As reported last week, the Obama administration is going to try to start at the end in order to report some kind of progress in Middle East peace talks. The thing is, you really can’t start at the end. You can work backwards in many things, but you can’t work backwards in a peace process where each side is supposed to show the steps it has taken to achieve the peace. But of course, the Palestinians have been arguing for the endgame from the very beginning, when the people doing the negotiating (or lack thereof) were the Arab states that had occupied Gaza and the West Bank from 1948 to 1967 (cf: Three No’s of Khartoum).
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that once borders are agreed on, the dispute over settlements would be moot.
“Resolving borders resolves settlements, resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements,” Clinton said. “I think we need to lift our sights and instead of being looking down at the trees, we need to look at the forest.”
Sure, because it’s not like the Palestinians are still naming streets after suicide bombers or refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state or anything. Oh, wait. This part of the original article got left out of the AP update. In fact, the word “incitement” no longer appears in the update, which is funny, because the Palestinians are obligated under the Road Map to stop incitement, yet no media outlet ever seems to find that worth putting in the same article that insists Israel must freeze settlements.
In later comments, Netanyahu also accused the Palestinians of harming peace prospects by encouraging incitement. He cited a decision by municipal authorities in the West Bank city of Ramallah to name a square after the female mastermind of a 1978 bus hijacking in Israel that killed 37 people.
“This is not the way to make peace,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet. “Peace is made by educating reconciliation, by encouraging good neighborly relations and by fostering respect.”
Yes, it is. Not by threats and ultimatums. But that is, and has ever been, the Palestinian way.
Hear the latest, Douchebama is thinking about slapping sanctions on Israel if it doesn’t stop ALL settlements right now.
Of course this was from one of his talking heads, and I’m sure Dear Leader will “clarify” what he really meant later.
I hope every Jew that voted for him is happy! Thanks for the help! Can he count on your vote when he’s up for election?
Damn Idiots… (and yes it’s capitalized.)
Um. Kindly do not call the president a douche, even if you think he is one. Not on this blog, please. I hate that word when it is used to describe a person.
How about “jug-eared doofus”. Here is the reference.
Actually, I expect him to try to pressure Honduras to put Zelaya back in power even after the new (freely elected) government takes power on 27 January, 2010. I also expect him to instruct the State Department to announce that the “U.S. Embassy to Palestine” will be set up in “East Jerusalem” and that “West Jerusalem” is no longer part of Israel.
I like “jug eared doofus”.