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How Israel Is Once Again Redefining the Terms of Peace
The Sharm El-Sheikh summit held in Egypt on Feb. 8 was anything but a success, as far as Palestinians, the occupied party, and peace-seeking Israelis are concerned.
But before we cast judgment on the summit’s initial outcome we should examine the historic context of the Palestinian uprising.
Successive Israeli governments have pushed the Palestinians to the brink, through collective punishment, brutal military policies, house destruction and so on. The ultimate aim was the expropriation of Palestinian land in the occupied territories.
Naturally Palestinians resisted, violently and otherwise. The uprisings in 1987 and 2000 articulated a message that largely reflected their political aspirations: A truly sovereign Palestinian state in all territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem.
These demands frustrated Israel, who continued to claim that the lightly armed Palestinians posed a threat to the very existence of the State of Israel.
Of course, we’ve come a long way since the days when Israel refused to admit that a people called Palestinians even existed.
Nonetheless, reality on the ground still serves the same set of beliefs carried by past Israeli governments. For example, despite the frequent utilization of the term “peace” by Israeli officials on both sides of the political spectrum, especially after the signing of the Oslo accord in1993 , there has been an intensive Israeli campaign to drive Palestinians out of their land, expand the settlements, expropriate large chunks of the West Bank as “security zones” and completely fence off occupied East Jerusalem. The number of illegal settlements in the occupied territories has at least doubled since the signing of the “historic” Oslo agreement.
This means that Israel has never abandoned its ultimate objective. Then, why bother talking peace to begin with?
Israel has long reverted from its policies of mass expulsion. Such policies were simply bad publicity for Israel. They embarrassed devoted benefactors in Washington and helped Palestinians garner international attention, significantly slowing down Israel’s expansionist designs in the region.
The 1993 Oslo accord was meant to serve the particular purpose of removing the Palestinian-Israeli file from the more critical list of international conflicts and buffing up Israel’s tainted reputation. In the process it gave rise to a corrupt and self-consumed Palestinian leadership.
In2000 , the year of Al-Aqsa Intifada, two major factors again hampered the Israeli designs. First, Yasser Arafat refused to sign off Palestinian rights. Second, Palestinian masses rose in rebellion. Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proved merciless in his response to both, and the rest is history.
Arafat’s death on Nov.11 , 2004 has indeed “revived hope.” But by hope Israel and its friends mean the hope of returning to the Oslo legacy and the status quo that defined the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for years. Oslo has yielded nothing but a few symbolic gestures to the Palestinians. On the other hand, it won time and vigor for Israel’s unilateral expansionist project. Thus, welcome to Sharm El-Sheikh, another Oslo but with an Arabian flavor. Palestinian political elite shall rule once more, and Israeli bulldozers will carry on with the construction of the illegal wall, and illegal settlements will “naturally expand”. Israeli troops shall ‘redeploy’, but snipers must maintain their position at tall buildings adjacent to every Palestinian town, village and refugee camp. Diplomatic ties shall be restored between Israel and its immediate neighbors — and maybe a few others and Sharon will be seen to have triumphed in war and peace.
The Sharm El-Sheikh summit was a “success” because it fulfilled the expectations of Israel and its American clients.
The summit failed to address the major grievances that defined the Palestinian national struggle for generations: An end to occupation, the right of return, and the removal of the settlements, among others. The summit was almost exclusively devoted to talks about Israel’s security. Perhaps this is the first time in history that an occupying power demands security from its captives.
The summit showed all the symptoms of Oslo, and will meet with the same fate. But by the time such a failure is recognized, Israel’s imperial projects, the wall and settlements and the calculated annexation of most of the West Bank, will have become accepted as “facts on the ground.”
Maybe then, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the co-author of Oslo, will realize the price Palestinians will have to pay for his pragmatism.
http://arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=59057&d=16&m=2&y=2005
Successive Israeli governments have pushed the Palestinians to the brink, through collective punishment, brutal military policies, house destruction and so on. The ultimate aim was the expropriation of Palestinian land in the occupied territories.
Naturally Palestinians resisted, violently and otherwise. The uprisings in 1987 and 2000 articulated a message that largely reflected their political aspirations: A truly sovereign Palestinian state in all territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem.
These demands frustrated Israel, who continued to claim that the lightly armed Palestinians posed a threat to the very existence of the State of Israel.
Of course, we’ve come a long way since the days when Israel refused to admit that a people called Palestinians even existed.
Nonetheless, reality on the ground still serves the same set of beliefs carried by past Israeli governments. For example, despite the frequent utilization of the term “peace” by Israeli officials on both sides of the political spectrum, especially after the signing of the Oslo accord in1993 , there has been an intensive Israeli campaign to drive Palestinians out of their land, expand the settlements, expropriate large chunks of the West Bank as “security zones” and completely fence off occupied East Jerusalem. The number of illegal settlements in the occupied territories has at least doubled since the signing of the “historic” Oslo agreement.
This means that Israel has never abandoned its ultimate objective. Then, why bother talking peace to begin with?
Israel has long reverted from its policies of mass expulsion. Such policies were simply bad publicity for Israel. They embarrassed devoted benefactors in Washington and helped Palestinians garner international attention, significantly slowing down Israel’s expansionist designs in the region.
The 1993 Oslo accord was meant to serve the particular purpose of removing the Palestinian-Israeli file from the more critical list of international conflicts and buffing up Israel’s tainted reputation. In the process it gave rise to a corrupt and self-consumed Palestinian leadership.
In2000 , the year of Al-Aqsa Intifada, two major factors again hampered the Israeli designs. First, Yasser Arafat refused to sign off Palestinian rights. Second, Palestinian masses rose in rebellion. Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proved merciless in his response to both, and the rest is history.
Arafat’s death on Nov.11 , 2004 has indeed “revived hope.” But by hope Israel and its friends mean the hope of returning to the Oslo legacy and the status quo that defined the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for years. Oslo has yielded nothing but a few symbolic gestures to the Palestinians. On the other hand, it won time and vigor for Israel’s unilateral expansionist project. Thus, welcome to Sharm El-Sheikh, another Oslo but with an Arabian flavor. Palestinian political elite shall rule once more, and Israeli bulldozers will carry on with the construction of the illegal wall, and illegal settlements will “naturally expand”. Israeli troops shall ‘redeploy’, but snipers must maintain their position at tall buildings adjacent to every Palestinian town, village and refugee camp. Diplomatic ties shall be restored between Israel and its immediate neighbors — and maybe a few others and Sharon will be seen to have triumphed in war and peace.
The Sharm El-Sheikh summit was a “success” because it fulfilled the expectations of Israel and its American clients.
The summit failed to address the major grievances that defined the Palestinian national struggle for generations: An end to occupation, the right of return, and the removal of the settlements, among others. The summit was almost exclusively devoted to talks about Israel’s security. Perhaps this is the first time in history that an occupying power demands security from its captives.
The summit showed all the symptoms of Oslo, and will meet with the same fate. But by the time such a failure is recognized, Israel’s imperial projects, the wall and settlements and the calculated annexation of most of the West Bank, will have become accepted as “facts on the ground.”
Maybe then, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the co-author of Oslo, will realize the price Palestinians will have to pay for his pragmatism.
http://arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=59057&d=16&m=2&y=2005
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An Israeli army spokeswoman said the two were killed while they attempted to approach a Jewish settlement late on Tuesday night.
“Israeli soldiers spotted two Palestinians who were approaching the Jewish settlement of Brakha, south of Nablus, opened fire on them, killing one and wounding the second,” she said.
The spokeswoman said the injured man later died of his wounds and added that they had been carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Palestinian security sources said there had been an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the area.
The killings come amid a recent lull in violence in the region following Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas’s initiative to re-start peace talks with Israel.
Abbas has deployed Palestinian security forces along the border to prevent Palestinian resistance fighters from firing rockets into Israel. He has also extracted a pledge from the groups to maintain an unofficial truce.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1654FF89-B62E-4D1E-BA35-B97157278C70.htm
This is why we need to go ahead and make the Palestinian State now in the whole of the West Bank and Gaza....So that this evil that the Israeli Government is committing will not deprive the Palestinian's of their land and freedom....Did the U.S. not say Freedom for all? How about the Occupied and Oppressed Palestinian People?
Thirty-six years of war should be enough for such a small number of people, when you consider the World Population.
Allowing the Palestinian People to have their small state in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza can solve this conflict.
There are 1,200,000 or so Arabs living inside Israel Proper.
There are 400,000 or so Jews living inside the West Bank and Gaza.
Trying to remove all the settlement can be an almost undoable task.
So Set the Borders for Israel to it Pre 1967 Border (Green Line) and have the State of Palestine inside the West Bank and Gaza.
If the U.N. can decide the Borders of Israel in 1948,
The U.N. can decide the Borders of Palestine in 2005.
You would end up with Israel with a majority Jewish Population and Palestine with a majority Muslim Population.
This would allow for the Israeli Military to Guard and Control the Israeli pre 1967 borders instead of confiscating Palestinian Land and Demolishing Palestinian Homes in the West Bank and Gaza that only goes to fuel the need for the Palestinian People to fight for their Freedom.
The Jews who do not like living in the new Palestinian State can feel free to move to Israel if they so choose.
The Arabs living inside Israel can feel free to move to the new Palestinian State if they so choose.
Almost every nation on earth has more then one ethnic group or religious group, so why not Israel and Palestine?
It would sure be better then the never-ending conflict we have right now.
Who has died and how in this struggle for Palestinian Freedom?
CLICK HERE > http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html
These lies is why we need to wait and not rush to make the Palestinian State now in the whole of the West Bank and Gaza....So that the evils that the Israeli Government is trying to defend its Country from will not deprive the Israelis of their lives, land and Freedom....Did the U.S. not say Freedom for all? How about the Menaced and Brutalized Israeli People?
Thirty-seven years of war should be enough for such a small number of people, when you consider the World Population.
Allowing the Palestinian People to have their small state in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza can not in itself solve this Conflict.
There are 1,200,000 or so Arab settlers living inside Israel Proper.
There are 400,000 or so Jews living inside the West Bank and Gaza.
Trying to remove all the settlements can be an almost undoable task.
So Set the Borders for Israel to somewhat beyond its Pre 1967 Border (Green Line) and have the State of Palestine inside Part of the West Bank and Gaza.
If the U.N. could decide the Borders of Israel in 1947 and fail to protect the Jews from the Arab Attack that ensued,
The U.N. can not decide the Borders of Palestine in 2005.
You would end up with Israel with a majority Jewish Population and Palestine with a majority Muslim Population.
This would allow for the Israeli Military to Guard and Control the new Israeli Borders instead of confiscating Palestinian Land and Demolishing Palestinian Homes in the West Bank and Gaza, provided the Palestinian Terrorists stop trying to rob the Israeli People of their Freedon, which only goes to fuel the Israeli repisals.
The Jews who do not like living in the new Palestinian State can feel free to move to Israel if they so choose.
The Arab settlers living inside Israel should feel free to move to the new Palestinian State if they so choose.
Almost every nation on earth has more then one ethnic group or religious group, so why not Israel and Palestine?
It would sure be better then the never-ending Conflict we have right now.
Who has died and how in this struggle for Palestinian Murder and Destruction?
CLICK HERE > http://www.ifamericansknew.org/misleadingstats/deaths.html
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
IDF soldiers from the Nahal brigade shot and killed two armed Palestinians spotted approaching the settlement of Har Bracha near Nablus Tuesday evening.
The gunmen were spotted approaching from the direction of Kalil, a village nearby.
Near their bodies, the soldiers found two Kalashnikov rifles.
According to IDF officials, the two were on their way to attack Har Bracha.
Their identities and affiliations have yet to be determined.
In the past two weeks, there have been six shooting attacks in the area which targeted checkpoints near the settlement, and civilians and soldiers using the road leading to the settlement.
The IDF is searching the area to make sure there are no other gunmen.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108437731645
The writer of this article would have you believe that Arab hatred against Jews only began with the occupation in 1967. You are also asked to believe that the intifada was begun as a struggle for an independent state of Palestine.
First, the Arab massacre of Hebron was in 1929. In 1948, the Arabs REJECTED an independent state of Palestine right next to Israel (and NO, the UN didn't impose borders on Israel. Israel ACCEPTED the partition plan and the Arabs REJECTED it.) Then five Arab armies waged war on the one day old independent State of Israel.
Arab hostilies flared into war in 1956 and again in 1967. So there was plenty of Arab hatred of Jews prior to any occupation of the West Bank by the Israelis.
As for the intifada, Arafat returned from Camp David by REJECTING Barak's peace proposal that offered a better deal for the Palestinians than any previous offer (oh, and according to Israeli historian, David Meir-Levi, this was the 12th serious offer to the Palestinian Arabs for an independent state beginning with the first one in 1937).
Wake up, Indyreaders!! The Palestinians don't want an independent state. Thats why they always find fault with one plan or another. What they want is Israel. And Israel they can't have.
Israel can dismantle settlements. It can release prisoners, close checkpoints, and even take down the security barrier. But this will not bring peace. For peace will only come when the Palestinians truly recognize Israel's right to exist as a democratic Jewish State.
They intentionally avoid talking about realistic solutions to the problems that exist in year 2005 -- they intentionally keep trying to delegitimize the very eixstence of israel -- because they, like hamas and the palestinian powers that be, are against isael even being there
It's year 2005, not 1948 anymore.
Make sure people realize that
We can not just get rid of 4,000,000 Palestinians just like we can not just get rid of 5,000,000 Jews.
>>>The summit showed all the symptoms of Oslo, and will meet with the same fate. But by the time such a failure is recognized, Israel’s imperial projects, the wall and settlements and the calculated annexation of most of the West Bank, will have become accepted as “facts on the ground.<<<from above article>
This is why we need to go ahead and make the Palestinian State now in the whole of the West Bank and Gaza....So that this evil that the Israeli Government is committing will not deprive the Palestinian's of their land and freedom....Did the U.S. not say Freedom for all? How about the Occupied and Oppressed Palestinian People?
Thirty-six years of war should be enough for such a small number of people, when you consider the World Population.
Allowing the Palestinian People to have their small state in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza can solve this conflict.
There are 1,200,000 or so Arabs living inside Israel Proper.
There are 400,000 or so Jews living inside the West Bank and Gaza.
Trying to remove all the settlement can be an almost undoable task.
So Set the Borders for Israel to it Pre 1967 Border (Green Line) and have the State of Palestine inside the West Bank and Gaza.
If the U.N. can decide the Borders of Israel in 1948,
The U.N. can decide the Borders of Palestine in 2005.
You would end up with Israel with a majority Jewish Population and Palestine with a majority Muslim Population.
This would allow for the Israeli Military to Guard and Control the Israeli pre 1967 borders instead of confiscating Palestinian Land and Demolishing Palestinian Homes in the West Bank and Gaza that only goes to fuel the need for the Palestinian People to fight for their Freedom.
The Jews who do not like living in the new Palestinian State can feel free to move to Israel if they so choose.
The Arabs living inside Israel can feel free to move to the new Palestinian State if they so choose.
Almost every nation on earth has more then one ethnic group or religious group, so why not Israel and Palestine?
It would sure be better then the never-ending conflict we have right now.
Who has died and how in this struggle for Palestinian Freedom?
CLICK HERE > http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html
We can not just get rid of 5,000,000 Jews just like we can not just get rid of 3,700,000 Palestinians.
>>>The summit showed all the symptoms of Oslo, and will meet with the same fate. But by the time such a failure is recognized, Israel’s imperial projects, the wall and settlements and the calculated annexation of most of the West Bank, will have become accepted as “facts on the ground.<<<from above article>
This is why we need to ensure that Palestinian Terrorism is eliminated now in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza....So that this evil that the Palestinian Militants are committing will not deprive the Israelis of their land and Freedom....Did the U.S. not say Freedom for all? How about the Terrorized and Brutalized Israeli People?
Thirty-seven years of war should be enough for such a small number of people, when you consider the World Population.
Allowing the Palestinian People to have their small state in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza can not in itself solve this conflict.
There are 1,200,000 or so Arab settlers living inside Israel Proper.
There are 400,000 or so Jews living inside the West Bank and Gaza.
Trying to remove all the settlements can be an almost undoable task.
So Set the Borders for Israel to somewhat beyond its Pre 1967 Border (Green Line) and have the State of Palestine inside Part of the West Bank and Gaza.
If the U.N. could decide the Borders of Israel in 1947 and fail to protect the Jews from the Arab Attack that ensued,
The U.N. can not decide the Borders of Palestine in 2005.
You would end up with Israel with a majority Jewish Population and Palestine with a majority Muslim Population.
This would allow for the Israeli Military to Guard and Control the new Israeli Borders instead of confiscating Palestinian Land and Demolishing Palestinian Homes in the West Bank and Gaza, provided the Palestinian Terrorists stop trying to rob the Israeli People of their Freedom, which only goes to fuel the Israeli reprisals.
The Jews who do not like living in the new Palestinian State can feel free to move to Israel if they so choose.
The Arab settlers living inside Israel should feel free to move to the new Palestinian State if they so choose.
Almost every nation on earth has more then one ethnic group or religious group, so why not Israel and Palestine?
It would sure be better then the never-ending Conflict we have right now.
Who has died and how in this struggle for Palestinian Murder and Destruction?
CLICK HERE > http://www.ifamericansknew.org/misleadingstats/deaths.html