[WCUSP] Fw: Peacegroups Annapolis discussion Wedn. Tel-Aviv/ The missing sentence (Gush ad) / Avnery: How to get Out?

Mon Nov 19 22:45:05 CST 2007

Yes, Agree. I forwarded his post to others including the JVP Philly Group
marlena

Odile Hugonot Haber wrote:
> Libby
>
> I really like Uri Avnery and the way he writes, he knows his subject inside out
> he is a passoionate peace activist! his wife too, she does all the pictures!
>
> I think it is good if for a little while we have some press on Israel and
> Palestine, and if many peace groups write letters. It will confirm our position
> it may be a good time to call a press conference and let people know that we
> have other views on the topic.A joke could turned into a good opportunity as
> the silence is now pretty strong.
>
> Odile Hugonot Haber
>
> On 11/18/07, Libby or Mort Frank <lmfrank1 at verizon.net> wrote:
>   
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Another look at the Annapolis conference -- from an Israeli leading peace
>> activist.  (Scroll down past the Hebrew.)
>>
>> Libby
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Gush Shalom
>> To: intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 6:25 AM
>> Subject: Peacegroups Annapolis discussion Wedn. Tel-Aviv/ The missing
>> sentence (Gush ad) / Avnery: How to get Out?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> www.gush-shalom.org
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>> האם אנאפוליס רלוונטית? פורום גוש שלום 21.11
>>
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>> הקליקו לפרטים מלאים - זה ביום רביעי בתל-אביב
>>
>> http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/annapolis.Nov.21.htm
>>
>>  click for full details, it's on Wednesday in Tel-Aviv
>>
>> Forum Gush Shalom 21.11 Is Annapolis Relevant?
>>
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>> Uri Avnery: How to Get Out?
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>> Full text English in the end
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>> Collected articles
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>> http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery
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>> אורי אבנרי:  ???אז איך יוצאים מזה?
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>>  אוסף מאמרים:
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>>  http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery
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>> Gush Shalom ad in Haaretz,  16,11 2007   המשפט המהותי
>>
>> The crucial sentence
>>
>> (נמצא גם באתר (ההודעה בהארץ16.11
>>
>> http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/weekly_ad/1195209975/
>>
>>
>> A week to Annapolis -
>> And no sign of
>> The solemn document
>> To be presented there.
>>
>> What is missing?
>> One simple sentence:
>>
>> "I. Ehud Olmert,
>> Commit myself to
>> Ending the occupation,
>> In practice - and not in words,
>> In all the territories - and
>> Not in some of them,
>> Now - and not
>> When the Messiah comes.
>>
>> That's the whole story in a nutshell.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 03-5221732.
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>>
>> Uri Avnery
>> 17.11.07
>>
>>                  How to Get Out?
>>
>>
>>
>> THE ANNAPOLIS conference is a joke. Though not in the least funny.
>>
>> Like quite a lot of political initiatives, this one too, according to all
>> the indications, started more or less by accident. George Bush was due to
>> make a speech. He was looking for a theme that would give it some substance.
>> Something that would divert attention away from his fiascos in Iraq and
>> Afghanistan. Something simple, optimistic, easy to swallow.
>>
>> Somehow, the idea of a "meeting" of leaders to promote the
>> Israeli-Palestinian "process" came up. An international meeting is always
>> nice - it looks good on television, it provides plenty of
>> photo-opportunities, it radiates optimism. We meet, ergo we exist.
>>
>> So Bush voiced the idea: a "meeting" for the promotion of peace between
>> Israel and the Palestinians.
>>
>> Without any preceding strategic planning, any careful preparations, anything
>> much at all.
>>
>> That's why Bush did not go into any details: no clear aim, no agenda, no
>> location, no date, no list of invitees. Just an ethereal meeting. This fact
>> by itself testifies to the lack of seriousness of the entire enterprise.
>>
>> This may shock people who have never seen close up how politics are actually
>> conducted. It is hard to accept the intolerable lightness with which
>> decisions are often made, the irresponsibility of leaders and the arbitrary
>> way important processes are set in motion.
>>
>>
>> FROM THE MOMENT this idea was launched, it could not be called back. The
>> President has spoken, the initiative starts on its way. As the saying goes:
>> One fool throws a stone into the water, a dozen wise men cannot retrieve it.
>>
>> Once the "meeting" had been announced, it became an important enterprise.
>> The experts of all parties started to work frantically on the undefined
>> event, each trying to steer it in the direction which would benefit them the
>> most.
>>
>> - Bush and Condoleezza Rice want an impressive event, to prove that the
>> United States is vigorously promoting peace and democracy, and that they can
>> succeed where the great Henry Kissinger failed. Jimmy Carter failed to turn
>> the Israeli-Egyptian peace into an Israeli-Palestinian peace. Bill Clinton
>> failed at Camp David. If Bush succeeds where all his illustrious
>> predecessors have failed, won't that show who is the greatest of them all?
>>
>> -  Ehud Olmert urgently needs a resounding political achievement in order to
>> blur the memory of his dismal failure in the Second Lebanon War and to
>> extricate himself from the dozen or so criminal investigations for
>> corruption that are pursuing him. His ambition knows no bounds: he wants to
>> be photographed shaking the hand of the King of Saudi Arabia. A feat no
>> Israeli prime minister before him has achieved.
>>
>> -  Mahmoud Abbas wants to show Hamas and the rebellious factions in his own
>> Fatah movement that he can succeed where the great Yasser Arafat failed - to
>> be accepted among the world's leaders as an equal partner.
>>
>> This could, therefore, become a great, almost historic conference, if …
>>
>>
>> IF ALL these hopes were something more than pipedreams. None of them has any
>> substance. For one simple reason: no one of the three partners has any
>> capital at his disposal.
>>
>> -  Bush is bankrupt. In order to succeed at Annapolis, he would have to
>> exert intense pressure on Israel, to compel it to take the necessary steps:
>> agree to the establishment of a real Palestinian state, give up East
>> Jerusalem, restore the Green Line border (with some small swaps of
>> territory), find an agreed-upon compromise formula for the refugee issue.
>>
>> But Bush is quite unable to exert the slightest pressure on Israel, even if
>> he wanted to. In the US, the election season has already begun, and  the two
>> big parties are bulwarks standing in the way of any pressure on Israel. The
>> Jewish and Evangelistic lobbies, together with the neo-cons, will not allow
>> one critical word about Israel to be uttered unpunished.
>>
>> -  Olmert is in an even weaker position. His coalition still survives only
>> because there is no alternative in the present Knesset. It includes elements
>> that in any other country would be called fascist (For historical reasons,
>> Israelis don't like to use this term). He is prevented by his partners from
>> making any compromise, however tiny - even if he wanted to reach an
>> agreement.
>>
>> This week, the Knesset adopted a bill that requires a two-thirds majority
>> for any change of the borders of Greater Jerusalem. This means that Olmert
>> cannot even give up one of the outlying Palestinian villages that were
>> annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. He is also prevented from even approaching the
>> 'core issues" of the conflict.
>>
>> -  Mahmoud Abbas cannot move away from the conditions laid down by Yasser
>> Arafat (the 3rd anniversary of whose death was commemorated this week). If
>> he strays from the straight and narrow, he will fall. He has already lost
>> the Gaza Strip, and can lose the West Bank, too. On the other side, if he
>> threatens violence, he will lose all he has got: the favor of Bush and the
>> cooperation of the Israeli security forces.
>>
>> The three poker players are going to sit down together, pretending to start
>> the game, while none of them has a cent to put on the table.
>>
>>
>> THE MAJESTIC mountain seems to be getting smaller and smaller by the minute.
>> It's against the laws of nature: the closer we get to it, the smaller it
>> seems. What looked to many like a veritable Mt. Everest first  turned into
>> an ordinary mountain, then into a hill, and now it hardly looks like an
>> anthill. And even that is shrinking, too.
>>
>> First the participants were to deal with the "core issues". Then it was
>> announced that a weighty declaration of intentions was to be adopted. Then a
>> mere collection of empty phrases was proposed. Now even that is in doubt.
>>
>> Not one of the three leaders is still dreaming of an achievement. All they
>> hope for now is to minimize the damage - but how to get out of a situation
>> like this?
>>
>> As usual, our side is the most creative at this task. After all, we are
>> experts in building roadblocks, walls and fences. This week, an obstacle
>> larger then the Great Wall of China appeared.
>>
>> Ehud Olmert demanded that, before any negotiations, the Palestinians
>> "recognize Israel as a Jewish state". He was followed by his coalition
>> partner, the ultra-right Avigdor Liberman, who proposed staying away from
>> Annapolis altogether if the Palestinians do not fulfill this demand in
>> advance.
>>
>> Let's examine this condition for a moment:
>>
>> The Palestinians are not required to recognize the state of Israel. After
>> all, they have already done so in the Oslo agreement - in spite of the fact
>> that Israel has yet to recognize the right of the Palestinians to a state of
>> their own based on the Green Line borders.
>>
>>  No, the government of Israel demands much more: the Palestinians must now
>> recognize Israel as a "Jewish state".
>>
>> Does the USA demand to be recognized as a "Christian" or "Anglo-Saxon
>> state"? Did Stalin demand that the US recognize the Soviet Union as a
>> "Communist state"? Does Poland demand to be recognized as a "Catholic
>> state", or Pakistan as an "Islamic state"? Is there any precedent at all for
>> a state to demand the recognition of its domestic regime?
>>
>> The demand is ridiculous per se. But this can easily be shown by analysis ad
>> absurdum.
>>
>> What is a "Jewish state"? That has never been spelled out. Is it a state
>> with a majority of Jewish citizens? Is it "the state of the Jewish people" -
>> meaning the Jews from Brooklyn, Paris and Moscow? Is it "a state belonging
>> to the Jewish religion" - and if so, does it belong to secular Jews as well?
>> Or perhaps it belongs only to Jews under the Law of Return  - i.e. those
>> with a Jewish mother who have not converted to another religion?
>>
>> These questions have not been decided. Are the Palestinians required to
>> recognize something that is the subject of debate in Israel itself?
>>
>> According to the official doctrine, Israel is a "Jewish and democratic
>> state". What should the Palestinians do if, according to democratic
>> principles, some day my opinion prevails and Israel becomes an "Israeli
>> state" that belongs to all its citizens - and to them alone? (After all, the
>> US belongs to all its citizens, including Hispanic-Americans,
>> African-Americans, not to mention "Native-Americans".)
>>
>> The sting is, of course, that this formula is quite unacceptable to
>> Palestinians because it would hurt the million and a half Palestinians who
>> are Israeli citizens. The definition "Jewish state" turns them automatically
>> into - at best - second class citizens. If Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues
>> were to accede to this demand, they would be sticking a knife in the backs
>> of their own relatives.
>>
>> Olmert & Co. know this, of course. They are not posing this demand in order
>> to get it accepted. They pose it in order that it not be accepted. By this
>> ploy they hope to avoid any obligation to start meaningful negotiations.
>>
>> Moreover, according to the deceased Road Map, which all parties pretend to
>> accept, Israel must dismantle all settlements set up after March, 2000, and
>> freeze all the others. Olmert is quite unable to do that. At the same time,
>> Mahmoud Abbas must destroy the "terror infrastructure". Abbas can't do that
>> either - as long as there is no independent Palestinian state with an
>> elected government.
>>
>> I imagine Bush tossing and turning in his bed at night, cursing the
>> speechwriter who put this miserable sentence into his mouth. On their way to
>> heaven, his curses must be mingling with those of Olmert and Abbas.
>>
>>
>> WHEN THE leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine were about to sign the
>> Declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, the document was not ready.
>> Sitting in front of the cameras and history, they had to sign on an empty
>> page. I am afraid that something like that will happen in Annapolis.
>>
>> And then all of them will head back to their respective homes, heaving a
>> heartfelt sigh of relief.
>>
>>
>>
>> permlink:
>> http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1195337091/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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