Parliamentary investigation of human rights groups, no it’s not Pakistan, it’s Israel!
What’s next, loyalty oaths? It certainly isn’t any seriousness about peace!
Gorilla says: “Yet another example of what happens when right-wing crazies take over a country!”
A black quarterback engages in dogfighting, and is sent to prison for it. One Know Nothing commentator suggests that he should have been executed.
A white quarterback engages in adultery, sexual harassment, obstruction of justice, and lying, and is fined $50,000 for it.
In Nazi Germany, marriage between Germans and Jews was forbidden.
Gorilla says: “Plus ca change…”
Middle East peace: dead in the water again!
The Israelis have learned from the Know Nothing Party that this President can be rendered harmless simply through non-cooperation, or alternatively through non-cooperation once the President has finished negotiating all his chips away.
Why worry about being serious about peace when you know there’ll be no price paid for being intransigent?
Gorilla says: “When you have no clothes, you are the King Of Nothing!”
When the Israeli Foreign Minister says his party will do everything in its power to block the slowdown in illegal settlement construction, the current “peace process” is already dead in the water.
Throughout their political careers, neither the Foreign Minister nor the Prime Minister of Israel have ever displayed the slightest interest in making a deal with the Palestinians. The parties they represent in the Knesset will not allow them to halt settlement construction. This is spun by these Israeli politicians into a concern about “security”, allowing the current Israeli government to pursue precisely the same approach to peace that is displayed by Hamas.
The US cannot be an honest broker for peace until and unless there is a willingness to exact a price from the Israelis for their continued intransigence and a willingness to deal with Hamas as a legitimate representative of the Palestinians. There is no political support in the US for doing anything against Israel and uncertain political support within the Palestinian community for the “two state solution”.
So the dance of the peace fairies continues.
Dramatic gestures are needed from the Administration, such as a referendum asking Palestinians once and for all to support two states, bilateral talks with Iran to address the nuclear issue and Hamas to address the peace process, a summit of Arab leaders to recognize the state of Israel, and a willingness to substantially reduce foreign aid to Israel if their intransigence about settlements, Jerusalem, etc. continues.
Given the Administration’s historical preference to avoid confrontation on far more important issues, like the fate of the US economy, this round of “talks” will be as fruitless as all the others since 1978 have been.
Gorilla says: “If you don’t put up, you might as well shut up!”
Here they go again, the Israelis and Palestinians in yet another round of peace negotiations.
And the lack of seriousness on both sides remains.
The Israelis simply will not tear down the illegal settlements they’ve been building for 30 years. There is also no evidence whatever that the current Israeli prime minister and his extremist coalition have any tangible commitment to negotiations, much less to an agreement.
The Palestinians remain completely divided, as this week’s Hamas attack on Israeli settlers demonstrates. What’s needed is a referendum to decide once and for all whether there is substantial popular support for the two-state solution. What’s feared is that the Palestinians may vote no.
President Obama’s hands are tied. There’s no support in the US for bringing the Israelis into line, and no belief in the Middle East that the US is an honest broker.
Gorilla says: “Extend and pretend is all that’s on offer these days!”
More direct talks, same old stalemate: welcome to the Middle East!!!
Neither side is serious about peace.
The current Israeli government will not agree to dismantle illegal settlements and the Palestinians are as usual divided over whether to have peace at all.
Meanwhile, the US plays the role of hapless, dishonest broker, unable to use any real leverage against either side.
There’s zero political support in America for holding Israel accountable for anything, and no stomach for supporting a referendum on Palestinian statehood that Abbas et. al. might lose.
Gorilla says: “Building an actual mosque actually located at ground zero would be far easier than this waste of time!”
No problem, Israel, Iran’s at least a year away from nuclear weapons capability!!!
So, no need to launch yet another pointless war in a region we would treat like Africa but for one thing: oil.
Meanwhile, the Israelis and Palestinians have agreed to talk directly, even though neither side is serious about peace.
It’s all very frustrating, because direct bilateral talks with Iran are clearly the quickest way to getting the US out of the mess we’ve created.
Gorilla says: “When talks are on the same timeline as nuclear dashing, we’ll have something to say!”
The Israelis, who clearly aren’t serious about peace but are serious about their blockade of Gaza, or the pro-Palestinian “aid flotilla”, who got themselves shot up as a reward for staging a cheap media stunt?
With a dozen or so dead, and several dozen wounded, it’s hard to figure out what the point of this nonsense is.
Israel’s Prime Minister seems determined to bury his head and his country as deep into the sand as possible. He has few friends internationally, and his most loyal ally is desperately trying to get him to a bargaining table he has never supported in his entire political career.
The Palestinians get lots of international sympathy, but they are bitterly divided. A referendum to make up their minds once and for all would be useful, but of course Hamas might win.
Gorilla says: “Sounds like a case for Kurt Wallender, but that’s not real life!”
Why is Middle East peace so far off the track?
Because the two sides aren’t serious about peace and the US isn’t willing to do anything whatever to cajole either side into making concessions.
Latest case in point: a rocket defense system to shoot down the missiles lobbed into Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah.
Nothing wrong with pissing away more money on defense systems, or at least nothing wrong that anyone wants to correct, but the overwhelming impression left is that the US is neither a serious nor an honest broker.
Settlements? For all the rhetoric, the US isn’t attaching any price to Israeli intransigence.
Palestinian unity? Hard to see this happening so long as Hamas remains ignored and on the sidelines, free to toss rockets into Israel whenever it likes. Even the Russians are talking to them!
Gorilla says: “Talks about talks, while bullshit walks!”
Hillary Clinton, backing down on Israel for America, as everyone in the world knew would happen.
Why?
Here’s Matthew Yglesias pointing out the obvious: there’s no political support whatever in the United States for any kind of retaliation against Israel, no matter what Israel does.
So, back will go George Mitchell for another round of proximity talks.
Israel will come to the table for a serious negotiation only when it decides that its future as a Jewish state is under threat. Both demographics and time are on the Palestinian side and the Israelis aren’t completely stupid.
The Palestinians will come to the table for a serious negotiation only when they decide that some kind of state is better than another 60 years of being stateless.
At the moment, neither side is serious about peace, so the US shouldn’t waste any further time on forcing them to get serious; both sides know we have zero leverage.
Gorilla says: “Getting Republicans to vote for any bill introduced by any Democrat is a walk in the park, when compared to getting Jews and Palestinians to divvy up their park!”
Gorilla’s Blog