EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Palestinian Faith in Obama 'Evaporates'
Palestinian political leaders have expressed acute disappointment in the Obama administration, saying their hopes that it could bring peace to the Middle East have "evaporated" and accusing the White House of giving in to Israeli pressure.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas shake hands while Barack Obama looks on at in New York last month. (Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP) The
unusually frank comments come in an internal memo from the Fatah party,
led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, but reflect a broader
frustration among Palestinian politicians that Washington's very public
push for peace in the Middle East has yet to produce even a restarting
of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
"All hopes placed in the new US administration and President Obama have evaporated," said the document, which was leaked to the Associated Press news agency.
It said Barack Obama "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, which led to a retreat from his previous positions on halting settlement construction and defining an agenda for the negotiations and peace".
The document, dated Monday, came from an office led by Mohammed Ghneim, a Fatah hardliner and the party's number two, who returned to the West Bank only this year after many years in exile. He was long a critic of the Oslo accords of the mid-1990s, arguing they gave too much to the Israelis.
Other Palestinian figures share the frustrations. Mohammad Dahlan was reported as saying this week that he felt "very disappointed and worried by the US administration retreat".
For many months now, the Palestinians have kept to their position that talks cannot restart without an end to construction in Israeli settlements and a guarantee that a full agreement is on the table, based on the borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
"The Israelis need to acknowledge that the 1967 borders are the borders between the two states, and this is the foundation of any negotiations," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas.
George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, was in Jerusalem again at the weekend for another round of apparently fruitless talks between the two sides.
After Obama met with Abbas and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in New York last month he said he wanted negotiations to restart soon. But even with the president's newlyawarded Noble peace prize, that still seems harder than first expected.
Washington has notably toned down its language on Israeli settlement-building, and no longer calls for a full freeze to construction, talking instead of "restraint."
But this Palestinian disenchantment also comes at a time when Abbas has seen his personal credibility badly damaged among his own people, and it may be partly an effort to deflect criticism. There was disquiet when he agreed at the last minute to go to New York last month for the Netanyahu meeting, even though the Israelis had not agreed to the full halt to settlement building that Abbas had demanded.
The criticism worsened dramatically when 10 days ago he decided against supporting a vote at the UN human rights council to endorse a critical UN report on the Gaza war, written by the South African judge Richard Goldstone.
The report, hailed by human rights groups, accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and recommended that international prosecutions be considered.
Although it appeared that the Palestinians had enough support at the council to endorse the report, Abbas backed away at the last minute, apparently under intense US diplomatic pressure. He faced bitter criticism from his political rival, Hamas. It said he was unfit to lead and pulled out of a crucial reconciliation agreement due to have been signed later this month.
Abbas has since reversed his decision. Now the report will once again be considered at the human rights council in Geneva at a special session starting on Thursday. In New York tomorrow the UN security council will hold a debate on the Middle East, brought forward after Libya, a current council member, said the Goldstone report should be discussed.
It is not only the Palestinians who see little chance of peace: last week, Israel's often outspoken foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said there was no chance of a full peace deal with the Palestinians until a "much later stage."
"There are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution, and people learned to live with it," he said.
- Posted in
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
23 Comments so far
Show AllIt said Barack Obama "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, "
This is news to them???? He had to bow down to them before he could even get the Dem nomination...
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
In the upcoming Iran-Israel conflict, the Palestinians will again be attacked, divided and further repressed. Tel-Aviv is pushing Afghanistan and Pakistan a la Iraq. Israel is at the epicentre of unrest via their assault on Islam w/ the US military taking their marching orders from them. But within it all lies the cancer, the wound, of Palestine, radiating outwards.
In the 1980s a study put out by an Israeli think tank discussed three spheres of - what they called - "threats" that needed to be "dealt with".
The first sphere included neighboring countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
The second sphere included Iraq, Libya and Saudi Arabia.
The third sphere included Muslim, non-Arab, states such as Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iran.
the palestinians can take a number and wait as far as the disapointment factor goes
maybe obama's moral ground is somewhat compromised being that he is from a country - the good ole us of a - that was established when a group of whiteys from europe arrived - killed off the population - took over and then drove out the original inhabitants using genocidal techniques such as: murder by gun, murder by poison and murder by science - we used to trade the indians using blankets infested with small pox, for example
we made their religion illegal - stole their children and abandoned them to hundreds of years of poverty
so what can we say when the israelis do it
what can we say when the israelis do it with our financial and military support
first with arafat and now abbas the corrupt fatah continues to abet the israelis every step of the way
the palestinians made the choice to support hamas and we - the us - decided to punish them further for voting in a democracy for the candidates of their choice
international observers, including jimmy carter, stated the elections were fair and honest
too fucking bad - we trumped their democracy with our nwo boy at the time - bushbaby
i am only amazed the palestinians had any faith in barry to begin with - he doesn't give a fuck about them
never did
never will
"the palestinians can take a number and wait as far as the disapointment factor goes"
Well said!
Note the last two paragraphs:
"It is not only the Palestinians who see little chance of peace". Like what, "peace" is some kind of warm weather front over which none of the players have any control?
Avigdor Lieberman says there is "no chance of a full peace deal...until a much later stage". "Stage" of what? The word "stage" suggests there is an actual process here, with stages and an outcome.
Then Lieberman gives the game away, by saying, in effect, "F*** you, live with it!" So, Israel creates a gigantic but completely baseless obstacle to peace, then externalizes the obstacle and treats it like something objective and historical, then claims to be powerless to overcome it, at this "stage", then, tells the rest of us, "tough Sh*t" if we don't like it.
Is that what is meant by the term, "chutzpah"?
Palestinians: The American Indians of the Middle East.
Just write their obituary already and get it over with. They're a doomed people and there's nothing anybody can do about it. If the US won't influence Israel to stop actively colonizing Palestine, it won't do anything. Letters to editors and congressmen won't work, and I don't know about you, but I'm not going to stand down a bulldozer. They'll just run you over and get away with it. By the way, how's about a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize for Rachel Corrie? Helluva lot better candidate than Obama.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."--(?).
Faith in Obama 'Evaporates' in a cloud of white phosphorus.
Israel has gotten away with violating Palestinian borders, committing war crimes against Palestinians, illegal blockades of Palestine, and the outright murder and suppression of the native Palestinians for decades. All done, of course, with the full backing of the global bully, America.
It will never change. As long as Israel - and America, by proxy - remain unpunished for committing these crimes, it will continue. If you walked up to someone, blew their head off with a gun in front of thousands, and the police and everyone else stood by and shrugged while you walked away, what lesson would you learn? Obviously: it's ok for you to blow anyone's head off anytime you want, with no consequences.
Silence is assent.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
Okay Nobel Peace Prize Winner, time to earn your award!
If a country wants to be a country, it needs to follow the rules.
However, any way you look at it, Israel and it's equally fascist sponsor seem to think
Might is right
We don't need no stinkin' laws!
Remember the Liberty!!!!
In case anyone has forgotten - the reason given for the attack on 9/11 was that the US was not being an impartial in resolving the situation.
But I could be wrong !
Hitch your wagon to Obama and you are a fool.
What's with this guy (our President)??
I don't consider myself particularly heroic or brave, but if I were President, I would tell Israel, as well as those in America, that Israel has more than 100 nuclear weapons and one of the world's most powerful military forces. When a country is that stong, and acts like a bunch of panzies, that means that they are cowards and bullies much of the time.
I would tell the world that bullying others will not be tolerated, to "cut the crap" and get on with becoming a decent country by treating their neighbors more decently than they have so far.
"Palestinian Faith in Obama 'Evaporates'"
Of course. Why should they be any different than the rest of us.
The Palestinians have to make up their mind if the want peace, or continue the conflict.
Goldstone's report has managed to mortally wound the already injured peace process, something even Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu failed to do.
I wonder what it feels like, for someone like you, to be whoring yourself 24/7.
Does it have any long term effects on your self-esteem or were you born schizophrenic, so the medications you were prescribed kind of numb the pain?
Letto. I never cease to be amazed by your command on logic or the facts. So a committee headed by a Zionist, who insisted that he be allowed to report on the human rights abuses by the victims (ie Gazans) as well as the aggressors is mortally injuring the peace process. Please explain?
And how is this injuring the peace process more than a man (Netanyahu) who said
"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."
-- Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.
or more than a man (Lieberman) about whom a fellow Israeli politician said
"If you liked Mussolini, if you were missing Stalin, you'll love Lieberman."
— Unnamed member of Israel's left-wing Meretz party. (Telegraph, February 10th, 2009)
Please tell us - I'm sure my fellow commentators would also like to hear your explanation.
'It said Barack Obama "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby" ' -- AKA Wall Street & co.
all this Israel and Jewish hate on here reminds me of the stuff the "racist" neo-nazi say. But you folks are not racist (for the same rhetoric).
I've not seen anyone express hate for Jews in general. Just for rightwing Zionists and their fellow-travellers. Can you supply at least one example of the hate you claim to see?
Yeah, it's hateful to state that Israel is expelling Palestinians from their homes. It's out of bounds to say this amounts to colonizing their land as they expand settlements. The facts themselves are racist.
Don't worry, they'll get their Greater Israel. It is a matter of time before Palestinians in Palestine are a thing of the past. Nobody will stand up for them except ineffectual activists and the suicide bombers who hurt their cause. Sleep well.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."--(?).
OK people, for those of you who understand the immoral and completely criminal actions of the Israeli's, we, the world citizens, need to join and implement the Boycott, Sanction and Divest movement against the criminal/fascist state of Israel. The US government needs the same treatment until they also decide to join the civilized world!!!! Ghandi was and is the true candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize....he knew how to defeat the powers of tyranny and gave us the formula, proven effective!!! BOYCOTT, SANCTION AND DIVEST!!!!