Don't Continue Israel's Status Quo

[bemildred]

The Current Discussion:What's the biggest mistake Barack Obama could make in his first six months in foreign policy?

The one mistake that President Obama should be careful not to commit is to continue the status quo when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Middle East has been in turmoil for years because one country and one country alone, the U.S., for purely domestic reasons, has chosen to go against the entire world in its blind and unhealthy support for Israel. The time has come for international law to prevail also on Israel, and for common sense and multilateralism replace the unjustified unilateralism when it comes to absolute support for Israel. A popular T-shirt in the old city of Jerusalem states the following: "Don't worry U.S., Israel is behind you."

It is this arrogance that allowed the disgraced and criminally-charged prime minister of Israel to boast that he forced President Bush to leave a speaking engagement in Philadelphia in order to take his call and accept his orders that the U.S. should not vote in favor of a security council resolution that the U.S. itself had helped draft. The only word for this is a Jewish word, chutzpa.

So Mr. President, please don't make the mistake of protecting the Israelis from their own arrogance. Please think of the innocent people dying, suffering and living under occupation for political reasons. Don't make that mistake.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/daoud_kuttab/2009/01/dont_continue_israels_status_q.html

[aquart]

1. Yes. Arm and fund Fatah and Hamas.

So they can eradicate each other and leave Israel the hell out of it.

[rateyes]

4. If Israel was the "hell out of it"

there wouldn't be a problem---"it" being the occupied territories.

[Vegasaurus]

13. No, no no

please keep up.

It is the "it" of any old Israel at all, at least one comprised of Jews.

THAT is the occupation that Hamas and their supporters oppose.

Yes, Israel.

They'd like to see it gone, and plan to continue violent resistance as long as it takes.

Obama would be wise to never talk to enemies that wish to obliterate a sovereign nation.

[oberliner]

15. Obama said that Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence

and abide by past agreements.

If Hamas would take those steps, then I think that both the US and Israel would be more than willing to negotiate with them.

[Vegasaurus]

23. I agree

but there hasn't been a word or action from Hamas since they seized Gaza by a violent coup (including the latest events of murdering or shooting the legs of Fatah members) that makes me think they are willing to modify their stance.

They still want all of Israel, and all Jews dead.

I don't think there is anything worth negotiating with there.

[azul]

12. The US did arm Fatah, and interfered with elections.

And the survivors are being shot like fish in a fishbowl with US weapons?

[Alamuti Lotus]

19. That's a conveniently forgotten fact

There has been fairly regular drumbeat about "Hamas coup in Gaza", but conveniently little mention whatsoever of any contextual events leading up to that. There is a reason why the defeated Fatah gangstwhore Dahlan currently has his base in Montenegro and not Gaza City, and it's probably for the same reason Antoine Lahad still serves bad hummus from his restaurant in Tel Aviv.

[Howardx]

2. thanks

good points, hadnt seen this.

[bemildred]

3. The bit about the tee-shirt is thin, but the man writes well. nt

[Howardx]

5. thin?

you dont find that part believable?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. I've seen that shirt on campus a few times recently

tends to stir things up

[Howardx]

7. i could see that happening n/t

[ProgressiveMuslim]

10. Can you say what campus? I have a HS Senior! nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. A part of the UC/CSU system at an undisclosed location

[bemildred]

8. Thin support for his point, which was already well-supported by Olmert.

The tee shirt seems like gallows humor to me. But reasonable people can disagree.

[Howardx]

9. ahh

yes i agree about olmert. the shirts message can be taken a number of ways i think.

[pelsar]

18. that tshirt design is over 20 years old...... n/t

[azurnoir]

14. eventially Mitchell or someone will have to talk to Hamas

no negotiation will work without this.

[Kurska]

16. A PA-Israel agreement could be achieved with out ever including hamas or the gaza strip

The two groups have become two very separate political entities, Why would Israel be forced to talk to hamas?

[Idealism]

22. What will they do, without Hamas in the equation?

Never hold Palestinian elections again, thereby turning whatever hopes of a Palestinian state into another Middle-East dictatorship propped up by U.S. tax dollars? That worked well in the past, right?

You can't ignore Hamas. They aren't all terrorists, they aren't all radicals who want to see every Jew on the planet killed. Find the moderates, refuse to negotiate with anyone else in that party, and come to agreements. It is past time.

[Vegasaurus]

24. Hamas the militants

are supported by tens of thousands of ordinary Palestinians.

There are seas of green flags in parades, thinking they defeated Israel.

I don't know where the moderates in Hamas are.

If there are any, I think they are as dead as Fatah memebers.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. Unless Hamas is suplanted in an election or bypassed in Gaza

Also remember that Fatah can bring its own fighters into Gaza. Would not be surprised if that happens

[Alamuti Lotus]

20. Do you find that likely at this time?

A few weeks ago you made the ridiculous comparison of De Gaulle's "Free French" of Fatah gangsters riding in behind Israeli tanks, do you still see that happening? Do you see an election -- held next week, for instance -- going that way?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. its clear that the PA wants to reume control of Gaza

as does just about everyone else. The question is how and when.

And if the fighting had not ended suddenly with an immediate withdrawal, we could easily have seen the PA replacing the IDF in place in Gaza