Posted on 10/05/2011 5:04:52 AM PDT by SJackson
President Obama’s new defense secretary, Leon Panetta, has bought into the myth that Israeli inflexibility is the source of the Palestinian conflict. He is publicly saying that the ball is in Israel’s court, and it is now the Jewish state’s responsibility to advance the peace process. He warns that it is becoming more isolated, and Israel must be a better partner in the region. In other words, Israel is to blame.
On Sunday, Panetta said, “[T]he question you have to ask: Is it enough to maintain a military edge if you’re isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena? Real security can only be achieved by both a strong diplomatic effort as well as a strong effort to project your military strength.”
In what the Associated Press called an “edgy warning,” he said that Israel must try to rescue its relations with Turkey and Egypt. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan interpreted Panetta’s statement to mean that the U.S. was taking Turkey’s side in its confrontation with Israel. Playing off of Panetta’s words, Erdogan said, “Israel has chosen isolation by losing a friend like Turkey.” Erdogan has reduced Turkey’s ties to Israel because of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s refusal to apologize for the controversial Gaza flotilla raid last year. Panetta also said that the U.S. should not cut the amount of taxpayer money given to the Palestinian Authority to retaliate for its provocative bid for U.N. membership.
“There is a need and an opportunity for bold action on both sides to move towards a negotiated two-state solution,” Panetta said during his press conference with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He urged both sides to restart negotiations, without acknowledging that Israel has always been willing to negotiate. On Sunday, Israel said it wanted to restart direct negotiations, just as Panetta insisted. As a matter of fact, Netanyahu offered to immediately meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his speech at the U.N. on September 23.
“In two and a half years, we met in Jerusalem only once, even though my door has always been open to you. If you wish, I’ll come to Ramallah. Actually, I have a better suggestion. We’ve both just flown thousands of miles to New York. Now we’re in the same city. We’re in the same building. So let’s met here today in the United Nations,” Netanyahu said.
If Abbas had said what Netanyahu did, the international community and world media would have been electrified. Yet, Netanyahu was met with a collective silence. On the same day as his speech, Al-Jazeera interviewed a member of the Fatah Central Committee. The official, Abbas Zaki, unequivocally stated that negotiations based on two states are only an interim, practical step towards destroying Israel. “Everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go,” he said.
“If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall—what will become of Israel? It will come to an end,” Zaki said. He previously said the same thing as the Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon in May 2009. And he admitted that the Palestinians were keeping quiet about this strategy.
“If we say that we want to wipe Israel out…C’mon, it’s too difficult. It’s not [acceptable] policy to say so. Don’t say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority’s position is that no Jews will be allowed to live in an independent Palestine. This means that the Palestinians are requiring that Israel forcibly remove potentially hundreds of thousands of its citizens from their homes as a condition for peace. Abbas says he’ll never recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Israel, on the other hand, welcomes its Arab minority to stay and enjoy the benefits of life in its democracy. The Palestinian Authority celebrates terrorists who have murdered innocent Israelis, even naming streets after them. But somehow, Israel is blamed for being uncompromising.
Then there is Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group that Fatah has decided to bury the hatchet with, at least for now. Hamas doesn’t hide the fact that it views the peace process as a staged strategy to destroy Israel. The Hamas chief in Gaza said in June 2010, “This is our plan for this stage–to liberate the West Bank and Gaza, without recognizing Israel’s right to a single inch of land.” Just over the weekend, a top Hamas leader was in Iran saying, “Palestinians must resort to resistance no matter how costly it is, until Palestine is free and Israel is destroyed.” Netanyahu has accurately equated Hamas with Al-Qaeda, noting that it mourned the death of Osama Bin Laden.
The list of Israeli concessions in the name of peace goes on and on, as Netanyahu recounted in his speech at the U.N. In 2000, Israel offered Yasser Arafat practically everything he asked for and was rejected, and the Palestinians launched a terror offensive. Likewise, in 2008, Abbas did not consider a similar proposal. Israel left Lebanon in 2000, only to be forced to reenter temporarily in 2006 because of attacks by Hezbollah. In 2005, it abandoned the Gaza Strip, demolishing homes and synagogues and throwing the lives of the Jews there into disarray. Hamas took over and used the territory for its campaign to destroy Israel.
Since Netanyahu became Prime Minister again, he’s requested negotiations without prior conditions or concessions from the Palestinian side, just as Panetta is urging. Israel has dismantled hundreds of security checkpoints and the Palestinian economy is growing because of Israeli business. “I took the unprecedented step of freezing new buildings in the settlements for 10 months. No prime minister did that before, ever…No response,” Netanyahu recalled.
“The core of the conflict is not the settlements. The settlements are a result of the conflict,” he said.
And he’s right. There’s only one side whose policy is to destroy the other, and that side is not Israel. The Jewish state is more than ready to facilitate the creation of a non-threatening Palestinian state. Peace is craved by Israelis, but they understand the ultimate concession that the other side seeks: The elimination of Israel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: http://frontpagemag.com
URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/04/obama-administration-to-israel-stop-isolating-yourself/
Maybe Israel just needs its own version of the NASA muslim outreach program.
Maybe Israel just needs its own version of the NASA muslim outreach program.
What you said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said.
Yes, Mr. Secretary.....it is. Try to remember the original two state solution was met with a declaration of war on Israel by the regional arab nations. Their sentiments haven't changed over the past 6+ decades.
If we become schizophrenic, we can have direct talks with ourselves.
Maybe, Maybe, Maybe, Maybe, Maybe, Maybe...
End times prophecy explains the isolation.
>>Is it enough to maintain a military edge if you’re isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena?<<
A recent article posted on FR reported that Hillary is going around the world encouraging countries to ISOLATE ISRAEL by refusing to do trade or commerce with Israel.
Can you explain it more in detail please.
Better put some WD 40 on that mouse button.
Well, we are stuck in an impossible position: “support for Israel” paradoxically undermines our long-term interest in containing Iran.
We are able to obtain basing in places such as Bahrain largely because their rulers fear increasing Iranian influence, but what much of the Middle East perceives as Israeli inscriptions (for example, the ongoing expansion of settlements) creates an internal political environment in many host countries that makes it highly likely that should their current authoritarian rulers be disposed the US might well lose basing rights - which of course makes it much more difficult to contain Iranian political influence and possible military expansionism.
This isn’t helped by domestic US political situation which essentially gives whatever government is in power in Israel the ability to largely set US foreign policy in the region (a power ceded to no other ally), even when Israeli interests run directly counter to long-term US interests such as limiting Iranian influence and ensuring adequate energy supplies.
The result is we could very well find ourselves in a position a decade hence where “support of Israel” leaves us in a position where we have *both* radically decreased our ability to control the course of events in the Gulf - to the advantage of the Iranians - and have radically decreased our ability to supply military, political and economic support to an Israel which finds itself politically isolated (for example, with regard to Europe) and virtually friendless except for a much less powerful United States.
I don’t think there is any practical solution to this dilemma, it’s just one of those problems posed by history to which there is no practical answer within the constraints of the political realities.
Hardly surprising, given Panetta's record as a man who praised and associated with communists back in his days as a congressman. His nominations as CIA director and as Secretary of Defense should have been defeated in the Senate. The US and its allies will continue to pay the price for the insufficient vetting of Panetta until he is out of office.
You really think this has been going on while Obama has been president? Because it hasn't. Saudi Arabia has just as much influence on us as Israel does, they have more money and lots of oil and are very worried about Iran. Look at Kuwait, we waged a war to rescue them from Saddam Hussein plus Saudi Arabia was next on Saddam's list of countries to invade and take over. The State Department is a permanent leftist bureaucracy. The personnel there are not Israel friendly. Colin Powell wasn't. No one working for Obama is.
On a logical level, Islam will be very happy if Israel is thrown to the Muslim wolves and will step up efforts to take over Europe. Do you know what Muslim triumphal is? Muslims are taking over Europe anyway and this will leave America isolated.
Sounds like a great idea, anyway. Let’s stop isolating ourselves, and strengthen ties with India, South Sudan, Armenia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland, Iranian and Syrian dissidents (recently denied redress at the UNSC), and Greater Kurdistan.
We’ll make our own organization, the Coalition of Eastern Minorities, and either walk out of the UN, or stick together within it.
Forgot to mention Copts and Lebanese Christians.
“Stop isolating yourselves, come join my one, big, happy world government.” said the spider to the fly.
Netanyahu to 0bozo “Go bugger yourself”..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.