In an extraordinary—and I don’t use the word in a complimentary way—interview with Jeffrey Goldberg
of Bloomberg, President Obama follows his secretary of state in warning
Israel and its leader that a failure to “make peace” now with the
Palestinians will have terrible consequences. Israel is “more isolated
internationally,” and will become more so; there will be more
Palestinians and Israeli Arabs as time goes on, not fewer, so Israel had
better move now; and not to move now is to create the conditions for a
“permanent Israeli occupation of the West Bank….there comes a point when
you cannot manage this anymore.”
The wild logical contradictions in his remarks expose the degree to
which the American approach in the Kerry peace talks is to haunt Israel
with the dire nightmare it will face should the talks fail; Palestinian
rejectionism plays almost no role in the Obaman calculus here.
The Palestinians, in Obama’s view, do not actually need to make changes; astonishingly, he says, they’re ready
for peace. “The Palestinians,” the president says, overlooking every
piece of polling data we have about the opinions of the Palestinians,
“would still prefer peace. They would still prefer a country of their
own that allows them to find a job, send their kids to school, travel
overseas, go back and forth to work without feeling as if they are
restricted or constrained as a people. And they recognize that Israel is
not going anywhere.”
Ah. So that 2011 poll that says 60 percent of the Palestinians reject a two-state solution
is bunk—a poll whose findings have not been contradicted since. If
Palestinians refuse to accept a two-state solution, they do not
“recognize that Israel is not going anywhere.” Rather, they are still
engaging in a pseudo-national fantasy about Israel’s disappearance or
destruction. And they are so eager for peace and coexistence with Israel
that they remain the only significant Muslim population that still has a favorable view of suicide bombings, according to a Pew survey.
“The voices for peace within the Palestinian community will be
stronger with a framework agreement,” the president says. But why would
the “voices for peace” need to be “stronger” if they reflect the actual
views of the Palestinian people? They should be more than strong enough
on their own now. Indeed, if they are so strong, we would not be hearing
repeated denunciations of the “framework” process from Palestinian negotiators.
The president’s fantasies about the Palestinians also involve
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. “I think,” he
says, “nobody would dispute that whatever disagreements you may have
with him, he has proven himself to be somebody who has been committed to
nonviolence and diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue.” Nobody would dispute?
(Click link below to read more)
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- Judy Chaffee
- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Monday, March 3, 2014
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