Posted on 05/24/2013 8:19:26 AM PDT by Ooh-Ah
Under the circumstances, the U.S. would do better to tell the Palestinians there is no deal to be had unless they -- both the Fatah and Hamas -- demonstrably accommodate the reality that Israel is a legitimate, permanent part of the region. Otherwise, it is for Israel to determine how best to defend itself from those "challenges over the horizon."
At first blush, it might have sounded like praise, but it wasn't. Before meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Secretary of State John Kerry pronounced Israel's prosperity an impediment to "peace" with the Palestinians. "I think there is an opportunity [for peace], but for many reasons it's not on the tips of everyone's tongue. People in Israel aren't waking up every day and wondering if tomorrow there will be peace because there is a sense of security and a sense of accomplishment and of prosperity."
So, Secretary Kerry thinks it would be better for Israel to approach negotiations from a position of precarious poverty? Does he think Israel's quest for legitimacy and security in an unstable, over-armed and hostile region would be better received if Israel were a needy, insecure supplicant to Palestinian and Arab interests? Or that the Palestinians would have pity on an unnerved and anxious Israel struggling with a bankrupt, aid-dependent economy?
There are people – not necessary Secretary Kerry – who prefer their Jews as needy supplicants, but that is not a role Israel is prepared to play, thank you. The entire Zionist enterprise is designed precisely to ensure that Jews in the State of Israel are able to wake up every day with a "sense of security" and determine their own interests. The fact that Israelis also wake up with a hard-earned and well-deserved "sense of accomplishment and of prosperity" is icing on the cake.
What Kerry appears to have meant was that this is somehow a pivotal moment for Israel because its prosperity and security may be evanescent. He continued, "Over the horizon… one can see the challenges," that make it important "to resolve this at this moment, when there is a willingness for people to look for a way [to achieve an agreement]."
"At this moment" Israel is a stable, educated, increasingly energy independent, democratic, prosperous country with a military that appears willing and able to defend the people from threats over the horizon. It has a clear understanding with the Kingdom of Jordan for security along the Jordan River that protects both neighbors. It has an almost clear understanding with the President of the United States (and certainly has one with Congress) that the main threat to its security lies in the nuclear aspirations of Iran.
This, says Kerry, is "the moment" Israel should feel a pressing imperative to dump King Abdullah and cut a deal with a Palestinian polity that is bifurcated between a kleptocratic, autocratic, openly anti-Semitic West Bank ruled by a man whose sole elected term ended in 2009, and a corrupt, Islamist, Gaza ruled by terrorist-worshipping, Iranian-sponsored Hamas. Hamas and Fatah are at war with one another and their only point of agreement appears to be that the independence of Israel in 1948 was a mistake waiting to be "rectified." A deal with Mahmoud Abbas, old, ailing, and very unpopular at home, would be a temporary deal at best. If Hamas wins its war, Israel will have stripped itself of vital territory only to find its heavily populated coastline under the same rocket and missile fire that southern Israel now absorbs. And Jordan would similarly find hostile forces aligned with Iran overlooking the Kingdom.
Under those circumstances, the U.S. would do better to tell the Palestinians that there is no deal to be had unless they – both factions – demonstrably accommodate the reality that Israel is a legitimate, permanent part of the region. Otherwise, it is for Israel to determine how best to defend itself from those "challenges over the horizon."
The boundaries of the Levant determined by the British and the French early in the last century are being erased; there is little border left between Lebanon and Syria as militias on all sides fight in both countries. Tribalism and religious enmity from both radical Sunni and radical Shiite expansionists have produced monstrous swamps of Arab blood, and atrocities that rival Rwanda and Cambodia. Iraq is devolving into Sunni and Shiite cantons at war with one another. Turkey, long a country tolerant of Jews and engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship with Israel, has become a financial and political backer of Hamas, which is sworn to the bloody destruction of Israel. Qatar is second only to Turkey in its willingness to be seen as Hamas's benefactor, not to mention Qatar's pledge of $1 billion to "protect the Arabic and Islamic heritage of Jerusalem" (meaning to erase what it can of Jewish patrimony there). Egypt, after a 30-year stable peace, is ruled by a party that eschews relations with Israel and is constrained mainly by its military and its own economic debacle from acting on its ideological platform.
Under the circumstances, Kerry would do better to praise Israel without the forked tongue.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center.
JF’nK needs to give the Palis lessons in how to become a successful, serial gigolo.
That's why Ubama is destroying ours.
Didn’t he go to Vietnam? Some thing about a boat sticks out in my mind.
/sarc It is a shame those pesky Israelis feel secure and prosperous. Just like those darn Americans and their sense of greatness.
“Why don’t you just tell silly suitcase man go home now?”
I think he won some medals. a scratch or two, rehabilitation was not sucessful as brain damage is till present. Fence medals?
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
LOL
“JF’nK needs to give the Palis lessons in how to become a successful, serial gigolo.” Is there a widowed country with money that the Palis could marry?
Uh oh, this sounds like shades of South Africa.
John F’in Skerry is a f’in idiot. Only a complete fool would make a statement like that. Because, what good does it do? How does it promote the peace process?
John and the US should wake up. There will never, ever be peace in the Middle East until the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The major reason for this is Shariah Law. Islam will be at war with the non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Shariah law. It is their religious duty.
I suggest we leave the Middle East. Let the Moslems kill each other to their hearts’ content. We should stop all Moslem immigration/visits to the US. Yes, they will scream and cry. But this decision can be easily justified as being in the best security interests of the US.
Now, if we just didn’t have a Moslem as president...
Shoshana Bryen: Israel’s Perspective on Syria (video) ...
http://blogsofwar.com/2013/05/21/shoshana-bryen-israels-perspective-on-syria/
The Q&A session is interesting, especially re: WMDs beginning at ~14:50.
Alas, there are even bigger fools that continued to keep him in elected office.
JF'nK is just doing what B. Hussein Obama tells him to do.
Couldn’t mention that the Pali’s culture and the Iraeli culture are the cause of the poverty and prosperity, respectively.
Nope, can’t say
YOUR MUSLIM CULTURE IS INFERIOR TO THE JEWISH CULTURE AND THAT’S WHY YOU’RE POORER.
As long as we all remember that John Effing Kerry is not a Patriot, but instead was and is a Traitor to the United States, everything he says and does falls into place.
A FRiend of mine made the comment the other day that John Effing Kerry was the “perfect SECSTATE.”
I over-reacted to his statement, and called his sanity into question.
Upon further discussion, I realized the he was right: John Effing Kerry is the perfect SECSTATE for the Obongo Bozo regime. His incessant anti-American words and actions will hasten the Obongo Bozo regime’s downfall!
Daily, John Effing Kerry reinforces to We the People and the rest of the world that the Obongo Bozo administration is doing America and the FRee World great harm.
Their day is coming, and they will have brought it upon themselves!
leftists don’t like prosperity anywhere but for themselves
She said: "It looked good in the package, but I think it might be Plastic"!
WELL, after 50 years in the plastics business (35 years at HERE), I confirmed her analysis, and told her that it was indeed molded plastic, of the highest quality, not unlike the stuff that we do for a living. And it was Chrome-plated too.
Then I looked at the label, and it said: "Made in Israel".
Then I wondered - 'What if I re-located my Company to Israel?'
Everybody's armed, and we already tried Arkansas ...
Things to ponder ...................................................................................... FRegards
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