September 9, 2010
The Lovers and the ScornedIf ever there was a picture
that speaks ten thousand words
this one of Hillary and Bibi canoodling
pretending Abbas is not there is it!
by Philip Weiss
MONDOWEISS
Here are a few old quotes that would tell the world that there never HAS been much of a hope for peace whether a one, two, or three state solution. Zionism is an acquisitive political movement and these people have never had any intention of sharing. Instead they planned to push forward for more land.
"The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized. Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. Forever." ~ Menachem Begin, the day after the U.N. vote to partition Palestine.
"The past leaders of our movement left us a clear message to keep Eretz Israel from the Sea to the River Jordan for future generations, for the mass aliya (Jewish immigration), and for the Jewish people, all of whom will be gathered into this country." ~ Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir at a Tel Aviv memorial service for Likud leaders, November 1990. Jerusalem Domestic Radio Service.
"The settlement of the Land of Israel is the essence of Zionism. Without settlement, we will not fulfill Zionism. It's that simple." ~ Yitzhak Shamir, Maariv, 02/21/1997.
"We should prepare to go over to the offensive. Our aim is to smash Lebanon, Trans-Jordan, and Syria. The weak point is Lebanon, for the Moslem regime is artificial and easy for us to undermine. We shall establish a Christian state there, and then we will smash the Arab Legion, eliminate Trans-Jordan; Syria will fall to us. We then bomb and move on and take Port Said, Alexandria and Sinai." ~ David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel
As for the Settlements? Netanyahu is keeping right to schedule as planned:
"We'll make a pastrami sandwich of them, we'll insert a strip of Jewish settlements in between the Palestinians, and then another strip of Jewish settlements right across the West Bank, so that in 25 years' time, neither the United Nations nor the United States, nobody, will be able to tear it apart." ~ Ariel Sharon
After a two year deadlock and 17 years of failure, Washington has relaunched direct peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And both parties have agreed to keep talking, in the hope of reaching a final agreement.
For the naive and optimistic, that the US renewed sponsorship of direct talks this week is a major step towards peace. They argue that as the leader of the free world, the US has the moral and geopolitical responsibility, as well as the political and strategic proximity to broker peace in the Middle East.
Their detractors reckon that the US-sponsored peace process is the continuation of war through other means, not only in Palestine, but throughout the region, where the US and its closest ally Israel use the peace process to cover up their strategic follies and expand their regional interests.
They claim that the influence of the Israel lobby in Washington, coupled with US wars in the greater Middle East, renders the US a dishonest broker that succumbs to the Israeli agenda at the expense of Palestinian rights.
And here lies the paradox facing many of America’s partners and allies who are eager for its activism but skeptical of its judgment.
Whilst Washington’s management, of the diplomatic process over the last 17 years has had its share of critics, Arab and Muslim attachment to Palestine, coupled with its international symbolism as the last colonial occupation, have ensured that this cause remains crucial to regional stability and on top of the American and the global agenda.
An increasing number of US generals and politicians believe that resolving the Palestinian issue is important to the US’ own national security in light of its wars and occupation in the greater Middle East.
As Israelis and Palestinians take the first step of a one-year journey to reach a final agreement, we ask: What will it take to reach the Promised Land? And is the US willing, or able, to do what it takes to make peace possible?
"Empire" host Marwan Bishara is incisive; he speaks of the "Zionist lobby" and the emergence of a state in Kosovo with far less rigmarole than the endless peace process.
Mearsheimer is unbound.
Some Mearsheimer sound bites:
"The talks are going to fail and who's going to be blamed ~ the Palestinians."
[Obama has caved to Netanyahu twice. In July, Obama invited Netanyahu to the White House and] "treated him like visiting royalty. He's 0 for 2. He's bringing these two leaders to Washington with no sense of how they're going to reach agreement... Israel holds virtually all the cards in this game... And President Obama has proved clearly that he's incapable of putting pressure on Israel... The [cause] is very simple, the Israel lobby here in the United States.
"The peace process was not a major step forward because it's led nowhere and has provided perfect cover to the Israelis to continue colonization... The peace process is a charade.... "
Where is this all headed? You're going to end up with a greater Israel.
You already have a greater Israel. It's going to be one state. The Palestinians are going to have a handful of enclaves inside that state, one of which is the Gaza Strip, and there will be three or four in the West Bank. This will be an apartheid state... That's where it's headed. But it's Israel in the driver's seat. And the United States is merely Israel's lawyer...
"How [can] the international community... facilitate the two state solution? I think that question is largely irrelevant. There's not going to be a two-state solution. There's going to be a greater Israel, and the Palestinians are going to live in a greater Israel. The reason that the international community is of enormous importance to the Palestinians is because the big fight that lies ahead is going to involve democracy inside of that greater Israel. What the Israelis are going to try to do is keep the Palestinians boxed up in Bantustans... The South African model, that's correct."
[Malley says Mearsheimer underestimates the Israeli ability to create a state.]
"The question is, are they going to give the Palestinians a viable state? They'll give the Palestinians a handful of Bantustans and call it a state..... The Palestinians will not accept anything short of a viable state, anything short of a state that's based on the Clinton parameters... And there is no Israeli government now or in the future that will do that. And you'll end up with a greater Israel. And therefore the international community will be very important because of the South African analogy.
"The two state solution is in my view the ideal solution... No, Washington cannot deliver. We're wasting our time. This is a charade, this is not serious. This is a charade... You're going to get a one-state solution. And it's not clear that it's not in the Palestinians' interest to go for a one state solution over a two-state solution."
Throughout the 90s, Israel would not allow the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
"Clinton stabbed Arafat in the back... When these talks fail, you can rest assured that the knife will go in the back of the Palestinians and not the Israelis..."
Then this from Shaath: "The Israelis are control freaks. They control everything that we do."
Bishara: "Will you recognize the Jewish state?"
Shaath: "Of course not."
the Palestinians in Israel,
and foreclose the right of return.
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