Netanyahu Scrambles to Assure Obama He Is Serious About Peace Process
Palestinians Tear Down Section of Refugee Camp Wall in Act of Defiance
Faced with the prospect of the Palestinian Authority being formally dissolved because of his government’s repeated threats to abandon peace talks and repeatedly ruling out demands, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in a bit of public relations to assure people how serious he is about the peace process.
Not people in the Palestinian Authority, of course. Instead, Netanyahu was telling the press he would emphasize in a meeting with President Obama how “generous” he was prepared to be and how serious he was about peace.
He also called for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to return to peace talks. The call was made at a Jewish Federation conference in Washington DC. One can only assume Mr. Abbas was not in attendance.
Netanyahu sloganeering in a visit to the United States is unlikely to convince anyone in the West Bank of his sincerity, particularly without formal offers. As for the Palestinians, they appear to be growing less patient with a peace process which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and in an organized protest activists tore down a chunk of an Israel-built wall surrounding a refugee camp. Israeli troops arrived on the scene and fired tear gas grenades at the crowd. This, it seems, is the more practical assessment of the state of peace between the two sides.
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canadaguy
November 10th, 2009 at 2:51 am
The best question anyone can ask the politicians right now is "Why don't the Palestinians have the right to vote?" That's a question most Americans can understand and relate to. Even better, since it's the anniversary of the Berlin wall falling, "Why can't Palestinians go where they want, with or without papers? Why is there a wall?"
Advocat4Liberty
November 10th, 2009 at 5:28 am
The only thing that Netisyahoo is serious about is ethnically cleansing "goys" from "the promised land" – promised to a bunch of crafty yet superstitious barbarians by a product of their fevered imaginations.
canadaguy
November 10th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Mr Advocat, this is the type of feverish rambling that makes people think many of those opposed to Israeli policy might be anti-semitic. Please feel free to criticize Israel and their policies, but try to do so in a rational way that people might actually understand. I might have misunderstood your statements, but they sound vicious and unfair to me.
paljustice
November 10th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
The problem is that Israel's apartheid policies-Jewish Only settlements and roads, as well as house demolitions of Non-Jewish homes, the assault on Gaza. ect., is creating anti-Jewish feeling since Israel has declared itself a Jewish state. Most Israelies want the non-Jews ethnically cleansed, so they can have a purely Jewish state. They are the ones who have become racists. Do you agree with this?
Jane Doe
November 10th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
canada guy, I would suggest you read the Talmud. And the Torah if you have a really strong stomach.
Go to the source.
And Canada has not paid in blood and treasure the way the US has for Israel's paranoid, narcissistic, controlling, threatening, rogue behavior.
The US has launched THREE wars for Israel with another on the horizon.
Again, I would suggest that you read the Talmud and the Torah and see how much the life of a goy is worth in their own parlance. This is not "anti-semitism" a stupid ass word to begin with, this is GOING TO THE SOURCE AND FINDING OUT FOR YOURSELF.
canadaguy
November 10th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Jane, I don't need to read religious texts to judge someone's actions. Pretty much every religious text has a lot of scary stuff in it. Of course, objecting to Israel's actions is not anti-semitic. Statements like the following are:
"promised to a bunch of crafty yet superstitious barbarians by a product of their fevered imaginations"
This sounds a lot like the racist "crafty jew" arguments you see on neo-nazi websites to me. That sort of thing is unacceptable.
mark
November 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Why is antiwar.com running an article like this on their 'front page'? This is Zionist junk. Netanyahu should be in jail.
Ira7Epstein
November 10th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Netanyahu is serious about making peace with the Palistinians and I have bridge I want to sell you in Brooklyn.
Anti_Govt_Rebel
November 10th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Israel is not, and has never, bargained in good faith. They want to give the appearance of negotiating, but they won't concede anything meaningful to the Palestinians.
The US should immediatley stop sending money. (The howls would be deafening)
Mista D
November 10th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
That's funny…. cos the last time he used the work 'serious', it was to tell us he was serious about boming Iran.
Lo and behold…. he's now 'serious' about peace….
andy
November 11th, 2009 at 12:42 am
The Palestinians need to re-frame the argument. Instead of being a people seeking a state, they should present themselves as people denied their civil rights and political liberties as citizens in Israel. Demography and time is on their side.
therock
November 11th, 2009 at 2:11 am
EXACTLY!!
therock
November 11th, 2009 at 2:15 am
As rational as our blind pro Zionist policies. Yours is the standard retort, used by the cabal, of anti=semitism that silences all discourse. It wont silence me, an avowed anti-Zionist!
canadaguy
November 11th, 2009 at 2:30 am
It should be creating anti-Israeli feelings, and anti-Zionist feelings, not anti-Jewish feeling. Of course those Israelis who believe what you say above are indeed racists.
canadaguy
November 11th, 2009 at 2:36 am
I don't intend to silence opposition to Israeli policies, which would be obvious if you had read any of my prior postings. I also agree that the charge of anti-semitism is often used to silence legitimate criticism.
However, that does not apply in this case. Calling Jewish people "crafty barbarians" is plainly racist. Such Nazi-sounding statements are also completely unnecessary is order to make the valid point that Netanyahu's policies are the cause of great suffering and injustice.
Advocat4Liberty
November 11th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Given what the Zionists – which does not include all Jewish people, BTW – are doing and have done to the original inhabitants of that sad land, "vicious and unfair" are pretty mild descriptions of Israeli action.
One other point: in describing my "rambling" sentence, I didn't notice "inaccurate" or "untrue", only "vicious and unfair". If I offended your religious sensibilities, I am emphatically not sorry. I don't believe that reason needs any apology to superstition.