- With the moment of truth arriving next week, rhetoric
from both sides suggests Palestinians again will lose out.
-
- Instead of an advocate representing them in New York,
a collaborationist apparently will show up. Public statements and body
language say so.
-
- What could at last be looks likely to be denied. Instead
of a new beginning, betrayal appears in the cards.
-
- It's almost no exaggeration saying the fix is in. What'll
finally emerge will be portrayed as a Palestinian win. In reality, it'll
be defeat - a worthless half loaf in place of what's easily within reach.
-
- With more than enough international support backed by
international law at a time Israeli and US influence are weaker, a golden
chance is slip-siding away.
-
- The daily soap opera continues. Here's the latest.
-
- On September 14, Haaretz writer Avi Issacharoff headlined,
"Palestinians trying to dodge pre-UN vote face-off with Obama,"
saying:
-
- "Next week, intense negotiations will be undertaken
between the European Union, the PA and the American government regarding
the specific formula of the request for Palestinian statehood recognition."
-
- The "specific formula" says it all. Only an
easily attainable one delivers statehood and full de jure UN membership.
Anything less continues status quo betrayal.
-
- Instead of going for it with overwhelming support, bet
on Abbas petitioning only for reshuffling the deck chairs, leaving status
quo denial in place.
-
- Apparently he's less concerned about justice than embarrassing
Washington, if Obama followed through with his threatened Security Council
veto. Bet on it, and it won't be long before it's known.
-
- On September 13, New York Times writers Steven Myers
and David Kirkpatrick headlined, "US Scrambles to Avert Palestinian
Vote at UN," saying:
-
- Ahead of next week in New York, "maneuvering became
an exercise in brinkmanship as the administration wrestles with roiling
tensions in the region, including a sharp deterioration of relations between....Egypt,
Israel and Turkey."
-
- While Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called
Palestinian statehood "not a choice but an obligation," Arab
League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby said after meeting with PA officials:
-
- "(I)t is obvious that the Palestinian Authority
and the Arab countries are leaning towards going to the General Assembly"
for a meaningless status upgrade from "observer entity" to "observer
state," leaving them back at square one.
-
- Even so, Obama, Hillary Clinton, regional envoy Tony
Blair (a reinvented war criminal), EU representative Catherine Ashton,
US Middle East envoy David Hale, and pro-Israeli hardliner Dennis Ross
want Abbas to call the whole thing off.
-
- In their minds, even a fig leaf is too much.
-
- Only Israeli interests matter. Palestinians must accept
their status as powerless occupied people and shut up.
-
- "The administration has spent months trying to avoid"
the embarrassment of a Security Council veto, even though under international
law it's toothless. Only the General Assembly admits new members. The Security
Council recommends.
-
- Both get their say on admissions. One body alone matters,
and it's ready to do the right thing if proper procedures are followed.
-
- Lots of times, Abbas and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat
had their say more for Israel than Palestine.
-
- Erekat, in fact, signaled no change now, saying:
-
- "We don't intend to confront the US, or anyone else
for that matter (suggesting Israel and its EU allies)."
-
- The early 2011 released Palestine Papers revealed that
policy position was longstanding, siding with Israel against his own people.
-
- So did Abbas as chief Oslo negotiator where he sold them
out entirely and did so ever since.
-
- Expect no change of heart now. For him, Erekat and Prime
Minister Salam Fayyad, it would be entirely out of character. Leopards
can't change their spots, nor snakes in the grass.
-
- Nor Congress, threatening to cut off aid in the event
of a UN vote, what most in it call a "confrontation," not long
delayed justice.
-
- The same Congress backs Obama's imperial wars, banker
bailouts, austerity hardship for needy Americans, and repressive police
state laws to slap them down if they complain.
-
- The deck indeed is stacked, and unrepresented Palestinians
hold no aces.
-
- So hinted Jimmy Carter, America's 39th president and
author of "Peace Not Apartheid."
-
- His September 13 New York Times op-ed headlined, "After
the UN Vote on Palestine," saying:
-
- Camp David promises proved hollow. Despite overwhelming
Knesset approval, "call(ing) for honoring all aspects of United Nations
Security Council Resolution 242 (November 22, 1967)," Israel systematically
violated its provisions.
-
- Key ones included denying "the acquisition of territory
by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every
State in the area can live in security."
-
- Others mandated:
-
- "(i) Withdrawal of Israel(i) armed forces from territories
occupied in (1967);" and
-
- "(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency
and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity
and political independence of every State in the area and their right to
live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats
or acts of force."
-
- In 1948, Palestinians lost 78% of their historic homeland.
In 1967, they lost the rest. Camp David I, Madrid, Oslo, Oslo II, Wye River,
Camp David II, Taba, and decades of peace process futility accomplished
nothing.
-
- Every post-Camp David I negotiation favored Israel. Palestinians'
only choice was take it or leave it. Nothing's changed now. Carter knows
it but didn't say. So do Palestinians and the Arab street with no power.
-
- Carter did say Washington "basically withdr(ew)
from active participation in the peace process. The Palestinians and other
Arabs have interpreted US policy as acquiescing on the occupation and (being)
biased against them."
-
- Given what they're up against, "what are the options
for the future?"
-
- Instead of explaining the futility of peace process negotiations
because Palestinians have no willing partner, Carter called for "comprehensive"
efforts "based on the fully compatible US official policy, previous
UN resolutions and the Quartet's previous demands."
-
- In other words, he recommends another round of what won't
work instead of suggesting what may, and saying US policy must back it.
With enough (sorely lacking) commitment, Israel would have a hard time
saying no, but don't bet it wouldn't try.
-
- Yet Carter's vision calls for "peace for Israel
and all its neighbors. The United States would regain its leadership role
in the region, based on its commitment to freedom, democracy and justice,
and a major cause of widespread animosity toward America within the Arab
world would be eliminated."
-
- Shamefully, Carter omitted mention of America's imperial
wars. That the business of America is war. That permanent war is official
policy.
-
- That eroding homeland social justice pays for them. That
repressive police state laws slap down resisters.
-
- That post-9/11, $10 trillion or more was spent on militarism
with all categories included.
-
- That over the same period, millions of lives were lost.
Many millions more were harmed, and killer weapons destroyed nonbelligerent
countries lawlessly.
-
- Libya, of course, is Washington's latest trophy. Even
so, death and destruction continue daily, turning the entire country into
a hellish charnel house.
-
- At home, unbridled greed, corruption, and imperial lawlessness
define America.
-
- Torture, extraordinary renditions, indefinite detentions
without charge, military commissions, warrantless surveillance, and racial
profiling are official policies.
-
- Special Forces death squads murder people globally who
disagree with US policies.
-
- Decades of bad policies, including his own, have America
on a fast track toward tyranny and ruin.
-
- America's middle class is disappearing. Growing millions
suffer from poverty, homelessness, hunger and despair. America's media
don't notice, let alone care.
-
- America partners with Israel's most lawless policies.
Its leaders (including himself) support the worst of world despots and
brutes.
-
- Democracy in America is a sham illusion. Whistleblowing
and dissent can be called criminal.
-
- Times op-eds alone won't change things, especially ones
falling way short of the mark.
-
- On October 1, Carter turn's 87. Arguably, his post-presidency
is the best of the lot, though far from perfect.
-
- At this stage in life, why not go all the way burnishing
it.
-
- What better way than by forthrightly challenging US policies
causing so much harm to so many, including permanent imperial wars and
social injustice.
-
- Then support Palestinian statehood and full de jure UN
membership. At the same time, denounce Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman, saying "harsh and grave consequences" will follow
a UN vote.
-
- That's the kind of legacy worth working for!
-
- It's true for everyone, not just him!
-
- 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.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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