4-24-2014 Bibi's Peace-Talk Halt: Bad Tactic -- or Bad Faith? - J.J. Goldberg The Jewish Forward

http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/197073/bibis-peace-talk-halt-bad-tactic-or-bad-faith/#ixzz2zyL2kL6Z

 

 

...It’s highly unlikely that Hamas will agree between now and the end of the year to tear up its founding platform and formally embrace the principle of a Palestine partitioned into two states for two peoples…. Some Hamas leaders have suggested such an arrangement in the past, with the understanding that if the negotiations produce an agreement and it’s approved in a Palestinian referendum, Hamas will accept the public’s will and live with it without endorsing it.

It’s not such a hard arrangement to understand. After all, Netanyahu heads up an Israeli government that hasn’t approved the two-state principle he himself says he embraces. Indeed, two of his coalition’s four parties, including Naftali Bennet’s HaBayit HaYehudi-Jewish Home party and Bibi’s own Likud, are formally, flatly opposed to Palestinian statehood. Put differently, they haven’t recognized the Palestinians or their right to a state. Bibi’s made it clear that he considers himself mandated to conduct negotiations toward a goal that his own party and a majority of his coalition oppose. If he’s as serious about peace as he says he is, he ought to be able to accept a Palestinian negotiating partner that operates under the same rules he does.

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

11-17-2014 This is not yet an intifada, Palestinians say - Philip Weiss Mondoweiss

11-17-2014 This is not yet an intifada, Palestinians say - Philip Weiss Mondoweiss http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11/netanyahus-intifada?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=3819b326ea-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-3819b326ea-398495333 There is not yet a third intifada, Palestinians in East Jerusalem say. But there could be an organized uprising if Jewish zealots' incitements about the Al Aqsa mosque continue. In interviews, these Palestinians say that Israel's escalation of violence in East Jerusalem has isolated and terrified neighborhoods. "There is no security. You are afraid economically, politically, and physically." And the individual acts of violence by maddened Palestinians who feel they have nothing to lose reflects the universal demand for human dignity…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member
Read more

2-6-2014 On the Ugly Side of the Wall - Bill Fletcher, Jr. Tavis Smiley Show

http://www.tavissmileyradio.com/bill-fletcher-jr-traveling-through-palestine/   Last month, a small delegation of African American artists traveled through Israel and Palestine to get a firsthand look at the daily lives of Palestinians. What they saw shocked and angered them, and their eyewitness accounts are sure to spark debate here as heated as any confrontation in the Middle East. Bill Fletcher Jr., senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, led the delegation and shares his perspective on the region. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member
Read more

10-22-21015 Israel’s descent into unmasked, right wing extremism: A new generation rises to fight occupation, settler-colonialism, apartheid - Omar Barghouti Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/22/israels_descent_into_unmasked_right_wing_extremism_a_new_generation_rises_to_fight_occupation_settler_colonialism_apartheid/     This Palestinian resistance is a spontaneous reaction to the most racist, far-right government in Israel's history…The question of Palestine is one of resistance against a colonial, apartheid regime.… Concerted, widespread, sustained nonviolent pressure that is anchored in international law and universal principles of human rights is needed, particularly in the form of boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS [and perhaps] a military embargo, for instance, similar to the one imposed on apartheid South Africa,…After such a "de-escalation," perhaps we can pursue the goal of freedom, justice and equality... Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member
Read more