Is the Middle East heading towards the eighth war?
The result which the American envoy George Mitchell in the Middle East has come with was not unexpected by most Arab observers. In the view of the Arab thinker Klofis Maksoud the real aim of Netanyahu is to freeze peace and not settlements. The Israeli rejecting of a temporary freezing of settlements means one thing which Netanyahu emphasized it all the time, Israel will resume the policy of stealing Palestinian land in order to build more settlements for Jews on the land of the future Palestinian state. This obviously contradicts with the international community commitment which links between the establishment of a viable Palestinian state and peace.
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... In the final analysis the essence of the Palestinian question is about displacing native Palestinians by a racist and murderous ideology to bring people from all over the world nothing link them except they are Jews. But, the fact which the world still overlooks is that the absence of a comprehensive approach which considers all elements in the conflict it is difficult to see a sign of hope of a political settlement.
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Most Arab political circles fears that the USA which failed to put pressures on Israel to freeze settlement building for a year will press the Arab party to give more concessions to normalize the relation with the Jewish apartheid state. The meeting which took place in New York this week between Obama, Abbas and Netanyahu is considered a success to Netanyahu who could boast that he challenged Obama and rejected to comply with the American proposals. Arab states say that they have given concrete proposals and the ball now is in the Israeli ground. The Beirut summit of 2002 which Israel ignored proposed a full diplomatic relation with the state of Israel for a full withdrawn from the west bank. For that reason Arab circles in the Middle East are concerned about the Obama demands from some Arab countries in the North Africa and the Gulf region to deliver some “normalization gestures” towards Israel which in return will continue building “only” 3000 units in the occupied Palestine. In the light of this Arab circles began to pose questions about the capability of the new administration to break with the previous American biased position. ...
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... If an earth quick or any natural catastrophe strikes the town hundreds of thousands of its population will find no place to escape to since the Zionist walls are surrounding the city from three directions. According to a source in the Palestinian civil defense whom I met recently several fires were not distinguished because the Palestinian fire fighting cars were stopped from half to one hour on the Israeli check points and the result is that the cars reached the place when the fire has already destroyed everything. The Jewish fascism is getting stronger with each day and the hopes of reaching a reasonable solution disappearing too. All this is contributing in creating an atmosphere of hopelessness and pessimism in the region and consolidating the view that the international community is unable or unwilling to make Israel respect the international law.
In the view of many Arab observers the failure of the American plan will push the region sooner or later towards a comprehensive war which would be the logical result of the aggressive Zionist policy. Are we heading towards the eighth Arab Israeli war, it is difficult to tell, but what is sure that the absence of a serious pressure on Israel is creating an atmosphere of despair and militancy which will sooner or later lead to the eighth Arab Israeli war which many observers predict it will be catastrophic.
Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian-Norwegian historian in the Middle East, who has written extensively on social and political issues in the region.salim_nazzal@yahoo.com
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
White House will block U.N. action against Israel - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com
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A White House official told Jewish leaders on a conference call today that the U.S. will use its veto in the U.N. Security Council, if necessary, to block the international body from acting on a report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza, according to two people on the call.
The National Security Council's Dan Shapiro said President Obama assured the Israeli Prime Minister yesterday of the U.S stand on the Goldstone Report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has been a source of major concern for the Israelis. Shapiro said the U.S. agrees with the Israeli view that the report is one-sided, and would block a referral to the International Criminal Court.
The U.S. pledge comes as the Israeli side was already declaring victory in avoiding a total freeze on settlements, and it's likely to further alienate Palestinian leaders whom the U.S. is simultaneously trying to lure to the negotiating table. ...
The drama and the farce > Americas > Redress Information & Analysis
Binyamin Netanyahu humiliates Barack Obama
By Uri Avnery
24 September 2009
Uri Avnery views the outcome of the mini-summit between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, hosted by US President Barack Obama. “We witnessed a humbling demonstration of weakness. After Obama was compelled to give up his demand for a settlement freeze, the meeting no longer had any content.”
No point denying it: in the first round of the match between Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu, Obama was beaten.“Netanyahu has won, and in a big way. Not only did [Netanyahu] survive, not only has he shown that he is no “sucker” … he has proven to his people – and to the public at large – that there is nothing to fear: Obama is nothing but a paper tiger. The settlements can go on expanding without hindrance. Any negotiations that start, if they start at all, can go on until the coming of the Messiah. Nothing will come out of them.”
Obama had demanded a freeze of all settlement activity, including East Jerusalem, as a condition for convening a tripartite summit meeting, in the wake of which accelerated peace negotiations were to start, leading to peace between two states – Israel and Palestine.
In the words of the ancient proverb, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Netanyahu has tripped Obama on his first step. The president of the United States has stumbled.
The threefold summit did indeed take place. But instead of a shining achievement for the new American administration, we witnessed a humbling demonstration of weakness. After Obama was compelled to give up his demand for a settlement freeze, the meeting no longer had any content.
True, Mahmoud Abbas did come, after all. He was dragged there against his will. The poor man was unable to refuse the invitation from Obama, his only support. But he will pay a heavy price for this flight: the Palestinians, and the entire Arab world, have seen his weakness. And Obama, who had started his term with a ringing speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, now looks like a broken reed.
The Israeli peace movement has been dealt another painful blow. It had pinned its hopes on the steadfastness of the American president. Obama’s victory and the settlement freeze were to show the Israeli public that the refusal policy of Netanyahu was leading to disaster.
But Netanyahu has won, and in a big way. Not only did he survive, not only has he shown that he is no “sucker” (a word he uses all the time), he has proven to his people – and to the public at large – that there is nothing to fear: Obama is nothing but a paper tiger. The settlements can go on expanding without hindrance. Any negotiations that start, if they start at all, can go on until the coming of the Messiah. Nothing will come out of them.
For Netanyahu, the threat of peace has passed. At least for the time being.
Op-Ed Contributor - Land First, Then Peace - NYTimes.com
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Shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, during which Israel occupied those territories as well as East Jerusalem and the Sinai Peninsula, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution stating that, in order to form “a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Israel must withdraw from these newly occupied lands. The Fourth Geneva Convention similarly notes “the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Now, Israeli leaders hint that they are willing to return portions of these occupied territories to Arab control, but only if they are granted military and economic concessions first. For the Arabs to accept such a proposal would only encourage similar outrages in the future by rewarding military conquest....
In order to achieve peace and a lasting two-state solution, Israel must be willing to give as well as take. A first step should be the immediate removal of all Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Only this would show the world that Israel is serious about peace and not just stalling as it adds more illegal settlers to those already occupying Palestinian land.
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No country in the region wants more bloodshed. But while Israel’s neighbors want peace, they cannot be expected to tolerate what amounts to theft, and certainly should not be pressured into rewarding Israel for the return of land that does not belong to it. Until Israel heeds President Obama’s call for the removal of all settlements, the world must be under no illusion that Saudi Arabia will offer what the Israelis most desire — regional recognition. We are willing to embrace the hands of any partner in peace, but only after they have released their grip on Arab lands.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, is a former director of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services and ambassador to the United States.
