What does Natural Growth mean to you?

I guess sometimes its easier to keep your head in the sand than accept the plain and simple meaning of what is being told to your face.

A perfect example is in a recent Q&A session with Obama's envoy George Mitchell (a low level functionary hack, I presume).

As everyone knows, Obama has been demanding a stop (destruction) to both Settlements as well as an end to 'Natural Growth' (among other demands).

With the English language being stretched and warped so manipulatively by the Obama administration, some reporters have tried to pin down what exactly does 'Natural Growth' mean.

What exactly does the Obama administration see that they are trying to stop?

Here is an except from that Q&A session.

The only question the reporter didn't ask, is if the administration's preferred method was gas or drowning.

(Relevant excerpts from the Q&A)

QUESTION: -- including natural growth. And secondly, can you give us just a definition of what the United States considers natural growth? What does that phrase mean in your mind?

Well, what does natural growth mean? I mean, can you just use it in--

MR. MITCHELL: I’m constantly asked by editors, you know, please give a plain explanation of what natural growth is.

Well, of course, one of the issues is that there is no universally used and accepted definition. The most common definition is by the number of births, but there are many variations of that. I’ve had numerous discussions with many Israeli and other officials, and there are almost as many definitions as there are people speaking. But I think the most commonly used measure is the number of births.


QUESTION: When you say the most common definition is births, are you saying –

MR. MITCHELL: The one that – the most commonly used in conversations with me.

QUESTION: I see. So when the U.S. say no natural growth –

MR. MITCHELL: Right.

QUESTION: -- is that what it’s saying is the definition?

MR. MITCHELL: We’re engaged in discussions on a wide range of issues. And different people have different interpretations of different phrases. And we listen to all points of view. We listen to every aspect of every discussion, and we’re trying to reach an agreement and understanding that helps us move the process forward. And I think I wouldn’t want to get beyond that.

"But I think the most commonly used measure is the number of births."

Has he made the Obama position clear enough?


On other relevant issues of the day:

Dov Bear and other far left bloggers publicly lambasted and attacked Jameel and I for a post where we reported that on Israeli Radio they said the Obama administration will be announcing a major peace initiative in July.

The reports indicated that the initiative will include removing Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem.

But Dov Bear and others misread the post and report (by accident I'm sure) to mean that Obama would announce his initiative in his Cairo speech - which is not what we said, and obviously not what happened.


Funny how life works, because in this same Q&A session, as it happens, that exact question came up for Mitchell.

Read it for yourself:

QUESTION: Samir Nader with Radio Sawa. Mr. Solana of the EU, he stated a few days ago that the U.S. will announce its vision for peace in the Middle East before the end of July. Is this true?
And if so, will you do it now?

MR. MITCHELL: Is this before the end of July? As I said earlier, we’re going to move as promptly as possible. And in my opening remarks, I said that we hope to conclude the discussions in which we’re now engaged very soon. To me, it’s a matter of weeks, not many months, so he may well be right.

I don't want an apology from Dov Bear for being wrong again.


Dov Bear, I am not interested in fighting with you about all this - on what the grammatical structure of Obama's statements mean. I am sure we will continue to disagree on that.

The Obama administration is not the Bush administration which had tacit agreements with Israel in place and where George Bush personally had respect for Israel (even if Condi and his other advisers didn't). Stop trying to compare them. It's irrelevant to what is at hand.

The issues is the present and the future.

At some point, Obama will begin to transform words into actions (and it has actually already begun). I just want to know that you will be on our side if and when push comes to shove.

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Everyone, please wish a Refuah Shleimah to Jameel who has been out of commission this past week. Doctors have ruled out Swine Flu (seriously), but he is ill with a high temperature and is unable to blog or much of anything else. He appreciates all your good wishes.

Shabbat Shalom.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד