George W. Bush administration had recognized that certain neighborhoods in disputed East Jerusalem, including the site of the proposed construction, had become fundamental parts of the Jewish state, and stressed that the U.S. shouldn't be pressing Mr. Netanyahu to return these areas as part of the peace process.
"The administration is taking a very clear stance … everything is back on the table," Mr. Cantor said, referring to all lands Israel gained after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The White House confirmed Mr. Cantor's conversation with Mr. Emanuel, but contested the Republican's position. "The United States has a longstanding difference with Israel over building in East Jerusalem that runs across multiple administrations of both parties," said a National Security Council spokesman.
Nearly a dozen pro-Israel Democrats also urged the White House to smooth relations with Israel in a bid order to quickly resume peace talks. "We need to disentangle bilateral relations from the peace process," said Howard L. Berman of California, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The talks need to go forward."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday also stressed the sustainability of the U.S.-Israel alliance and the need for reconciliation. "We cannot afford to unravel the delicate fabric of friendship with the United States," Mr. Peres said.
Mr. Netanyahu on Monday characterized Israel's decision to build new homes in East Jerusalem as consistent with past governments and has said it should have no bearing on the prospects of Israeli-Palestinian talks.
Mr. Netanyahu's aides have complained that the U.S. has inflated the rift unnecessarily, giving Palestinians an excuse to boycott talks.
An aide to Talab el-Sana, an Israeli Arab member of the Israeli parliament who attended the demonstrations, said Mr. Netanyahu's government "is dangerous and irresponsible, and is leading the region to a third Intifada."
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A10
* MIDDLE EAST NEWS
* MARCH 17, 2010
By JOSHUA MITNICK in Tel Aviv and JAY SOLOMON in Washington
Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police, and a special U.S. envoy delayed a peace-talks mission to the region amid tensions over planned construction in East Jerusalem.
The conflict also flared in Washington, as Republican and Democratic members of Congress pressed the Obama administration to tone down its criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for its plan to build 1,600 homes in the disputed territory.
The administration saw Israel's announcement, during a visit last week by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, as a slap in the face amid intensified U.S. efforts to mediate indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Protests Tuesday moved the dispute into the streets, in the most widespread unrest in Jerusalem in years. Palestinian protesters, many responding to a call by the Hamas militant group for a "day of rage," hurled Molotov cocktails and stones, set tires ablaze and blocked roads.
The protests appeared timed to follow the rededication on Monday of a Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City, which Hamas said was part of a plot—denied by Israel—to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites.
Israeli police, who had deployed 3,000 officers around the city, responded to some protesters with stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets. Police also turned back buses headed to Jerusalem carrying Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who planned to join the demonstrations. The Palestinians said dozens were injured in the clashes, which flared in the morning and continued through the day.
"We are calling for the third Intifada to be sparked now,'' said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, referring to Palestinian uprisings against Israel.
Peace talks are now in limbo, though U.S. officials said special Mideast envoy George Mitchell hoped to return to the region in the coming days. The diplomatic flap has plunged the longtime allies into one of the worst chills in relations in decades.
Senior U.S. officials said Tuesday that the future course of the diplomacy depended on how Mr. Netanyahu responded to Washington's demand that he reverse the decision on East Jerusalem construction and agree to a more vigorous embrace of the peace process. These American officials said they had expected Mr. Netanyahu's government to provide an official communication Tuesday, but now were anticipating the response Wednesday.
"We thought it was important to be informed by the Israeli positions on some of the issues that the secretary discussed with the prime minister'' before sending Mr. Mitchell to the region, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
He added that Mr. Mitchell wouldn't hold meetings with the Palestinians or Israelis until after a meeting of the so-called Quartet working on Mideast peace—Russia, the European Union, the United Nations and the U.S.—on Thursday and Friday in Moscow.
Members of the U.S. Congress pressed the Obama administration to revise its approach. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking House Republican, said he expressed concern to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel late Monday that the administration was shifting U.S. policy.
Mr. Cantor said the George W. Bush administration had recognized that certain neighborhoods in disputed East Jerusalem, including the site of the proposed construction, had become fundamental parts of the Jewish state, and stressed that the U.S. shouldn't be pressing Mr. Netanyahu to return these areas as part of the peace process.
"The administration is taking a very clear stance … everything is back on the table," Mr. Cantor said, referring to all lands Israel gained after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The White House confirmed Mr. Cantor's conversation with Mr. Emanuel, but contested the Republican's position. "The United States has a longstanding difference with Israel over building in East Jerusalem that runs across multiple administrations of both parties," said a National Security Council spokesman.
Nearly a dozen pro-Israel Democrats also urged the White House to smooth relations with Israel in a bid order to quickly resume peace talks. "We need to disentangle bilateral relations from the peace process," said Howard L. Berman of California, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The talks need to go forward."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday also stressed the sustainability of the U.S.-Israel alliance and the need for reconciliation. "We cannot afford to unravel the delicate fabric of friendship with the United States," Mr. Peres said.
Mr. Netanyahu on Monday characterized Israel's decision to build new homes in East Jerusalem as consistent with past governments and has said it should have no bearing on the prospects of Israeli-Palestinian talks.
Mr. Netanyahu's aides have complained that the U.S. has inflated the rift unnecessarily, giving Palestinians an excuse to boycott talks.
An aide to Talab el-Sana, an Israeli Arab member of the Israeli parliament who attended the demonstrations, said Mr. Netanyahu's government "is dangerous and irresponsible, and is leading the region to a third Intifada."
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A10
* MIDDLE EAST NEWS
* MARCH 17, 2010
By JOSHUA MITNICK in Tel Aviv and JAY SOLOMON in Washington
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