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From Bad to Worse
WND.com ^ | 12-04-03 | Farah, Joseph

Posted on 12/04/2003 5:31:52 AM PST by Theodore R.

From bad to worse

Posted: December 4, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

It was bad enough when Secretary of State Colin Powell and President Bush were insisting that – no matter what – Israel remain committed to the disastrously misguided "roadmap" to create a Palestinian state as the lynchpin of a Mideast peace plan.

Now Powell is considering meeting with an Israeli meddler and an Arab provocateur who have come up with a new plan to carve up the Jewish state – outside of accountability to the people affected.

Imagine if, let's say, Ralph Nader began informal negotiations with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. After three years or so, these talks led to a proposal accepted by both sides that the U.S. would give up half of its territory, divide the capital of Washington, D.C. and agree to other concessions in exchange for a promise by al-Qaida to cease all terrorism.

Would such a plan deserve international scrutiny? Would it warrant further investigation by top diplomats? Would it be worth the paper it was written on?

Of course not. It would not only be an extraordinarily bad policy decision for the U.S. and the rest of the free world, it would undermine real negotiations by accountable, official, authorized representatives of government.

Nevertheless, once again, the U.S. has a double-standard when it comes to Israel. We ask Israel to do what we say, not what we do. In fact, we ask Israel to do things we as a nation would never consider doing in a million years.

Israel's top government leaders are urging Powell not to meet with organizers of an unofficial Mideast peace treaty, arguing the secretary of state would not help the actual peace process. Launched Monday in Geneva, the informal agreement was the result of three years of talks between former Israeli and Palestinian negotiators working in private without representing their governments.

The U.S. government has been generally supportive of the unofficial Geneva initiative, while insisting that the "roadmap" peace plan is the only one on the table. Powell said he would go ahead with a meeting of the unofficial plan's architects. The meeting would not contradict the U.S. commitment to the "roadmap" outlining the establishment of a Palestinian state, he said.

"I don't know why I or anyone else in the U.S. government should deny ourselves the opportunity to hear from others and who have ideas with respect to peace," Powell said during a visit to Tunisia.

Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Powell would be "making a mistake" by meeting the plan's organizers, led by former Israeli Cabinet minister Yossi Beilin and Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon described the hypothetical agreement as subversive.

The deal proposes borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state close to Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war, giving the Palestinians almost all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and part of Jerusalem. It calls for the removal of most Israeli settlements there and severely limits the so-called "right of return" for Palestinians who fled or were driven out during the 1948-49 war that followed Israel's creation and their descendants. It also divides sovereignty in Jerusalem.

One of the chief Arab architects of the "Geneva Accord" admitted Sunday his side had helped draw up the radical plan specifically to create division among Israelis, thereby further weakening the Jews from within to benefit the Palestinian cause.

Fatah official Hatem Abdel Khader, who was deeply involved in the secret talks that spawned "Geneva," told the Jerusalem Post Sunday the Palestinian side had helped author the agreement primarily in order to cause a rift in Israeli society and to undermine the Sharon government.

"Our aim was to create divisions inside Israel and block the growth of the right-wing," the Post quoted Khader as saying.

Powell and America should not be a part of such tactics.

This is not the way to fight terrorism.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Israel
KEYWORDS: alqaida; khader; middleeast; olmert; palestinianstate; powell; roadmaptopeace; terrorism

1 posted on 12/04/2003 5:31:53 AM PST by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
Powell should go.
2 posted on 12/04/2003 5:36:00 AM PST by Thane_Banquo
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To: Thane_Banquo
Agreed. I can't wait until the end of the current term when he leaves. Any US gov't official who can't see this plan for what it is is not qualified to represent us to the world!
3 posted on 12/04/2003 5:43:42 AM PST by thoughtomator (The U.N. is a terrorist organization)
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To: Theodore R.
Powell cannot be fired because he is black. Like it or not, that is a political reality. So we are stuck with him.

Israel should arrest Yossi Beilin the minute he gets off the plane at Ben-Gurion Airport and charge him with treason. Unfortunately, that wont happen either.
4 posted on 12/04/2003 6:44:25 AM PST by Astronaut
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
5 posted on 12/04/2003 11:45:45 AM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson
In previous comments I have warned that Powell is anathema to Israel. In my view, he IS incitement, slander, and foul language. Included was a warning that Powell seeks a direct confrontation with Israel over the faux *accord* though our President has already dismissed it as worthless, (although there seems to be some ambiguity since this was published on Arutz.)
Powell insists he will not resign over policy, but stated he would continue to follow his own agenda almost daring the President to fire him. I do not know if President Bush, with so much horror on his plate, knows to what extent Powell has betrayed him. A decision must come soon though and Jews must NOT perceive this President is against us. It is not the truth. He has been a righteous shield to Israel, keeping the EU at bay and standing up to any country who insists that Israel must admit the UN. For this, the hard left hates him.
In the US the Arabs are trying to draft Hillary Clinton for Vice President with Wesley Clark as president. Israel would not last the winter should this duo be elected. At any rate, anyone who believes that Colin Powell was a great general should read Stormin' Norman's book, and anyone who thinks that he is not tilted very far left and towards the Muslim corner needs an urgent appointment with a doctor of either optometry or logic.
We have also had our eye on his charitable contributions, distributed secretly through his wife beginning in 1995 that have since amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. These contributions were made to certain charities that seek out disadvantaged or in other ways dysfunctional children needing adult *guidance* and education. It SOUNDS quite alright on the surface...but where did Colin Powell get hundreds of thousands of dollars to make PERSONAL contributions from his own checking account?
Would it be too much speculation that he spent a lot of time in Riyadh during Gulf War 1? Why does the media keep insisting that Powell never utilized affirmative action when he most certainly did and even while in the Military, thus being promoted over other, more competent officers? Why is he still a media darling when none of the other Bush Cabinet members are? Why does he have the imprint of spilt Kofi in his lap? Did the French and Germans really stab him in the back...and if so, where was the outrage from the media AND/OR Powell himself...unless he helped set it up.
Like Joe, I have issues and issues and issues with this guy. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.
__________________________________________________________________
FROM TIME MAGAZINE

Jan. 22, 1996
A GIRL'S BEST FRIENDS
ALMA POWELL AND ELAYNE BENNETT, ONE PRO-CHOICE, THE OTHER PRO-LIFE, FIND COMMON GROUND ON TEENS AND SEX
By MARGARET CARLSON

RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, ELAYNE BENNETT, HEAD OF BEST Friends, an organization that encourages schoolgirls to forgo sex, reached into her purse and found a piece of paper that board member Alma Powell had slipped in there a few days before. It turned out to be a check from General Colin Powell providing the major portion of matching funds for a $200,000 challenge grant. "I couldn't believe it, and I almost lost it," confesses Bennett. "Alma gave it to me with so little fanfare." Best Friends started on a shoestring and a smile in a bedroom of Bennett's Chevy Chase, Maryland, home nine years ago.
____________________________________________________________________
Recruitment of children by the left is an everyday occurence.

Am Yisrael Chai.
NIX


2

FROM THE WARROOM
QUINN'S SUICIDER

6 posted on 12/04/2003 1:17:45 PM PST by Nix 2 (http://www.warroom.com QUINN AND ROSE IN THE AM)
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