See other Editorial Articles
Title: Netanyahu 'speaks like a conqueror'
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/09/200992510474662889.html
Published: Nov 19, 2009
Author: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/
Post Date: 2009-11-19 09:09:19 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 385
Comments: 24
Netanyahu 'speaks like a conqueror' By Clovis Maksoud Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, addresses the UN General Assembly holding what he said were Nazi plans for the Auschwitz concentration camp [GALLO/GETTY] The first speech by Barack Obama, the US president, to the UN General Assembly reflects his profound awareness of the problems and deep anxieties felt by many around the world. It is with such expressions of genuine empathy that the US president promised to empower the UN and, more importantly, uphold international law as the incubator of solutions which blend peace with justice. But how Obama will apply this re-energised US commitment to the declared objective of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine remains unclear. Obama outlined his vision: "Two states living side-by-side in peace and security - a Jewish state of Israel with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and realises the potential of the Palestinian people." This statement encapsulates the objectives that the US president hopes to achieve. It is definitely a recognition that settlements are what the UN has repeatedly declared them to be - illegal. Settlement proliferation in depth Netanyahu outmanoeuvres Obama? Netanyahu 'speaks like a conqueror' Wanted: Middle East statesmen Settlements strain US-Israel ties US Jews and Israelis split on Obama Arab media judge Mitchell tour The question that remains, however, is why all Israeli governments since 1967 pursued a policy of proliferating settlements, built the "separation wall" inside the occupied West Bank (declared illegal by the International Court of Justice), and built a network of roads exclusively for Jewish settlements. All this is in addition to the continued, creeping annexation of occupied East Jerusalem. The answer is that Israel since June 5, 1967 never - yes, never - acknowledged that it existed as an occupying power in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem; instead, it has thus acted as a claimant of these territories as part of Israel. It is this position which explains Israel's ongoing policy of creating new facts on the ground and seeking to force both the member states of the United Nations and the Palestinian people to accept a fait accompli. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's repeated emphasis that settlements "should be left to the final phase of the negotiations" is explained by the fact that Israel does not view itself as an occupier. Furthermore in his "blitz" on US TV channels, the Israeli prime minister emphasised that negotiations would not start until the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) recognised Israel not only as a Jewish state but also a nation-state for the Jews. Such a move would in turn render the Right of Return for more than a million Palestinian refugees totally inoperative, and the Israeli "Law of Return" disenfranchises further the Arab citizens of Israel. Netanyahu's conditions would be a de facto continuing of the institutional discrimination against Arabs Netanyahu's gambit Maksoud says Netanyahu, left, pressured Obama during interviews on US networks [AFP] Netanyahu's US media blitz was intended and continues to blunt the limited demand of the US president to freeze settlements. But it was also designed to force Obama into a situation where he felt compelled during his UN speech to state and emphasise that the US "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements". It is my view that the US should also insist that Israel acknowledge its status as an occupying power. Until such a time that Israel admits its status as an occupier, the "road map" becomes a road without a map. This in turn renders meaningless the aim of the two-state solution envisaged by Obama and by the 2002 Arab League Summit plan endorsed in Beirut. But Obama may have also erred when he called on Palestinians "to end incitement against Israel," because he is thereby ignoring the fact that resistance to occupation is a recognised and legal right. The Palestinians have always prioritised civil disobedience, popular demonstrations and resorting to world public opinion, seeking UN support and a global commitment to the Palestinian national and human rights. But these options have been tried several times and rendered inconsequential by US vetoes. Confronting a conqueror It became clear to the Palestinians that they were not resisting an occupation, but confronting a conqueror with the power to annex, to suppress, to render the concept of a Palestinian state devoid of any aspect or manifestation of sovereignty. This realisation led to a sense of collective Palestinian humiliation. As an African-American, Obama understands the voices of the humiliated, frustrated and almost hopeless communities in his country. The civil rights movement, thankfully, resolved many of these frustrations and did away with the humiliations. However, these remain unresolved in Palestine and many parts of the world. Obama's opening to possible dialogue is an opportunity for the Arabs to unite, so their narrative becomes coherent and persuading world opinion that the justice of their cause and the legitimacy of their aspirations and rights becomes a human act of moral engagement. Clovis Maksoud served as the chief representative of the Arab League in the United States and the United Nations until 1990. He is currently the director of the American University Center for Global South. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: tom007 (#0)
Obama needs to butt out. We need a fearless leader like Bibi.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
Who is 'we'?
Zionists need to "butt out" of this country. And then pay the US citizens several hundred Billion dollars for the theft of the treasury and the cost in blood for the wars they have swindled the hapless US into. El Al is ready when you are.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" We need a fearless leader like Bibi. You claimed on another thread that Israel exists because of "God's will" (paraphrasing). If that is the case, then by your own logic, Obama is president because of "God's will." Similarly, if it is sinful and immoral to object to the state of Israel because it is going against God's will, then by that same logic it must be sinful and immoral to speak out against Obama and his socialist policies. So the question is, when are you going to start wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and begin singing the praises of Obama?
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976 The purpose of the legal system is to protect the elites from the wrath of those they plunder.- Elliott Jackalope "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it." - Frederic Bastiat
Except God plays favorites.
Blacks, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for about 71 percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all chlamydia and syphilis cases in 2008.
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
So the question is, when are you going to start wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and begin singing the praises of Obama? Actually Jethro scratched out a word that I wrote and inserted Bible in its place. He said that the Bible had nothing do do with the creation of Israel. Even if it wasn't Gods will for Israel to be created, you can't deny that it happened because it was in the Bible. Next...Maybe Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy, maybe it isn't. I think it probably is. Not positive by any means though. Next...I never said it was sinful or immoral to object to Israel. I also never said they are the perfect nation....no nation is.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
Of course he does. Would you expect him to bless people who say his word is a lie the same as those who are faithful and true to his word. It sounds like in your mind you think God should treat murderers who are unrepentant the same as an innocent child. Screwed up thinking imo.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
That would include sane Americans that want our country and constitution back. Not sickos such as yourself that fantasize about genocide and feeding jews to zoo animals. Ok sicko.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
You sound like Momar Khadaffi and Yassar Arafat. Are they heroes of yours too like the unabomber. You have weird role models.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
Name ONE jew who supports an America as the Founding Fathers made it and intended it to be.
_________________________________________________________________________ Boy, that was a thread-killer. LOL!
I was gonna say Aaron Russo, but they killed him.
In 2007, the FBI reported on concern about white supremacists recruiting soldiers, saying "hundreds" of neo-Nazis were in the active military. But in April, a Department of Homeland Security report on extremism that reiterated much the same point was widely criticized by veterans groups and some conservative politicians as being unpatriotic, leading the Justice Department to retract the DHS report. Critics acknowledge that extremism in the Army is a touchy political subject. That was my impersonation of the Blue Angels' 'sneak attack' segment of their airshow routine ;-)
_________________________________________________________________________ Why do we Americans need an Israeli for a leader?
Aaron Zelman.
I would have said Lloyd Blankfein. Why, he's "doing God's work" at Goldman Sachs. :P
You just might have found the proverbial needle in the haystack. "ADL, burn in Hell." -Aaron Zelman. From here: www.jpfo.org/alerts/alert200 71120.htm
_________________________________________________________________________ We don't. Where do you get that strange idea from? Oh yeah you suffer delusions about Jews. You are a pitiful human being.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
From you. It was your strange idea. Jews Did you genuflect when you typed that word?
You not only fantacize about genocide but you are also a liar. Put up or shut up squatter.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
"We need a fearless leader like Bibi." -A K A Stone, post #1 You're mild entertainment while the rice cooks.
Hey you piece of shit. You said that I said we need a Jew for a leader. You just proved you are a lying sack of shit. Fearless of international condemnation is the key word. You lack the ability to comprehend what you read.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it - Thomas Jefferson
I said Israeli, not Jew. Are you drunk already? Fearless of international condemnation is the key word. You lack the ability to comprehend what you read. I lack the ability to read mangled rhetoric typed by an English-as-a-second-language internet poster.
#2. To: A K A Stone (#1)
We need a fearless leader like Bibi.
#3. To: A K A Stone (#1)
(Edited)
Obama needs to butt out.
#4. To: A K A Stone (#1)
Obama needs to butt out.
#5. To: Hayek Fan (#4)
#6. To: tom007 (#0)
#7. To: Hayek Fan (#4)
You claimed on another thread that Israel exists because of "God's will" (paraphrasing). If that is the case, then by your own logic, Obama is president because of "God's will." Similarly, if it is sinful and immoral to object to the state of Israel because it is going against God's will, then by that same logic it must be sinful and immoral to speak out against Obama and his socialist policies.
#8. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#5)
Except God plays favorites.
#9. To: bluegrass (#2)
Who is 'we'?
#10. To: tom007 (#3)
Zionists need to "butt out" of this country.
#11. To: A K A Stone (#9)
That would include sane Americans that want our country and constitution back.
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?”
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#12. To: X-15 (#11)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#13. To: X-15, Esso (#11)
Name ONE jew who supports an America as the Founding Fathers made it and intended it to be.
#14. To: Esso, Dakmar (#12)
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?”
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#15. To: A K A Stone (#9)
#16. To: Dakmar, X-15, Esso (#13)
#17. To: bluegrass (#16)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#18. To: bluegrass (#16)
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?”
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#19. To: bluegrass (#15)
Why do we Americans need an Israeli for a leader?
#20. To: A K A Stone (#19)
Where do you get that strange idea from?
#21. To: bluegrass (#20)
From you. It was your strange idea.
#22. To: A K A Stone (#21)
#23. To: bluegrass (#22)
#24. To: A K A Stone (#23)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest