Posted on 07/29/2003 12:31:05 AM PDT by ppaul
I was in the White House Rose Garden Friday for the Bush – Abbas meeting. I watched as President Bush spoke and then observed him as he listened to Abbas. I really sense he thinks he can “will” peace into place with rhetoric, charm, creativity, military might and money. It appears Bush believes he can use his diplomatic skills to reverse thousands of years of hatred, and bring peace to the Middle East.I observed Colin Powell (a few feet to my left) using his charm as he mingled with five members of the Palestinian Cabinet. He shook their hands and laughed with them. Treasury Secretary John Snow was with them also. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice joined the mix a few minutes later.
Sadly, the United States continues to be the main perpetrator of the "land for peace" crime and is using her assets to manipulate the participants.
The Main Points from President Bush’s Friday Rose Garden Address:
Bush stated the government of Israel recognizes that its own interests will be served when the Palestinians govern themselves in their own state; a peaceful democratic state where the forces of terror have been replaced by the rule of law.
He stated Prime Minister Abbas committed to a complete end to violence and terrorism, and he recognizes that terror against Israelis, wherever they might be, is a dangerous obstacle to the achievement of a Palestinian state.
Bush stated he is committed to meet the goal that has been set. To accomplish that, the President believes that the daily lives of ordinary Palestinians must be improved. Therefore, the President recently approved a grant of 20 million dollars to be directed to the Palestinian Authority.
The President announced that the United States and Palestinian Authority will establish a joint Palestine Economic Development Group. This group of American and Palestinian officials will meet regularly and be charged with finding practical ways to bring jobs, growth and investment to the Palestinian economy.
He is sending Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans to the region early this fall. They will report directly to him on the steps that need to be taken to build a solid economic foundation for a free and sovereign Palestinian state.
The Main Points from President Bush and Prime Minister Abbas’ talks.
Prime Minister Abbas and President Bush covered a range of issues in their talks. This included the impact of the limits on the freedom of movement on the Palestinian people and the need to reduce the network of checkpoints and barriers.
Prime Minister Abbas shared his concerns about Israeli settlements, confiscation of land, and the building of a security fence. He also expressed his strong desire to see the release of many more Palestinian prisoners, which currently number over six thousand.
Today, the government of Israel announced that it will take down more of the checkpoints that are making it difficult for Palestinians to travel to their jobs and schools.
In addition, Israel will consider ways to reduce the impact of the security fence on the lives of the Palestinian people.
Bush stated Prime Minister Sharon has demonstrated that he is also a partner committed to reaching a peace settlement. Sharon has also pledged to transfer to the Palestinian Authority the security responsibility for two additional cities in the West Bank, and to make further progress in removing settlement outposts.
Bush stated that this is a time of great possibility in the Middle East. The people of the region are counting on all leaders involved to seize opportunities for peace and progress. Too many lives have been lost through resentment and violence. The Palestinian people, like people everywhere, deserve freedom. They deserve an honest government and they deserve peace.
The Main Points from Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' Rose Garden Address:
Abbas promised to remain committed to the road map and to implement the security and reform obligations. Security for all Palestinians and Israelis is an essential element in progress, and they will achieve security based on the rule of law.
Abbas said that the Palestinians have succeeded significantly, where Israel, with its military might, has failed in reducing violence, but the Palestinians will continue.
Reform and institution-building are an internal Palestinian priority. They do not merely seek a state, but they desire a state that is built on the solid foundations of the modern constitution, democracy, transparency, the rule of law, and the market economy. Abbas continues to negotiate with Israel on the implementation of its obligations. Some progress has been made, but movement needs to be made in terms of freeing prisoners, lifting the siege on President Arafat, Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas, and easing up freedom of movement to Palestinians.
The establishment of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Just, agreed solution of the refugee question on the basis of the U.N. Resolution 194.
This vision cannot be realized if Israel continues to grab Palestinian land.
If the settlement activities in Palestinian land and construction of the so-called separation wall on confiscated Palestinian land continue, Palestinians might soon find ourselves at a situation where the foundation of peace, a free Palestine state, living side-by-side in peace and security in Israel is a factual impossibility.
Nothing less than a full settlement freeze will do because nothing less than a full settlement freeze will work. Abbas believes that for the sake of peace, and for the sake of future Palestinian and Israeli generations, all settlement activities must be stopped now, and the wall must come down.
Review of the Bush Administration Plan and Involvement: President Bush allowed the Palestinians to state to the world from the White House that an independent Palestinian state would have East Jerusalem as its capital; that UN Resolution 194 would address the refugee situation; and that settlement activities on Palestinian land must be frozen. [Note: The White House event further legitimized the Palestinians claims; the East Jerusalem capital and the refugee issues are deal-breakers.]
President Bush gave Abbas the opportunity to call on Israel to stop building the West Bank security fence. He said it is not helpful to the peace process. [Note: Why the fence? To keep the Palestinians from killing Israelis]
President Bush in his June 24, 2002, Middle East message said there would be no more dealing with Arafat. [Note: Arafat is still calling the shots. He defines the role and provides the script for Mahmoud Abbas. In the Rose Garden, Abbas called on Arafat to be released from his Ramallah compound. The same location, that Bush stated (thirteen months earlier) that his government was finished dealing with Arafat.]
According to the Washington Times, the Bush administration, in a gesture to visiting Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, softened its stance on the militant group Hamas, saying it could survive if it transformed into a purely political organization. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell — who said last month that "It is no longer possible to separate one part of Hamas from another part of Hamas" and called Hamas an "enemy of peace" — told reporters in Washington on Thursday: "If an organization that has a terrorist component to it, a terrorist wing to it, totally abandons that, gives it up, and there is no question in anyone's mind that is part of its past, then that is a different organization." [Note: Bush stated numerous times in the last two month that the terror infrastructure in Israel has to be dismantled. Again, Powell and the State Department have entered the mix. In essence they are saying that the terror groups will be acceptable if the militants turn in their weapons and become political organizations instead. Unbelievable!]
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) remains in the political loop. Abbas addressed them on Thursday. [Note: The CFR farms people into State Department positions. Every U.S. Secretary of State since World War II has been a CFR member, Powell included.]
After pressure from the White House and in preparation for Sharon’s departure for Washington, Israel agreed to release 210 militants from Israeli prisons [Note: Sharon’s Cabinet voted 13 to 10 to release the militants. This is a complete change of course from earlier in the week, it is due to White House pressure.]
Bush is sending Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans to the region early this fall. [Note: The President is using U.S. financial might and ingenuity to induce the Palestinians and the Israelis to parcel God’s covenant land.]
The CIA has peace monitors in Israel. [Note: The CIA has trained Palestinian sharpshooters so they could keep order within their own communities.]
The United States and the nations of the world are on a collision course with the God of Israel and we know who wins!!!
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Shimon Peres’ Outrageous Statements on Jerusalem Shimon Peres actions never cease to amaze us. He recently rose from the ashes to once again head Israel’s Labor party.
He also continues his role as the number one political puppet of the European and the U.S. One-World-Order folks and the United Nations. No one has done more damage politically to Israel than he has. His comments always seem to come at the most inopportune time, always confusing the matters at hand, which ultimately draw attention to his failed peace efforts.
As Israel’s Foreign Minister he was the first Israeli official to publicly state Israel was in favor of a Palestinian state. On May 18, 2002, he told the UN he favored an accelerated Palestinian state. On September 18, 2002, Peres tells the UN in a speech that Israel is for a Palestinian state. On October 21, 2002, Peres tells EU that Israel is in favor of a Palestinian state. His following statements on Jerusalem are mind boggling: Excerpt from a WorldNetDaily article (please see link below).
Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres, a former Israeli prime minister, is proposing Jerusalem be declared the capital of the world as a way of getting around competing Israeli and Arab claims to the city. According to his spokesman, Yoram Dori, the dovish leader of Israel's opposition Labor Party, he suggested putting the important religious shrines in Jerusalem under United Nations stewardship. He said the holy sites in Jerusalem's walled Old City could be declared a "world capital."
The Maariv daily said Peres raised the idea Monday with visiting Russian officials.
The "world capital" idea appeared to be largely symbolic. According to Maariv, Peres proposed that the U.N. secretary-general be declared mayor, in which capacity he would appoint Jewish and Arab deputy mayors to administer the two sides' intertwined neighborhoods. Kofi Annan is the current secretary-general of the U.N.
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President Bush Welcomes Prime Minister Abbas to White House Remarks by President Bush and Prime Minister Abbas The Rose Garden – July 25, 2003
Click HERE for the article.
KOOK Alert!!!
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