Today our first black President of the United States took time out of his busy schedule of hooking for the Lords of Capital, strategizing terror in Afghanistan, and supporting a racist Arab terrorist army in Libya that is butchering black Africans, to spell out his opposition to the creation of the state of Palestine, despite a year ago telling the same audience that, “When we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations — an independent, sovereign state of Palestine.”
President Obama speaking today at the UN General Assembly in New York |
That was last year. This year he said, “Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N. If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now.”
Uh . . . apparently it is that easy. I mean . . . um . . . Republic of Kosovo? Last I looked the US supported creating that state—only a few years ago, mind you—despite objections from Serbia, and other countries in the region, and many other countries around the world.
So, yeah . . . I call bullshit.
President Obama is providing cover for Israel, who illegally occupies Palestine, and who illegally attacks Palestine routinely, and whose borders illegally grow each day, and who have rejected peace for decades. Peace cannot come by negotiations, especially as long as the US is involved siding with Israel and vetoing UN resolutions and supplying Israel with weapons and money. All of his hot air on talks and negotiations can be laid to rest simply by using the President’s own words: “If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now.”
Why hasn’t negotiations accomplished the creation of the state of Palestine?
Why did Camp David, Taba, Oslo, the Road Map and so on fail? Apologists for Israel like to claim it was Palestinians but a closer inspection shows the opposite to be the case.
For example, many Americans and Israelis say Israel made generous offers at Camp David, though one American official, Robert Malley, who was deeply involved later acknowledged that, “strictly speaking, there never was an Israeli offer.”
And Ron Pundak, an Israeli who was involved with various “talks,” said this about Camp David, “The Israeli version presented in retrospect by Israeli spokespersons, claiming that Barak at Camp David offered 95% and an additional 5% in compensation, or alternatively 97% and another 3% compensation, is an attempt at rewriting history.”
Norman Finklestein discussed Taba with Shlomo ben Ami, an Israeli involved with the talks, and noted:
What were the offers being made on each side of the Camp David and in the Taba talks? And the standard interpretation, which comes—which is—you can call it the Dennis Ross interpretation, which, I think, unfortunately Dr. Ben-Ami echoes, is that Israel made huge concessions at Camp David and Taba; Palestinians refused to make any concessions, because of what Dr. Ben-Ami repeatedly calls Arafat’s unyielding positions; and that Arafat missed a huge opportunity. Now, it is correct to say that if you frame everything in terms of what Israel anted, it made huge concessions. However, if you frame things in terms of what Israel was legally entitled to under international law, then Israel made precisely and exactly zero concessions. All the concessions were made by the Palestinians.
He then went on to detail how “there were four key issues at Camp David and at Taba” which Israel made no concessions on though is obligated to under international law: “Number one, settlements. Number two, borders. Number three, Jerusalem. Number four, refugees.”
It is instructive how the US can support a state in Kosovo—which is led by a terrorist the US supported during their butchery against Serbia—even though it did not come about by negotiations and support from its neighbors, but not for Palestine. No, President Obama assumes it is his power and responsibility to dictate the terms on which another country can exist and demands it come about via pointless negotiations in which the US plays a leading (and far from impartial) role, and which will ultimately be why the talks will fail. The imperial hubris flies in the face of the fact that 85% of the world’s countries—representing 80% of the world’s population—already recognizes Palestine, but they only account for 25% of the world’s wealth. This leaves 15% of the world’s countries, who account for 75% of the wealth, blocking Palestine from existence.
After decades of such absurd “talks” and dozens of vetoes of resolutions at the UN aimed at holding Israel accountable, and numerous peace offers rejected by both Israel and the US it is perfectly reasonable for Palestine to seek to bypass the US and Israel in creating the state of Palestine.
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