- On and off for the past 35 years, so-called "peace"
talks repeatedly have been stillborn from inception, a grand illusion masking
an Israeli/Washington partnership intolerant of peace, demanding unconditional
surrender, nothing less, the de facto Oslo result, one-sided for Israel,
Palestinians given nothing to this day, enduring worse conditions now than
then.
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- What chance then now for peace with no legitimate partner,
its democratically government excluded, a coup d'etat president 20 months
past his term's expiration representing them, and an Arab hating Israeli
Prime Minister once calling it "a waste of time."
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- In addition, the Israeli Lobby controls Washington's
Middle East agenda, unwilling to grant Palestinians any rights. As a result,
they endure daily violence, not stopping even as a show of good faith,
and Netanyahu's announced settlement freeze was bogus. Construction slowed,
but never stopped. Some process. Imagine what's coming. More of the same,
not an equitable just peace. The charade goes on, a spectacular deception,
Palestinians to be blamed when it fails for not negotiating in good faith.
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- Here's more. From August 26 - September 1, Israeli forces
made 37 incursions into West Bank communities and another into Gaza, arresting
15 Palestinians, including three children. Four paramedics and two human
rights workers were also detained, and six Palestinian civilians and an
international activist injured. In addition, Israeli settlers attacked
Palestinian farmers and shepherds in Hebron and Salfit as well as other
civilians and their cars on main roads, acting lawlessly with impunity
as they always do, authorities practically incentivizing them to commit
violence and destructive acts.
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- These incidents aren't isolated. They occur daily in
Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, women and children treated like
men, none of it reported in America and most Western media sources. However,
after four retaliatory Palestinian attacks killed four Israeli settlers,
it made headlines, New York Times writers Israel Kershner and Mark Landler
as one-sided as others headlining, "Killing of Israeli Settlers Rattles
Leaders," calling it disruptive on the eve of peace talks, saying:
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- "The military wing of Hamas, the Islamic group,"
carried out the attack, quoting Netanyahu "condemn(ing) the 'atrocious
murder,' which Israeli officials said seemed calculated by Hamas to upset
the negotiations," a White House statement calling the attackers "enemies
of peace."
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- However when Israeli settlers attack nonviolent Palestinians,
they're never called militants, the Jewish group, or "enemies of peace."
Their repeated offenses aren't even reported, even when deaths occur, nor
are daily IDF incursions and horrific crimes. They slip quietly under the
radar, never when Jews are harmed.
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- On September 5, Israel's Foreign Minister/Deputy Prime
Minister, Avigdor Lieberman (an outspoken anti-peace extremist) addressed
his ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party calling peace with the Palestinians
unattainable, "not next year and not for the next generation....Our
proposal is: No to unilateral concessions, no to continuing the settlement
freeze (never, in fact, frozen), yes to serious negotiations and mutual
gestures of good faith," though Lieberman offers none of his own.
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- Instead, in late August, he disingenuously proposed ending
Israel's Gaza occupation, letting Hamas establish an independent state,
conditional on its "satisfying legitimate Israeli security concerns."
It's a ruse from a hard right extremist, contemptuous of democracy and
Palestinian rights. He called Arab Israelis a fifth column, wanting citizenship
rights revoked for those unwilling to sign a Loyalty Oath pledge it to
a "Jewish, Zionist, and democratic state," its emblems and values,
and to perform military or equivalent service as a condition for a national
identity card signifying citizenship.
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- Lieberman, of course, knows Hamas won't agree or stop
resisting Israel's illegal West Bank/East Jerusalem occupation and theft
of Palestinian land for expanded settlements, commercial development, and
other Jews-only projects.
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- For many years, however, it offered to recognize Israel
and renounce resistance in return for a long-term Hudna (armistice or truce),
ending the occupation, and withdrawing Israeli forces inside 1967 borders.
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- Lieberman, his party, and the entire Netanyahu government
want all valued West Bank land and Jerusalem Judaized, Palestinians confined
to isolated resource poor cantons, surrounded by hostile settlers, allowed
to commit violence with impunity. Hamas never will agree nor should they.
It's hard imagining Fatah acquiescing, though its subservience to Israel
stops only rhetorically.
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- In agreeing to peace talks, Fatah isolated itself from
all other Palestinian political factions against it, knowing the sham process
and unacceptable demands. Abbas, however, conceded, a man contemptuous
of his people, an illegitimate leader, his appointed prime minister, Salam
Fayyad, a former IMF operative and World Bank official, his Third Way party
getting only 2.4% of the 2006 election vote, electing two of 132 Palestinian
National Authority (PA) seats - in other words, a renouncing rejection
of the man, his party, and his commitment to Israeli and Western interests,
precisely why he's Abbas' prime minister, a contemptible rogue leader.
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- One of many reasons clear after the settler killings,
Hamas' Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades claiming responsibility. In response,
Abbas' security forces arrested dozens of Hamas members and supporters
unrelated to the incident. Instead teachers, traders, workers, students,
professionals, and imams were rounded up and detained, many at home or
work, others summoned to come to security services' offices, then forcibly
held.
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- Detainees include 45 in Hebron, 23 in Tulkarm, 20 in
Salfit, 19 in Qalqilya, 15 in Nablus, 11 in Ramallah and al-Bireh, eight
in Tubas, and six each in Bethlehem and Jenin. From past experience, none
will be treated kindly, Fatah known for torture like the Israelis to extract
confessions and get names of others to arrest.
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- Abbas goes along, yielding voluntarily to Israeli authority
in return for Washington aid and special favors, including White House
photo-ops and personal rewards, his son Yasser, in fact, a millionaire
who admitted "collaborat(ing) with Israel."
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- Unsurprisingly, his father is a "reliable"
peace process partner, willingly participating in the charade, condemning
his people to futility and disappointment, worst of all if he accepts unconditional
surrender, an uncompromising Israeli demand - capitulation or state-sponsored
terror, an Israeli specialty. Against Palestinians, it's endless, even
during "peace" talks.
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- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
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- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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