November 30, 2012
Why U.S., Israel should welcome Palestinian move at U.N.
Rabbi Michael Lerner at CNN:
Israel's security can only be assured when its neighbors believe that it is no longer oppressing the Palestinian people but instead living in peace and harmony with them.
The de facto strategy of past and present Israeli governments of seeking security through domination and by pushing Palestinians out of their homes, or allowing right-wing religious fanatics to create settlements throughout the West Bank to ensure that no Palestinian state could have contiguous parts, has not and cannot work to provide safety for Israel.
Israel's fate and its well-being are intrinsically linked to the well-being of the Palestinian people. It's time for the powerful to show generosity to the relatively powerless.
So those in the U.S. and Israel who want Israel to be secure should welcome the Palestinian Authority's decision to seek observer status as a nonmember state in the United Nations. The authority has agreed to return to negotiations with Israel without conditions once that status has been granted. The goal is creation of a state living in peace with Israel in borders roughly approximating those of the before than 1967 war, with minor border changes mutually agreeable through negotiations.
So who opposes this? Hamas, Israel and the U.S.
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 01:14 PM | Permalink
Comments
The writer's argument is premised on the assption the Israeli government is concerned with the welfare of its people. This is a questionable assumption. The spread of settlements requires provoking outraged responses from Palestinians that injure blameless civillians but are no threat to the Israeli elite or military resources. That is why the little 8 year old boy was shot in his fathers arms all those years ago. They hope this justifies retaliatory slaughter and the seizing of more land. Contractors and arms dealers are getting rich. It's not even about religion. After all Prescott Bush was pro Nazi and Israel is happy to do business with his grandson G W.
Posted by: Stuart Mathieson | Dec 1, 2012 9:33:55 AM
Rather than "welcoming", they retaliate by authorizing new settlements in East Jerusalem. NY Times headline: "For Obama, Difficult Timing of an Israeli Plan Is Nothing New"
“Obama may be an empowered second-term president, but he’s still constrained on the Hill on the Israel issue..." Aaron David Miller, vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
What a polite way of putting it.
I can't wait for Obama's memoir to come out in 2017, telling us how he really wanted to wring Bibi's neck.
Posted by: FrankZ | Dec 1, 2012 10:48:26 AM
I think Rabbi Lerner has it right.
The far-right fundamentalists of Israel are pushing an agenda
which will mean more war and violence. I wonder if Hamas knows anything else.
The U.S. needs to take a far different stance here, a balanced approach to help each side, focused on Justice and Fairness. I think such a focus would work; however, that doesn't seem to be the strong suits of the sword-rattlers on either side.
Look for that new group of settlements to go to hyperspeed,probably with others to follow. Then.....
Posted by: Richard H. Randall, Major, USA, (ret.) | Dec 2, 2012 11:31:27 AM
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