Rice: Israelis must be prepared for "difficult and painful sacrifices" now that they have a negotiating partner in President Abbas
November 14, 2007, 4:22 PM (GMT+02:00) – DEBKA.com
"In an address to the United Jewish Communities meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, Tuesday, Nov. 13, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israelis must sacrifice some of their “longest held aspirations” in talks with Palestinian leaders. A strong Palestinian state was more urgent than ever, she insisted, as a bulwark against threats from violent extremists."
November 14, 2007, 4:22 PM (GMT+02:00) – DEBKA.com
"In an address to the United Jewish Communities meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, Tuesday, Nov. 13, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israelis must sacrifice some of their “longest held aspirations” in talks with Palestinian leaders. A strong Palestinian state was more urgent than ever, she insisted, as a bulwark against threats from violent extremists."
For the record, the Palestinians are the violent extremists. They have rejected every proposal for a separate state since Israel proclaimed its independence. Suicide bombers are Yasser Arafat's gift to the worldwide war on the Islamic Jihad.
The notion that Israelis and Jews worldwide will sit back and do nothing if Israeli Prime Minister Olmert tries to trade away Jerusalem and the West Bank in search of peace with either Fatah or Hamas is a diplomatic pipedream. No, make that a nightmare.
Worse, it is both strange and disconcerting that the Bush Administration which has been engaged with Islamic jihadists from the earliest days of its first term of office would think that Israel, which has battled them before and since its independence for sixty years, should make “sacrifices.”
Despite wars waged against it, Israel unilaterally pulled out of southern Lebanon in the late 1980s, only to be repaid for this with a short war by Hezbollah last year. It later pulled out of the Gaza, forcing Israelis who lived and had thriving businesses there to leave. It has been repaid with ceaseless rocket shelling ever since.
And yet the U.S. has the temerity to demand that the Israelis negotiate with organizations whose leaders have repeatedly gone on record saying they will only be satisfied when Israel ceases to exist.
The notion that Israelis and Jews worldwide will sit back and do nothing if Israeli Prime Minister Olmert tries to trade away Jerusalem and the West Bank in search of peace with either Fatah or Hamas is a diplomatic pipedream. No, make that a nightmare.
Worse, it is both strange and disconcerting that the Bush Administration which has been engaged with Islamic jihadists from the earliest days of its first term of office would think that Israel, which has battled them before and since its independence for sixty years, should make “sacrifices.”
Despite wars waged against it, Israel unilaterally pulled out of southern Lebanon in the late 1980s, only to be repaid for this with a short war by Hezbollah last year. It later pulled out of the Gaza, forcing Israelis who lived and had thriving businesses there to leave. It has been repaid with ceaseless rocket shelling ever since.
And yet the U.S. has the temerity to demand that the Israelis negotiate with organizations whose leaders have repeatedly gone on record saying they will only be satisfied when Israel ceases to exist.
Nothing good can come of this. It ranks as nothing less then a betrayal of a steadfast ally—the only democracy in the region—at a time when Arabs should see the U.S. standing behind Israel, not deserting it and its rightful claim to the Holy Land that was the biblically granted homeland of the Jews for more than two thousand years before Islam ever existed.
No comments:
Post a Comment