Obama Resorts to Desperate Measures to Keep Negotiations Alive
October 13th, 2010U.S.-sponsored direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, launched with much fanfare just last month, appear to be at a standstill.
Sign our petition to President Obama: Negotiations Based on Human Rights, Int. Law
Israel's self-declared settlement
"moratorium," which did not halt its colonization and ethnic cleansing
of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem, expired on
September 26. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to
extend it.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, with the backing of an Arab League meeting that
ended on October 10, has refused to continue negotiations as long as
Israel continues to build its illegal settlements.
This construction violates Israel's
obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, contradicts established
U.S. policy, and flouts Israel's promises made in the 2003 "road map."
Rather than hold Israel accountable, the Obama Administration is offering Israel a huge package of incentives to extend the sham "moratorium" for just two more months.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv, these incentives include:
* Supplying Israel with additional
sophisticated weapons systems, including additional F-35 fighter jets,
missiles, missile defense systems, and satellites--all financed, of
course, by U.S. taxpayers;
* Agreeing to an ongoing Israeli
military presence in the Jordan Valley even after Palestinian statehood
is established, and stringent measures to prevent Palestinians from
obtaining weapons;
* Blocking Arab countries from pushing
for a UN Security Council declaration of Palestinian statehood; and
* Ensuring that Palestinians stop complaining in public about Israel's colonization of its land
Not even these incentives are enough for
Netanyahu to extend the "moratorium"; he now insists that Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state"
as a precondition for extending the "moratorium." Doing so would
prejudice the rights of Israel's Palestinian citizens and Palestinian
refugees ethnically cleansed from their homes in what is today Israel.
This demand is a non-starter, as
Netanyahu knows full well that the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) recognized the State of Israel in 1993 and that Palestinians are
not obligated to recognize any specific characteristic of that state in
order to negotiate with it. Israel's latest demand appears to be
designed to continue illegal settlement building, scuttle negotiations,
and blame Palestinians for their breakdown.
Having launched these negotiations
without any reference to human rights, international law, or UN
resolutions, the Obama Administration is now strategically adrift and is resorting to desperate measures to keep negotiations alive at any cost.
Help right the President's veering foreign policy by signing our petition
to him, which states that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations must be
based on human rights, international law, and UN resolutions to be
successful. Sign today and then spread the word by clicking here.
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Ultimately, the Obama Administration
will never succeed in its stated desire for a negotiated
Israeli-Palestinian peace until it cuts off $30 billion in military aid to Israel.
This sanction, more than any other policy tool the United States could
employ, would be most likely to bring Israel to the negotiating table in
good faith.
You can help us to put pressure on the Obama Administration to sanction Israel by signing up to receive an organizing packet to end military aid to Israel.
Each packet contains everything you need--postcards, fliers, fact
sheets, and more--to educate and organize people in your community. Sign up today by clicking here.