Posted on 04/19/2010 1:03:38 AM PDT by Enchante
JERUSALEM – Israel must recognize that the world will not put up with decades more of Israeli rule over the Palestinian people, the country's defense minister said in unusually frank remarks Monday.
Ehud Barak's comments, on the occasion of Israel's Memorial Day, come against the backdrop of severe friction between the U.S. and Israel's hawkish government over an impasse in peacemaking....
...."But we also shouldn't delude ourselves," he added. "The growing alienation between us and the United States is not good for the state of Israel."
The way to narrow that gap is to embark on an Israeli diplomatic initiative "that doesn't shy from dealing with all the core issues" dividing Israelis and Palestinians, he said.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I used to wonder why American Jews hated Israel and voted to put anti-semites like Obama in office. Now I realise that some Jews in Israel hate their country too.
Israel has been occupying the Palistinians for 43 years and if anything the hatred against them has just grown stronger. What’s other option do they have?
” Israel must recognize that the world will not put up with decades more of Israeli rule over the Palestinian people, the country’s defense minister said in unusually frank remarks Monday. “
He’s absolutely right. The world will not put up with anything Israel does, except die, and they’ll use any excuse to achieve that goal.
to the extreme.
“Israel has been occupying the Palistinians for 43 years and if anything the hatred against them has just grown stronger. What’s other option do they have?”
Actually, the Arabs claim the Israelis have been “occupying the Palestinians” since 1948, not 1967. Prior to 1967, when the “Palestinians” in Gaza were “occupied” by the Egyptians and the “Palestinians” in the so-called “West Bank” were “occupied” by Jordon, no one seemed to give a damn about them. Neither did the world care when the Arab armies were about to launch another war of extermination against the Jews in 1967.
The other option the Israelis have is to tell the world that they know the world seeks the extermination of the Jew and is just using this cause as their excuse. It won’t work so they might just as well come out with the truth.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
He's a liberal, and from a political perspective he might not be the man I'd want to accomplish it, but he's right. At some point, as in Gaza, Israel needs to withdraw to the territory she plans on keeping, defend the new borders and leave the palestinians to their own devices.
Not4 post 29
I may not like his politics, but Ehud Barak's credentials as an Israeli patriot are unassailable.
Your boilerplate FreeRepublic libel of American Jewry should earn you some high 5s though.
“Israeli defense minister says occupation must end [Obamanation influence]”
Do it. Clear all the Arabs out of the land God gave to Israel.
I agree that at some point there may/should be a pullback to permanent borders (whatever they will be) but talking about it in this way at this time seems to me very risky and unhelpful. No I don’t question Barak’s Israeli patriotism as another poster did, not at all, of course not. And I do realize that in some obvious ways he knows infinitely more than I ever can about a lot of the details and dynamics of these matters. However, in the current period with the Obama clowns turning up the pressures on Israel I happen to think it’s exactly the wrong time for Israel to be emphasizing any future pullback(s) rather than insisting upon the permanent conditions of security for Israel which are in some serious peril.
No doubt Barak thinks this is the way forward right now and I don’t question his patriotism, I question his short-term judgment call for this instance. I do think Israel in the short term needs to show it will not be pressured or bullied by anyone, not the USA or anyone else. That’s why this strikes me as exactly the wrong message to the Palestinians and the world at this moment, when there is a US administration of dubious value (to put it mildly). Just my 2 cents but I know I’m not expert in anything related to these subjects.
Why now, why not? Israel has offered to withdraw twice, at Camp David and in 2008. Were they to use those rejected peace settlements as the basis of a unilateral withdraw, it would preempt any plan the US might be planning at the UN, wouldn't it. Likely on better territorial terms. They'll have to decide what to do with the Arab sections of East Jerusalem, but whatever the decision, the decision will have been made, the lines drawn. I suspect Sharon would have done this by now.
You make good points - I was reacting from within my current cloud of despair over the Obama crowd - but I have often wondered whether Israel should just declare final borders, whatever they are, and say that the other side has blown endless opportunities to negotiate.
I think the big international problem with that is that they will not become “legally recognized” borders anytime soon, if ever.
I think Israel needs to get ahead of the US, including the Obama crowd. For all his personal affection for Israel, imo GWB did more damage to Israel’s negotiating position than Clinton or Obama thus far. A sovereign state, never policy before. A land link between Gaza and the West Bank, carved out of Israel with no offset. Hamas as a political force. Israel would be better off if her borders were defined.
Oh, it would "preempt" Obama's plan alright, in a manner reminiscent of the famous National Lampoon magazine cover showing a dog with a pistol to its head with the caption "Buy this magazine or we'll shoot this dog", or perhaps the scene in Blazing Saddles where Cleavon Little puts the gun to his head and tells the hostile townsfolk "back off, or the n****r gets it". In the spirit of your facile "Why now, why not?" the proper response is "So what?".
There is absolutely nothing to indicate that such a unilateral preemption would result in "better terms" in any permanent way. Once the initial "peace in our time" euphoria of that "dramatic breakthrough" evaporated, all it would do would be to whet the appetites of the circling wolves and set the stage for a new list of demands and concessions. That is the historical record, and has been exactly the case in every one of these instances.
While it is true that the best solution to be had may be a "two-state" solution and some necessary concessions by Israel, the way Ehud Barak has framed this is not just wrong and misguided, it's dishonest and despicable. In fact, it's John McCain/Colin Powell-level wrong and despicable. I respect and appreciate his military service, just as I do theirs, but in his political career he continues, like them, to betray the very things he once fought for.
It would result in both “terms” and borders. The liklihood of negotiating these things with an unelected “authority” 40% Of whose population is governed by a terror group is zero for many years. Israel’s enemies won’t recognize either solution, friends likely would, but in any case that the issue is the destruction of Israel, not the “occupation” would be clear, as would Israel’s future path, defending her citizens, not negotiating with Arabs
That is very disturbing.
It is not the first time Barak has allowed himself to be used to defeat and silence Netanyahu. He willingly allowed Clinton to use him to unseat Netanyahu and allowed fabricated charges to be brought against him. Barak might be a soldier but what patriot of Israel divides Jerusalem?
Is there no price he would not pay to achieve political power? How much smaller can Israel afford to be?
With “patriots” like Barak, why does Israel need enemies?
Oslo...first step to suicide.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.