He hasn’t invited Yasser Arafat to the White House, but you could pretty much substitute any major Clinton speech on Israel and the Palestinians for the speech W. gave yesterday.
In addition to these three tracks, both sides are getting down to the business of negotiating. I called upon both leaders to make sure their teams negotiate seriously, starting right now. I strongly supported the decision of the two leaders to continue their regular summit meetings, because they are the ones who can, and must, and — I am convinced — will lead.
Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert are the weakest leaders in their respective people’s histories, bar none. But then, Bush is one of the weakest leaders we’ve had since Jimmy Carter.
I share with these two leaders the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Both of these leaders believe that the outcome is in the interest of their peoples and are determined to arrive at a negotiated solution to achieve it.
Yes. Abbas is of the school that thinks in terms of the two-stage Palestinian state. The first stage is the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza. The second stage is the destruction of the Jews on the remaining portions of “Palestine.” If you don’t believe me, try to find a map of “Palestine” on any Palestinian website that shows Israel.
The point of departure for permanent status negotiations to realize this vision seems clear: There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people. These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders. And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent.
George W. Bush was the first U.S. President to declare his hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state in a major speech. Now he’s the first U.S. President who, while still in office, decries the Israeli “occupation.” The problem, you see, is Israeli occupation. It isn’t Palestinian terror. And yet, on the day W. gave this speech, more kassams were fired at Israel.
The day before, W. invoked the “right of return,” the phrase that the Palestinians used to co-opt Israel’s Law of Return, and which is code for the destruction of the Jewish character of Israel. The “right of return” is a dealbreaker.
Bush said he was the only US president to articulate a two-state solution. But, he added, “Saying two states really doesn’t have much bearing until borders are defined, right of return issues resolved, Jerusalem is understood, security measures – the common security measures will be in place. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a clear, defined state around which people can rally.”
It’s funny how people constantly talk about the Palestinian refugees, yet no one ever mentions the 700,000 Jews who were driven out of the Arab and Muslim states after 1948. The Iranians brag—and the wire services repeat their propaganda—of having the largest Jewish community in the Middle East. They never seem to mention that the Jewish community of Iran was about three or four times larger in 1979, the year the Islamists took power. Iranian Jews would likely leave Iran today if they could. But they can’t, not without losing all of their property.
Bush, who spoke beneath a portrait of Arafat, also stressed the importance of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state.
Uh-huh. There were no American flags in sight in Ramallah today. But there were plenty of pictures of the biggest mass-murderer of Jews since Hitler.
Although Bush was only a few meters away from Yasser Arafat’s mausoleum, he did not stop at the site – much to the dismay of some PA leaders. But portraits of Arafat were visible almost everywhere in the Mukata.
A source in Abbas’s office said the portraits were intended to deliver a protest against Bush’s refusal to pay respect to the former PA leader.
The source said the PA did not hang US flags in the city to avoid “provoking” residents.
If a U.S. flag “provokes” the Palestinians, they are not our friends. They are not our allies. And Abbas—well, listen to the snake oil salesman:
“We hope the talks [with Israel] would lead to ending the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state in accordance with President Bush’s vision,” he added. “Peace in the world starts from the Holy Land.”
So, peace in Israel is going to stop Muslims in Thailand from beheading schoolchildren? Ya think? It will stop the conflict in Sudan? And the Phillippines? All over the world, jihadis are going to stop what they’re doing because Palestine comes into existence?
I think not.
As for those peaceful Palestinians, well, read on:
Unprecedented security measures forced many here to remain indoors, turning Ramallah into a ghost town.
[…] During the press conference, PA policemen used clubs and tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who took to the streets to protest against Bush’s visit.
Yep. They totally “deserve” a state. Because they already know how to run one. Well, no, think about it—they do know how to run an Arab state. “Palestine” won’t be much different from any of the others. Corrupt leadership, graft, theft, honor killings, jihadis, oppression of women and non-Muslims—yep, it’ll be just another Arab state in the Middle East. On Israel’s borders.
I think the best thing to come out of this ridiculous trip is that I think neither Bush nor Olmert are strong enough to get anything past their respective governments on the Palestinian state. The minute Olmert gets serious about dividing Jerusalem, the government falls.
We should have known that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The George Bush administration was the worst for Israel since Carter. W. is obviously following in his father’s footsteps. And he’s doing it in a Clintonian way. Genius.
I can’t say I agree with you on many points.
A) Bush has proposed the right of return specifically involving compensation as opposed to swarms of refugees. This is exactly how Israelis want this problem solved.
B) Bush specifically cited outposts as having to go, while skipping right over Olmert’s direct comments stating construction in major settlement blocks will continue, they were standing next to each other at the time in front of the world press.
C) He didn’t visit Arafat’s grave, never invited him to the White House, yet spent the morning at Yad Vashem, further Israel itself recognized Abbas as a negotiating partner, Bush is just following up so the error is ours, not his.
Yes, Bush is pushing for a solution via a PA State, but the facts remain that Olmert was about to withdraw unilaterally and create a defacto PA state, Bush has solidified MUCH more favorable terms for Israel than anyone anywhere else has been suggesting.
Under his vision, Jerusalem will be largely united, major settlement blocks will remain, refugees will be compensated by the INTL community, and the Arab world must normalize relations with Israel.
The truth of the matter is that the palestinians were, do, and will continually try to kill us & destroy us – Bush has presented much more favorable terms than Europe or other US initiatives by far and we in Israel are out of patience with the Palestinians, don’t want them in our country and are sick of dealing with them.
When we withdrew from Gaza, we paid the bills, and stripped all our population from there. The moves Bush proposes entail saving Israel billions of dollars, saving Israel from a demographic nightmare of supporting a people that are beyond useless in every way – a perpetual welfare people now to be cared for by someone else. The terrorism already exists now, and Israel is getting rid of the 1.5 million Palestinians no matter what.
I think you have misread the situation. Israel’s populace doesn’t want the Palestinians in our country any longer nor the responsibility for them. We are already seeking a way out, Bush has paved the best road possible and with a wink basically said we can squeeze as we please, the onus is on them, and the concessions will be theirs.
May I remind that the rest of the planet expects us to pull back fully, destroy all settlements, remove nearly 300,000 people in established communities, hand back half Jerusalem, the list goes on & on. Bush’s way is radically different. It’s way more favorbale than Clinton’s arm twisting.
Even if we just dump the Palestinians, and wipe the international pressure by sealing a deal, and get even one or two Arab countries to normalize relations we are already WAY ahead than we would have been with a unilateral move which would be coming if not next year, than within 3.
As I have posted before, the Bush Administration is exhausted. Seven yearas of partisan guerilla politics at home, the obstruction by the timeservers and careerists within the government, the massive, years-long partisan agitprop campaign of the mass media, coming on top of fighting a real war of immense complexity, have worn Bush and his people down. All he has energy left to do now is persevere grimly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a consequence the conventional wisdom of the foreign policy elites and the liberals is rising to the top again. There is no stupid idea of CW more dear to their hearts than screwing over Israel. The naive “realists”, the dim-bulb lefties, the antisemites, and the Metternich wannabes all think that if we just screwed over Israel enough the Muslims would love us. As Bernard Wooley put it in one of the episodes of “Yes, Prime Minister,” it’s not just the cream that rises to the top. In reality we would just receive an even bigger dose of hatred and contempt for our unreliability and for stabbing a friend in the back.
Note that a lot of the same people want us to do the same kind of dishonorable betrayal to the Iraqis. Bernard Lewis has commented that America is a treacherous frie nd and a weak enemy (the CW is that wise foreign policy is hurting your friends and helping your enemies). We must snap out of this foolishness.