Friday 26th of April 2024
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end times .....

end times .....

After his appointment as chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, California's representative Howard Berman told The Forward: "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist." This is the man, one of the Zionist lobby's most influential stooges in Congress, who introduced House Resolution 1734 which gives President Obama his new orders.

Israel's instructions to Obama

Thoroughly disingenuous, the resolution, which was drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and in my view is an indication of panic on its part, was approved unanimously by the House of Representatives on 15 December. It

- strongly and unequivocally opposes any attempt to seek recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations or other international forums;

- calls upon the administration to continue its opposition to the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state;

- calls upon the administration to affirm that the United States would deny any recognition, legitimacy, or support of any kind to any unilaterally declared ''Palestinian state'' and would urge other responsible nations to follow suit, and to make clear that any such unilateral declaration would constitute a grievous violation of the principles underlying the Oslo Accords and the Middle East peace process;

- calls upon the administration to affirm that the United States will oppose any attempt to seek recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations or other international forums and will veto any resolution to that end by the United Nations Security Council (my emphasis added);

- calls upon the president and the secretary of state to lead a high-level diplomatic effort to encourage the European Union and other responsible nations to strongly and unequivocally oppose the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state or any attempt to seek recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations or other international forums; and

- supports the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the achievement of a true and lasting peace through direct negotiations between the parties.

As M.J. Rosenberg predicted, the Berman bill passed overwhelmingly, actually unanimously, "because that is how things work in a city where policy is driven by campaign contributions - and not just on this issue". He added:

The only difference between how AIPAC lobbyists dictate US Middle East policy and pretty much every other major lobby is that AIPAC works to advance the interests of a foreign country. In other words, comparisons to the National Rifle Association (NRA) would only be applicable if the gun owners that the NRA claims to represent lived in, say, Greece. Oh, and NRA-backed bills usually take longer than a day to get to the House floor. [My emphasis added.]

What Rosenberg thinks and writes is particularly interesting because in the early 1980s he was editor of AIPAC's weekly newsletter, "Near East Report".

He noted that as is usual with Berman, "his resolution exclusively blames Palestinians for the collapse of peace talks; not a word of criticism of Israel appears".

Zionist Lobby's New Orders For Obama

humiliated .....

The US government has dropped its demand that Israel halt the building of new Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. An editorial in the British-based Guardian noted that the Middle East "peace process died a quiet, undramatic death" with this announcement.

Some half-a-million Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the Six-day War in 1967. The figure has tripled since the Oslo Accord was signed in 1993. Settlements now control some 42 percent of the West Bank, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. All the settlements on occupied land are in violation of international law.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) had insisted the building of settlements be halted before it sits down to face-to-face negotiations with the Israeli government. The Obama administration initially backed this appeal. In a speech at Cairo University in 2009, Obama insisted that building should cease.

"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," he said. "This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop." But in December of this year, the White House abandoned even a nominal attempt to impose a halt to further settlement building. A US government spokesman made the announcement, "We have been pursuing a moratorium as a means to create conditions for a return to meaningful and sustained negotiations. After a considerable effort, we have concluded that this does not create a firm basis to work towards our shared goal of a framework agreement."

US Drops Demand For Israel To Freeze Settlement Building

coming to the boil .....

Some four dozen former top U.S. diplomats and prominent policy analysts are urging President Barack Obama not to veto a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution that is expected to reaffirm the illegality of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories.

In a letter released here Wednesday, former U.S. ambassadors to Israel, as well as other former senior Middle East policy-makers, warned that "America's credibility" in the region will be at stake when the resolution is finally presented for a vote, probably some time next month.

"At this critical juncture, how the US chooses to cast its vote on a settlements resolution will have a defining effect on our standing as a broker in Middle East peace," asserted the letter, which was signed by among other diplomatic luminaries, former UN Amb. Thomas Pickering and former Defence Secretary Frank Carlucci.

"But the impact of this vote will be felt well beyond the arena of Israeli-Palestinian deal-making - our seriousness as a guarantor of international law and international legitimacy is at stake," it went on.

"America's credibility in a crucial region of the world is on the line - a region in which hundreds of thousands of our troops are deployed and where we face the greatest threats and challenges to our security. This vote is an American national security interest vote par excellence. We urge you to do the right thing," it concluded.

Greybeards Urge US not to Veto UN Anti-Settlement Resolution

meanwhile .....

The chief PLO negotiator says he has the backing of more than 100 countries for a resolution condemning settlements at the UN Security Council.

Saeb Erekat told Ma'an radio that the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah would not postpone efforts to condemn settlements until after the Quartet meets, despite reports to the contrary.

Erekat also denied reports that he would hold a meeting with Israeli officials during the visit of US envoys Dennis Ross and George Mitchell, saying he had no knowledge of their travel plans.

The official speculated that reports of a return to talks in the Israeli media were "propaganda" to reassure the Israeli public that everything is all right.

Nevertheless, he said, the PLO, the Fatah central committee, and President Mahmoud Abbas have made their final decision to suspend negotiations until Israel commits to complete cessation of settlement in the Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem.

More than 100 countries back UN action

what's new .....

Israel informed the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council last week, as well as several other prominent European Union countries, that if the Palestinian Authority persists in its efforts to gain recognition in September as a state within the 1967 borders, Israel would respond with a series of unilateral steps of its own.

Senior Foreign Ministry officials said the ministry's director general, Rafael Barak, sent a classified cable last week to more than 30 Israeli embassies, directing them to lodge a diplomatic protest at the highest possible level in response to the Palestinian efforts to gain international recognition for statehood at the UN General Assembly session in September.

The Israeli diplomatic corps conveyed the message that support for international recognition, particularly by most of the members of the European Union, encouraged the Palestinians to forgo negotiations with Israel and to move more quickly toward recognition at the UN of Palestinian statehood. Israeli diplomats stressed that such a move violates the Oslo Accords and will not lead to a Palestinian state even if the General Assembly grants recognition, but could lead to violence on the ground.

European diplomats have confirmed to Haaretz that such a message was conveyed several days ago. One diplomat said his country did not receive a serious response when asked what unilateral steps Israel might take. Another diplomat, from a European country, said in light of the current deadlock in negotiations, international recognition of Palestinian statehood appeared unavoidable in September.

Foreign Ministry sources said no decision has been taken at this stage over a possible Israeli response to UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not held any major discussion of such a response on a formal level among his cabinet colleagues. Ideas have been floated on the right wing of the political spectrum in recent weeks, suggesting, for example, that Israel might apply Israeli law to the West Bank or annex major settlement blocs to Israel.

Israel threatens unilateral steps if UN recognizes Palestinian State