This event is pure PR - since Israel's own actions have destroyed most of its support and sympathy over the past few years.
Anyone who's analysed this conflict for even a few years can identify the clear games being played with millions of lives by the Zionist Extremists and their Neo-Fascist 'allies' in the PNAC Regime.
Peace Conference: New Case for War
By Ramzy Baroud
Annapolis peace conference may turn out to be a mirage
The hope that the Annapolis peace conference is carrying may well turn out to be no more than a mirage. (Reuters Photo)
The Middle East peace conference proposed by the Bush administration is clearly a smokescreen, aimed at concealing the true intentions of US foreign policy in the region. In the predictable process of rewarding "moderate" allies and chastising "extremist" foes, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will most likely receive the accolades befitting a peacemaker, while his protagonists in Hamas are reprimanded, demonized and further isolated. But the ultimate goal of this charade is not even so much to isolate Hamas, but rather to set in motion events that will further isolate Iran and Syria.
The significance of the anti-Iran campaign already underway in the US should not be missed in light of the conference next month. The media circus demonizing Iran was unleashed a few years ago, when leading neoconservatives, notwithstanding Richard Perle himself, went on accusing President Bush, some of his advisors, and military generals of being "stupid" for failing to recognize the threat posed by Iran.
However, more recently, and most notably after the failure of the Israeli military adventure in South Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the war drums sounded by the media began to take on a new and deafening volume, reminiscent of that which preceded the US war on Iraq in March 2003. Those who appreciate the symbiotic relationship between the media and the state in the US can understand well that such a campaign is anything but genuine intellectual concern over the state of human rights in Iran, or the outcome of a sudden realization that Iran is impairing US war efforts in Iraq.
Considering the level of determination in Washington and Tel Aviv to confront Iran militarily and the media's decided role in again gathering the public support for such a prospect, it is difficult to imagine a peaceful way out of the crisis.
Israel might be genuine in its fear that Iran's nuclear program has less than peaceful aims; since Israel is laden with nuclear warheads and missile technology capable of delivering them wherever intended, it is only reasonable to assume that Israel wishes to ensure that it remains the sole holder of such lethal power. However, Israel is also wary of Iran's regional influence; without it Hizbullah could not have forced Israel to abandon its plans in Lebanon — aimed at controlling the country via proxy and toppling the Syrian regime.
Moreover, both Iran and Syria have proved of tremendous value to Hamas' survival. The former has provided Hamas with immense financial resources, and the latter has provided the movement with a political platform. Without Tehran and Damascus, it would have been impossible for Hamas — or the other Palestinian groups whose policies are not consistent with Israel's or the US' — to continue to exist outside the Occupied Territories and Israeli prisons for so long and against all odds. Hamas is, of course, aware of the fact that its relationship with Iran and Syria is hinged on these two states' own national interest, and this gamble is worth the risk for Hamas because it lacks other options.
Fishy Peace Conclusions
Olmert needs enough ambiguity in the conference's final statement to prove to his shaky coalition that Israel is under no obligation to change its course and ongoing colonial projects in the West Bank.
(Behind closed doors stateside, US lawmakers have also stated that it will apply no pressure on Israel to make concessions or negotiate in the name of peace.)
Thus, the peace conference will likely conclude with the propagation of the following assumptions: that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas are genuine in their intentions to achieve a lasting peace and bring one of the world's most entangled conflicts to an end; that both leaders will agree to a vague set of terms according to which the "final status" of negotiations is determined.
Abbas needs enough promises from Israel to convince Palestinians that the light at the end of the tunnel (which they have been promised for many years) is within reach, and Olmert needs enough ambiguity in the conference's final statement to prove to his shaky coalition that Israel is under no obligation to change its course and ongoing colonial projects in the West Bank.
(Mainly, Israel is in desperate need of some positive PR, since its own actions have seriously undermined support and sympathy for the military-Apartheid state in recent months.)
Most Palestinians, other than the self-representative elites of Abbas and his dependents, are likely to reject any offer that falls short of fulfilling the minimum of their internationally recognized rights. There would be a visible dissatisfaction in the predictably indecisive outcome of conference, manifesting in widespread protests, especially in the Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The violence into which Palestinians are provoked will, naturally, be blamed on the "enemies of peace", those same enemies who were also chastised, imprisoned, and tortured in the post-Oslo years.
Iran and Syria, who are likely to support the Palestinian opposition to the conference and its immediate outcomes — if any — will also be grouped into the enemies' list.
Any violent Palestinian response, regardless of the circumstances that lead to it, will be understood as Syrian and Iranian encouraged. With Israel already digging a hole for Syria — the Sept. 6 bombing of Syrian territories and the now-discredited justification offered by 'anonymous' top US officials that Israel has bombed a North Korean nuclear installation in Syria — a cause for war is already in the making.
However, like any other war fought in the Middle East and in which the US was involved, the lines need to be drawn more definitively: Israel, the US, and the 'moderate' (corrupt) Arabs to face up to Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas.
The peace conference is, in fact, the delineation of all of this and more. It will provide the media with the opportunity to bombard public opinion with half-truths and twisted facts regarding those standing for peace and those considered an obstacle to peace, obstacles that can seemingly be removed through violence, thus forming a new case for a new war.
Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in numerous newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London). Read more about him on his website. He can be reached through Muslim Affairs' e-mail.
www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1193049074125&page
Annapolis Peace Plan Sunk by Olmert Slap Down of Rice
Friday, October 26 2007 @ 12:47 AM EDT
Edited by: Michael Hess
BBSNews Blog 2007-10-26 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, himself lame in his own country as he is mired down by domestic troubles and last years failed Lebanon War, has scuttled US Secretary Condoleezza Rice's plan for a serious Annapolis meeting yesterday.
Skepticism had already abounded given the fact that Olmert is so weak and Abu Mazen is not currently representing all Palestinians. And Arab governments in general have been less than enthusistic to embrace the idea of Annapolis being anything much more than what secretary Rice disdained as a "photo op" even though Jordan and to a lesser extent Egypt voiced some optimism for an agreement after Rice's shuttle diplomacy in recent days.
The Daily Star in Lebanon reported on Olmert's further efforts to downplay any real substance to the meeting:
"'If all goes well, hopefully, we will meet in Annapolis,' he said. 'Annapolis is not made to be the event for the declaration of peace.' Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams have been trying to draft a joint declaration outlining a future peace agreement ahead of the conference.
The two sides have expressed vastly different sets of expectations for the summit.
The Palestinians are seeking an agreement addressing the core issues at the heart of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. They also want a timeline for creation of a Palestinian state.
Israel wants a more general document, saying it is premature to address many of these issues."
(In other words, it is not willing to recognize any Palestinian rights, and will perpetuate this cycle for as long as it takes for the Palestinians to abandon every one of them.)
In other words, even as peace is at hand through the rich and fully satisfying of all sides Arab Peace Initiative, Israel is not going to make the slightest move towards ending its occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is bad enough news for Rice and US president George W. Bush's attempt at gaining a legacy to be proud of to cover for the disaster he has presided over and further fomented.
But in addition, Israel is now to begin collective punishment of the 1.5 million Gazans because of some haphazard homemade rockets fired towards Israel in a futile and ineffectively crude attempt at "resistance".
Dr. Rice claims it is all Iran. In reality Rice has come up against the famous Israeli "red lines" and there is nothing she can do but be shunted aside as Israel continues to annex land it does not own, widen it's illegal settlments, ignore international law and norms, and impose collective punishment on not just the Palestinians in Gaza but also those in the West Bank who get less water and less services and freedom of movement in their own land than does the settlers who are not supposed to be there in the first place.
Don't even think about an international East and West Jerusalem.
Does anybody remember the talk about removing some travel movement barriers to bolster Abbas and his "moderate" (read US supported) government? That didn't happen either. Palestinians are still being collectively punished and various Palestinians are being assassinated by Israel in both Gaza and the West Bank even as they try to keep the collateral damage (read dead civilians, many children) to a minimum. Hmmph.
Rice must be livid that she will likely not even get her meeting, a meeting with no date and no official invitees that some say her personal reputation hinges upon. The obvious reality now is that Ehud Olmert has made clear that this will be no meeting for a peace agreement and not only that, he is going to sabotage any possible buildup of good will, and also weaken Abbas's position with his people by cutting electricity to Gaza for resisting the Israeli occupation with their crude and ineffective rockets.
That pretty much ends the opportunity for the Bush administration to see the Arabs sign on to peace with Israel. They have now seen that the US is powerless to broker an effective rendering of the very viable Arab Peace initiative because Israel just says no.
Republicans will no doubt embrace Israel's position. Even as they do not realize this is tantamount to saying it would be alright to start using Apache helicopters to assassinate California local officials for not doing enough to keep the Crips and the Bloods from spreading their terror beyond California's border. By signing on to Israel's current stance of continuing perpetual occupation it is also the same as endorsing using bulldozers to destroy the homes and parts of neighborhoods in the process in California of those parents who raise kids who may be in the Crips or the Bloods and spread their terror outside of California.
And of course next is THE WALL. There will have to be a big wall to prevent the terror from the Crips and the Bloods and Californians must collectively pay for it.
It is extremely disheartening to even contemplate where this continuing failure to actually end the occupations will likely lead the world.
###
bbsnews.net/article.php/20071026004742577
The Zionists say they can't negotiate because of the crisis that they are responsible for. That's priceless. We've been sold out by the Government.
Rice to Palestinians: lower your hopes
Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent | October 16, 2007
CONDOLEEZZA Rice last night told the Palestinians to lower their expectations ahead of the White House-sponsored peace conference and to drop demands for a timetable to implement final status agreements.
The US Secretary of State's latest round of shuttle diplomacy has emerged as her most crucial yet as gaps start to become entrenched between both sides ahead of the meeting late next month, to be chaired by US President George W.Bush in Annapolis.
The conference had been labelled as the best chance since the turn of the century to end 59 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. However, Palestinian negotiators and key Arab states have warned they will not attend unless substantive agreements are tabled.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and two of his senior ministers warned Dr Rice during a meeting on Sunday that the ruling coalition Government would probably fall if Israel moved towards a deal involving the separation of Jerusalem, or other red-line issues, such as refugee return.
The influential Arab League has also drawn a line in the sand under the final status of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, which includes the most sacred site to Judaism - the Western Wall of the ruined second Jewish Temple - and the third most holy site to Islam, the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock. The Arab League insists the site must in the future be under Muslim control.
However, orthodox Jewry in Israel has pledged to use all its political clout to oppose such a move. Member states of the Arab league have threatened to stay away en masse if the future of al-Aqsa is not clarified.
Palestinian officials have told Israeli media the mosque is a deal breaker for Palestinians and Arabs across the region. "The Israeli public still doesn't understand how important the issue ofal-Aqsa is," one official said.
Another complained the talks were imperilled by the inexperience of Israeli negotiators. "They weren't at Camp David or Taba (earlier summit venues) and do not know or want to know what was agreed on there. They want to start from zero, which is unacceptable to the Palestinian side."
Dr Rice told Mr Olmert and other Israeli ministers that the US expected tough decisions to be made before the meeting.
"Decisions must be made without running away from the issues," she said. "Only dealing with the core issues will bolster the diplomatic process."
Both the Israeli and Palestinian public fear that neither of their leaders is strong enough to lead either side to a resolution.
"The time has come for a Palestinian state," Dr Rice said.
"I agree that the partners are weak, but we must bolster them."
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22590280-2703,00.html
Israeli Cabinet Sends Message To Rice
By: David Bedein, The Bulletin
10/17/2007
Jerusalem - Israel Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that in the current political situation in Israel, conditions are not ripe for diplomatic gestures in the Annapolis, Md., conference on the Middle East next month.
During a meeting the two held at the David's Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, Mr. Lieberman said, "A meeting at this time in Annapolis is a mistake. What is the sense in another conference without there being any practical results that Israelis and Palestinians can feel in their daily lives?"
Mr.Lieberman told Ms.Rice the first subject from his point of view is that of the security of the inhabitants of Sderot and the communities around Gaza. "Until the security question is resolved, there is no sense in putting more complicated and sensitive subjects on the agenda. Only after matters such as Israeli security and the shaky Palestinian economy are dealt with can we work on a diplomatic out-line." He also warned of the possi-bility Israel may be forced to embark upon a military operation in Gaza, modeled on "Operation Defensive Shield" launched in April 2002. That operation facilitated widespread Israeli army initiatives in Arab villages in Judea and Samaria, often described by the media as the "west bank". These Israeli army initiatives have continued to this day, with one purpose - proactive prevention of Arab terror attacks against Israel.
The relentless rocket fire upon the Negev is intended to reconstruct the success of disengagement from the Palestinians' point of view, according to a high-ranking operative of Islamic Jihad known as Abu Hamza in a report in the Washington Post.
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He said that the Palestinian rockets got Israel out of Gaza in 2005, and therefore he expected the same result in the cities in southern Israel such as Sderot and Ashkelon.
The Washington Post reported Mr. Hamza is hiding in a secret room with a computer connected to the Internet the Islamic Jihad commander says serves for planning rocket attacks on southern Israel. The rockets Islamic Jihad fires at Israel on a near-daily basis serve as a permanent reminder the resumption of peace talks in the Middle East remains a distant dream in Gaza. Thousands of rockets that have been fired over the past seven years have killed 12 Israelis,wounded dozens and disrupted the lives of thousands.
"Resistance must continue until we uproot the occupation from the entire land of Palestine. from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river," said Mr. Hamza.
JERUSALEM SYNDROME AND U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Ms. Rice's mediation in Jerusalem has caused many Israelis to question her judgment.
There is a recognized clinical state of mind known as "Jerusalem Syndrome", which causes some people here to lose their rational judgment when they discuss Jerusalem, the cradle of the world's three great religions, the place where Jewish prophets once flourished.
Deeply religious, Rice studies portions of the Bible every day, and no one can disturb her while she studies. Nothing is wrong with Bible study, except when Rice proclaims that she is on the ultimate mission of peace , she herself is going to foster a peace settlement in the Middle East, and that the Palestinian state must be created immediately, she seems totally disconnected from the reality of the Arab war that continues against Israel, unabated, since 1948.
Speaking to reporters while en route to Israel, Ms. Rice told the media that her goal was to achieve "security for the Israelis and dignity for the Palestinians", as if these are the characteristics of the Middle East conflict that has lasted for the past sixty years between Israel and the Arab world.
Yet as Ms. Rice says over and over she wants the Palestinian state now, she also mentions to people around her she feels that the Palestinian cause is reminiscent of the civil rights struggle.
Indeed, the civil rights movement dominated the formative years of Rice's life as the daughter of a black clergyman whose life was on the line in the 1960's in a small Alabama town. Some of her close childhood friends were, indeed, murdered in a brutal attack on a local church.
Yet it seems Ms. Rice's seminal civil rights experience has distracted her from the reality that a war of extermination was declared by the Arab League against the nascent state of Israel on the day of its inception in 1948 - a war that continues to this day, with an active state of war still in place...
While Ms. Rice may imagine the PLO is a spontaneous Palestinian Arab grass roots civil rights movement, she apparently never relates to the fact that that it was Arab League that fostered the PLO in 1964, three years before the 1967 war, in order to incite the indigenous Arab population to join their war to liquidate Israel and liberate all of Palestine.
Ms. Rice never mentions the PLO covenant to destroy Israel remains in tact as the mandate for the PLO and its progeny, the Palestinian Authority, and the PLO covenant has not changed, except for the 1974 amendment that allows the PLO to destroy Israel in stages, which allows the PLO to use diplomatic means to that end.
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was Rice's comment to her colleagues that she compares Machmud Abbas to Martin Luther King, because they are both committed to peace. .
If Ms. Rice had paid more attention to the guidelines the US State Department, she could have paid more attention to the fact Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah, commanded by Abbas, was designated by the US government on March 23rd, 2002, as a terrorist organization and that Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades remain an integral part of Fatah, whose members regard Abbas as their leader. Ms. Rice could relate to the fact that Abbas simply refuses to disband the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade
Instead, Ms. Rice lauds a terror organization which her own government defines as a terrorist group, while repeating, over and over, that she respects this same organization as a "moderate" entity. A symptom, perhaps, of Jerusalem Syndrome, since such a description bears no connection to reality
From Jerusalem, Ms. Rice flew to Egypt yesterday, where she praised Egypt for agreeing to join the Annapolis peace conference next month.
This is the same Egypt which endows the Hamas regime in Gaza with a daily flow of massive supplies of ammunition, light arms and rockets which have enabled Arab militias from Gaza to conduct daily missile Israel attacks for the last seven years...including 1000 missile attacks since Hamas formally took over Gaza in June, while Egyptian supply lines to terror in Gaza have continued without interference..
Where was Rice's criticism of Egypt for arming a terror regime?
Once again, that could be attributed to an advanced case of Jerusalem Syndrome. Why allow the reality of war to interfere with her illusions of peace?
www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18925255&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_i
PM: Annapolis conference will not bring historic breakthrough
By Mazal Mualem, Aluf Benn and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday a U.S.-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood would not result in a major breakthrough in peacemaking.
Olmert has sought to lower expectations for the conference to deflect pressure from right-wing coalition partners who are opposed to dividing Jerusalem and taking other sweeping steps as part of any deal with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Olmert said before a cabinet meeting that the conference, expected to be held in late November or early December, "is not meant to be an event on its own or an event for an agreement or a historic breakthrough".
Olmert said the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, should instead be viewed as a chance for the international community to support statehood negotiations, expected to formally begin following the gathering.
Meanwhile, Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas reiterated this weekend that they are inclined to quit the government if "core issues" are discussed at the Annapolis peace conference, as the coalition crisis worsened ahead of the summit.
Olmert made the comments hours before leaving for Paris and London, where he will hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the first such meetings since the two took office this summer.
(Olmert will discuss further plans for achieving war against Iran.)
Olmert is trying to rally both leaders toward greater efforts to block Iran's alleged "quest for nuclear weapons", and will also discuss with them the upcoming summit at Annapolis.
In Paris, Olmert was expected to find a friend in Sarkozy, who has already expressed his support for broader sanctions against Iran. A political source in Jerusalem said the French president also seeks to lower expectations about the results of the Annapolis summit.
However, Sarkozy said Friday he would tell the Israeli leader that the time had come for a Middle East peace treaty.
"My message to Mr. Olmert will simply be that ... time has come to make peace, said Sarkozy at a news conference after an EU summit. Now is the time to take risks and build a lasting peace," he said.
Sarkozy said he gave the same message to Abbas when he met him in New York last month.
Brown, who supports an economic approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is expected to discuss joint economic projects that will involve the rival parties and Britain. The two will also discuss the Iranian nuclear issue, in anticipation of discussions at the United Nations Security Council on broadening economic sanctions against Tehran.
While Olmert is trying to step up international efforts to counter the alleged "Iranian threat", however, his coalition government is likely to become increasingly unstable, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman has warned the prime minister against discussing core issues of the conflict - refugees, Jerusalem, borders - at the Annapolis summit.
(Lieberman, of course, is a racist Extremist, who has no place in government.)
In an interview on Channel 2 Saturday, Lieberman said that if the core issues are discussed, "this government will not be able to continue. This is my view and it is the view of [Shas Chairman] Eli Yishai. We will not be able to be part of this government if the Annapolis summit deals with core issues."
Lieberman expressed similar views during his meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week.
Shas, the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party in the coalition, has also expressed concern over the core issues. Its chairman, Minister of Industry and Trade Eli Yishai, has repeatedly said that the party opposes any discussion of these issues at Annapolis.
Yishai has said that any discussion or declaration relating to them will require his party's approval.
Yishai, who is currently on a visit to the United States, told Haaretz last week that any mention of Jerusalem in a document to be signed at the Annapolis summit will cause Shas to leave the coalition. "This may result in the breakup of the government, and it will depend on whether Lieberman also decides to quit," Yishai said.
Livni: PA's 'revolving door policy' harms relations with Israel
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told ministers Sunday at the cabinet meeting that she had discussed the PA's failure to deal with terror organizations during her meetings last week with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia.
Livni said she told Qureia that "a return to the revolving door policy fundamentally harms Israel's ability to put faith in the Palestinian side."
(That's why Israel backed violent elements of Fatah, and is helping funnel arms into Gaza.)
The foreign minister added that "any agreement with the Palestinians will be subject to the implementation of the road map, and first and foremost the war on terror. This is a fundamental principle in the contacts with the Palestinians."
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/915135.html
Peace Conference: New Case for War
By Ramzy Baroud
Annapolis peace conference may turn out to be a mirage
The hope that the Annapolis peace conference is carrying may well turn out to be no more than a mirage. (Reuters Photo)
The Middle East peace conference proposed by the Bush administration is clearly a smokescreen, aimed at concealing the true intentions of US foreign policy in the region. In the predictable process of rewarding "moderate" allies and chastising "extremist" foes, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will most likely receive the accolades befitting a peacemaker, while his protagonists in Hamas are reprimanded, demonized and further isolated. But the ultimate goal of this charade is not even so much to isolate Hamas, but rather to set in motion events that will further isolate Iran and Syria.
The significance of the anti-Iran campaign already underway in the US should not be missed in light of the conference next month. The media circus demonizing Iran was unleashed a few years ago, when leading neoconservatives, notwithstanding Richard Perle himself, went on accusing President Bush, some of his advisors, and military generals of being "stupid" for failing to recognize the threat posed by Iran.
However, more recently, and most notably after the failure of the Israeli military adventure in South Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the war drums sounded by the media began to take on a new and deafening volume, reminiscent of that which preceded the US war on Iraq in March 2003. Those who appreciate the symbiotic relationship between the media and the state in the US can understand well that such a campaign is anything but genuine intellectual concern over the state of human rights in Iran, or the outcome of a sudden realization that Iran is impairing US war efforts in Iraq.
Considering the level of determination in Washington and Tel Aviv to confront Iran militarily and the media's decided role in again gathering the public support for such a prospect, it is difficult to imagine a peaceful way out of the crisis.
Israel might be genuine in its fear that Iran's nuclear program has less than peaceful aims; since Israel is laden with nuclear warheads and missile technology capable of delivering them wherever intended, it is only reasonable to assume that Israel wishes to ensure that it remains the sole holder of such lethal power. However, Israel is also wary of Iran's regional influence; without it Hizbullah could not have forced Israel to abandon its plans in Lebanon — aimed at controlling the country via proxy and toppling the Syrian regime.
Moreover, both Iran and Syria have proved of tremendous value to Hamas' survival. The former has provided Hamas with immense financial resources, and the latter has provided the movement with a political platform. Without Tehran and Damascus, it would have been impossible for Hamas — or the other Palestinian groups whose policies are not consistent with Israel's or the US' — to continue to exist outside the Occupied Territories and Israeli prisons for so long and against all odds. Hamas is, of course, aware of the fact that its relationship with Iran and Syria is hinged on these two states' own national interest, and this gamble is worth the risk for Hamas because it lacks other options.
Fishy Peace Conclusions
Olmert needs enough ambiguity in the conference's final statement to prove to his shaky coalition that Israel is under no obligation to change its course and ongoing colonial projects in the West Bank.
(Behind closed doors stateside, US lawmakers have also stated that it will apply no pressure on Israel to make concessions or negotiate in the name of peace.)
Thus, the peace conference will likely conclude with the propagation of the following assumptions: that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas are genuine in their intentions to achieve a lasting peace and bring one of the world's most entangled conflicts to an end; that both leaders will agree to a vague set of terms according to which the "final status" of negotiations is determined.
Abbas needs enough promises from Israel to convince Palestinians that the light at the end of the tunnel (which they have been promised for many years) is within reach, and Olmert needs enough ambiguity in the conference's final statement to prove to his shaky coalition that Israel is under no obligation to change its course and ongoing colonial projects in the West Bank.
(Mainly, Israel is in desperate need of some positive PR, since its own actions have seriously undermined support and sympathy for the military-Apartheid state in recent months.)
Most Palestinians, other than the self-representative elites of Abbas and his dependents, are likely to reject any offer that falls short of fulfilling the minimum of their internationally recognized rights. There would be a visible dissatisfaction in the predictably indecisive outcome of conference, manifesting in widespread protests, especially in the Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The violence into which Palestinians are provoked will, naturally, be blamed on the "enemies of peace", those same enemies who were also chastised, imprisoned, and tortured in the post-Oslo years.
Iran and Syria, who are likely to support the Palestinian opposition to the conference and its immediate outcomes — if any — will also be grouped into the enemies' list.
Any violent Palestinian response, regardless of the circumstances that lead to it, will be understood as Syrian and Iranian encouraged. With Israel already digging a hole for Syria — the Sept. 6 bombing of Syrian territories and the now-discredited justification offered by 'anonymous' top US officials that Israel has bombed a North Korean nuclear installation in Syria — a cause for war is already in the making.
However, like any other war fought in the Middle East and in which the US was involved, the lines need to be drawn more definitively: Israel, the US, and the 'moderate' (corrupt) Arabs to face up to Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas.
The peace conference is, in fact, the delineation of all of this and more. It will provide the media with the opportunity to bombard public opinion with half-truths and twisted facts regarding those standing for peace and those considered an obstacle to peace, obstacles that can seemingly be removed through violence, thus forming a new case for a new war.
Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in numerous newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London). Read more about him on his website. He can be reached through Muslim Affairs' e-mail.
www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1193049074125&page
Annapolis Peace Plan Sunk by Olmert Slap Down of Rice
Friday, October 26 2007 @ 12:47 AM EDT
Edited by: Michael Hess
BBSNews Blog 2007-10-26 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, himself lame in his own country as he is mired down by domestic troubles and last years failed Lebanon War, has scuttled US Secretary Condoleezza Rice's plan for a serious Annapolis meeting yesterday.
Skepticism had already abounded given the fact that Olmert is so weak and Abu Mazen is not currently representing all Palestinians. And Arab governments in general have been less than enthusistic to embrace the idea of Annapolis being anything much more than what secretary Rice disdained as a "photo op" even though Jordan and to a lesser extent Egypt voiced some optimism for an agreement after Rice's shuttle diplomacy in recent days.
The Daily Star in Lebanon reported on Olmert's further efforts to downplay any real substance to the meeting:
"'If all goes well, hopefully, we will meet in Annapolis,' he said. 'Annapolis is not made to be the event for the declaration of peace.' Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams have been trying to draft a joint declaration outlining a future peace agreement ahead of the conference.
The two sides have expressed vastly different sets of expectations for the summit.
The Palestinians are seeking an agreement addressing the core issues at the heart of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. They also want a timeline for creation of a Palestinian state.
Israel wants a more general document, saying it is premature to address many of these issues."
(In other words, it is not willing to recognize any Palestinian rights, and will perpetuate this cycle for as long as it takes for the Palestinians to abandon every one of them.)
In other words, even as peace is at hand through the rich and fully satisfying of all sides Arab Peace Initiative, Israel is not going to make the slightest move towards ending its occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is bad enough news for Rice and US president George W. Bush's attempt at gaining a legacy to be proud of to cover for the disaster he has presided over and further fomented.
But in addition, Israel is now to begin collective punishment of the 1.5 million Gazans because of some haphazard homemade rockets fired towards Israel in a futile and ineffectively crude attempt at "resistance".
Dr. Rice claims it is all Iran. In reality Rice has come up against the famous Israeli "red lines" and there is nothing she can do but be shunted aside as Israel continues to annex land it does not own, widen it's illegal settlments, ignore international law and norms, and impose collective punishment on not just the Palestinians in Gaza but also those in the West Bank who get less water and less services and freedom of movement in their own land than does the settlers who are not supposed to be there in the first place.
Don't even think about an international East and West Jerusalem.
Does anybody remember the talk about removing some travel movement barriers to bolster Abbas and his "moderate" (read US supported) government? That didn't happen either. Palestinians are still being collectively punished and various Palestinians are being assassinated by Israel in both Gaza and the West Bank even as they try to keep the collateral damage (read dead civilians, many children) to a minimum. Hmmph.
Rice must be livid that she will likely not even get her meeting, a meeting with no date and no official invitees that some say her personal reputation hinges upon. The obvious reality now is that Ehud Olmert has made clear that this will be no meeting for a peace agreement and not only that, he is going to sabotage any possible buildup of good will, and also weaken Abbas's position with his people by cutting electricity to Gaza for resisting the Israeli occupation with their crude and ineffective rockets.
That pretty much ends the opportunity for the Bush administration to see the Arabs sign on to peace with Israel. They have now seen that the US is powerless to broker an effective rendering of the very viable Arab Peace initiative because Israel just says no.
Republicans will no doubt embrace Israel's position. Even as they do not realize this is tantamount to saying it would be alright to start using Apache helicopters to assassinate California local officials for not doing enough to keep the Crips and the Bloods from spreading their terror beyond California's border. By signing on to Israel's current stance of continuing perpetual occupation it is also the same as endorsing using bulldozers to destroy the homes and parts of neighborhoods in the process in California of those parents who raise kids who may be in the Crips or the Bloods and spread their terror outside of California.
And of course next is THE WALL. There will have to be a big wall to prevent the terror from the Crips and the Bloods and Californians must collectively pay for it.
It is extremely disheartening to even contemplate where this continuing failure to actually end the occupations will likely lead the world.
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bbsnews.net/article.php/20071026004742577
The Zionists say they can't negotiate because of the crisis that they are responsible for. That's priceless. We've been sold out by the Government.
Rice to Palestinians: lower your hopes
Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent | October 16, 2007
CONDOLEEZZA Rice last night told the Palestinians to lower their expectations ahead of the White House-sponsored peace conference and to drop demands for a timetable to implement final status agreements.
The US Secretary of State's latest round of shuttle diplomacy has emerged as her most crucial yet as gaps start to become entrenched between both sides ahead of the meeting late next month, to be chaired by US President George W.Bush in Annapolis.
The conference had been labelled as the best chance since the turn of the century to end 59 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. However, Palestinian negotiators and key Arab states have warned they will not attend unless substantive agreements are tabled.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and two of his senior ministers warned Dr Rice during a meeting on Sunday that the ruling coalition Government would probably fall if Israel moved towards a deal involving the separation of Jerusalem, or other red-line issues, such as refugee return.
The influential Arab League has also drawn a line in the sand under the final status of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, which includes the most sacred site to Judaism - the Western Wall of the ruined second Jewish Temple - and the third most holy site to Islam, the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock. The Arab League insists the site must in the future be under Muslim control.
However, orthodox Jewry in Israel has pledged to use all its political clout to oppose such a move. Member states of the Arab league have threatened to stay away en masse if the future of al-Aqsa is not clarified.
Palestinian officials have told Israeli media the mosque is a deal breaker for Palestinians and Arabs across the region. "The Israeli public still doesn't understand how important the issue ofal-Aqsa is," one official said.
Another complained the talks were imperilled by the inexperience of Israeli negotiators. "They weren't at Camp David or Taba (earlier summit venues) and do not know or want to know what was agreed on there. They want to start from zero, which is unacceptable to the Palestinian side."
Dr Rice told Mr Olmert and other Israeli ministers that the US expected tough decisions to be made before the meeting.
"Decisions must be made without running away from the issues," she said. "Only dealing with the core issues will bolster the diplomatic process."
Both the Israeli and Palestinian public fear that neither of their leaders is strong enough to lead either side to a resolution.
"The time has come for a Palestinian state," Dr Rice said.
"I agree that the partners are weak, but we must bolster them."
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22590280-2703,00.html
Israeli Cabinet Sends Message To Rice
By: David Bedein, The Bulletin
10/17/2007
Jerusalem - Israel Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that in the current political situation in Israel, conditions are not ripe for diplomatic gestures in the Annapolis, Md., conference on the Middle East next month.
During a meeting the two held at the David's Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, Mr. Lieberman said, "A meeting at this time in Annapolis is a mistake. What is the sense in another conference without there being any practical results that Israelis and Palestinians can feel in their daily lives?"
Mr.Lieberman told Ms.Rice the first subject from his point of view is that of the security of the inhabitants of Sderot and the communities around Gaza. "Until the security question is resolved, there is no sense in putting more complicated and sensitive subjects on the agenda. Only after matters such as Israeli security and the shaky Palestinian economy are dealt with can we work on a diplomatic out-line." He also warned of the possi-bility Israel may be forced to embark upon a military operation in Gaza, modeled on "Operation Defensive Shield" launched in April 2002. That operation facilitated widespread Israeli army initiatives in Arab villages in Judea and Samaria, often described by the media as the "west bank". These Israeli army initiatives have continued to this day, with one purpose - proactive prevention of Arab terror attacks against Israel.
The relentless rocket fire upon the Negev is intended to reconstruct the success of disengagement from the Palestinians' point of view, according to a high-ranking operative of Islamic Jihad known as Abu Hamza in a report in the Washington Post.
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He said that the Palestinian rockets got Israel out of Gaza in 2005, and therefore he expected the same result in the cities in southern Israel such as Sderot and Ashkelon.
The Washington Post reported Mr. Hamza is hiding in a secret room with a computer connected to the Internet the Islamic Jihad commander says serves for planning rocket attacks on southern Israel. The rockets Islamic Jihad fires at Israel on a near-daily basis serve as a permanent reminder the resumption of peace talks in the Middle East remains a distant dream in Gaza. Thousands of rockets that have been fired over the past seven years have killed 12 Israelis,wounded dozens and disrupted the lives of thousands.
"Resistance must continue until we uproot the occupation from the entire land of Palestine. from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river," said Mr. Hamza.
JERUSALEM SYNDROME AND U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Ms. Rice's mediation in Jerusalem has caused many Israelis to question her judgment.
There is a recognized clinical state of mind known as "Jerusalem Syndrome", which causes some people here to lose their rational judgment when they discuss Jerusalem, the cradle of the world's three great religions, the place where Jewish prophets once flourished.
Deeply religious, Rice studies portions of the Bible every day, and no one can disturb her while she studies. Nothing is wrong with Bible study, except when Rice proclaims that she is on the ultimate mission of peace , she herself is going to foster a peace settlement in the Middle East, and that the Palestinian state must be created immediately, she seems totally disconnected from the reality of the Arab war that continues against Israel, unabated, since 1948.
Speaking to reporters while en route to Israel, Ms. Rice told the media that her goal was to achieve "security for the Israelis and dignity for the Palestinians", as if these are the characteristics of the Middle East conflict that has lasted for the past sixty years between Israel and the Arab world.
Yet as Ms. Rice says over and over she wants the Palestinian state now, she also mentions to people around her she feels that the Palestinian cause is reminiscent of the civil rights struggle.
Indeed, the civil rights movement dominated the formative years of Rice's life as the daughter of a black clergyman whose life was on the line in the 1960's in a small Alabama town. Some of her close childhood friends were, indeed, murdered in a brutal attack on a local church.
Yet it seems Ms. Rice's seminal civil rights experience has distracted her from the reality that a war of extermination was declared by the Arab League against the nascent state of Israel on the day of its inception in 1948 - a war that continues to this day, with an active state of war still in place...
While Ms. Rice may imagine the PLO is a spontaneous Palestinian Arab grass roots civil rights movement, she apparently never relates to the fact that that it was Arab League that fostered the PLO in 1964, three years before the 1967 war, in order to incite the indigenous Arab population to join their war to liquidate Israel and liberate all of Palestine.
Ms. Rice never mentions the PLO covenant to destroy Israel remains in tact as the mandate for the PLO and its progeny, the Palestinian Authority, and the PLO covenant has not changed, except for the 1974 amendment that allows the PLO to destroy Israel in stages, which allows the PLO to use diplomatic means to that end.
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was Rice's comment to her colleagues that she compares Machmud Abbas to Martin Luther King, because they are both committed to peace. .
If Ms. Rice had paid more attention to the guidelines the US State Department, she could have paid more attention to the fact Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah, commanded by Abbas, was designated by the US government on March 23rd, 2002, as a terrorist organization and that Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades remain an integral part of Fatah, whose members regard Abbas as their leader. Ms. Rice could relate to the fact that Abbas simply refuses to disband the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade
Instead, Ms. Rice lauds a terror organization which her own government defines as a terrorist group, while repeating, over and over, that she respects this same organization as a "moderate" entity. A symptom, perhaps, of Jerusalem Syndrome, since such a description bears no connection to reality
From Jerusalem, Ms. Rice flew to Egypt yesterday, where she praised Egypt for agreeing to join the Annapolis peace conference next month.
This is the same Egypt which endows the Hamas regime in Gaza with a daily flow of massive supplies of ammunition, light arms and rockets which have enabled Arab militias from Gaza to conduct daily missile Israel attacks for the last seven years...including 1000 missile attacks since Hamas formally took over Gaza in June, while Egyptian supply lines to terror in Gaza have continued without interference..
Where was Rice's criticism of Egypt for arming a terror regime?
Once again, that could be attributed to an advanced case of Jerusalem Syndrome. Why allow the reality of war to interfere with her illusions of peace?
www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18925255&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_i
PM: Annapolis conference will not bring historic breakthrough
By Mazal Mualem, Aluf Benn and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday a U.S.-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood would not result in a major breakthrough in peacemaking.
Olmert has sought to lower expectations for the conference to deflect pressure from right-wing coalition partners who are opposed to dividing Jerusalem and taking other sweeping steps as part of any deal with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Olmert said before a cabinet meeting that the conference, expected to be held in late November or early December, "is not meant to be an event on its own or an event for an agreement or a historic breakthrough".
Olmert said the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, should instead be viewed as a chance for the international community to support statehood negotiations, expected to formally begin following the gathering.
Meanwhile, Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas reiterated this weekend that they are inclined to quit the government if "core issues" are discussed at the Annapolis peace conference, as the coalition crisis worsened ahead of the summit.
Olmert made the comments hours before leaving for Paris and London, where he will hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the first such meetings since the two took office this summer.
(Olmert will discuss further plans for achieving war against Iran.)
Olmert is trying to rally both leaders toward greater efforts to block Iran's alleged "quest for nuclear weapons", and will also discuss with them the upcoming summit at Annapolis.
In Paris, Olmert was expected to find a friend in Sarkozy, who has already expressed his support for broader sanctions against Iran. A political source in Jerusalem said the French president also seeks to lower expectations about the results of the Annapolis summit.
However, Sarkozy said Friday he would tell the Israeli leader that the time had come for a Middle East peace treaty.
"My message to Mr. Olmert will simply be that ... time has come to make peace, said Sarkozy at a news conference after an EU summit. Now is the time to take risks and build a lasting peace," he said.
Sarkozy said he gave the same message to Abbas when he met him in New York last month.
Brown, who supports an economic approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is expected to discuss joint economic projects that will involve the rival parties and Britain. The two will also discuss the Iranian nuclear issue, in anticipation of discussions at the United Nations Security Council on broadening economic sanctions against Tehran.
While Olmert is trying to step up international efforts to counter the alleged "Iranian threat", however, his coalition government is likely to become increasingly unstable, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman has warned the prime minister against discussing core issues of the conflict - refugees, Jerusalem, borders - at the Annapolis summit.
(Lieberman, of course, is a racist Extremist, who has no place in government.)
In an interview on Channel 2 Saturday, Lieberman said that if the core issues are discussed, "this government will not be able to continue. This is my view and it is the view of [Shas Chairman] Eli Yishai. We will not be able to be part of this government if the Annapolis summit deals with core issues."
Lieberman expressed similar views during his meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week.
Shas, the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party in the coalition, has also expressed concern over the core issues. Its chairman, Minister of Industry and Trade Eli Yishai, has repeatedly said that the party opposes any discussion of these issues at Annapolis.
Yishai has said that any discussion or declaration relating to them will require his party's approval.
Yishai, who is currently on a visit to the United States, told Haaretz last week that any mention of Jerusalem in a document to be signed at the Annapolis summit will cause Shas to leave the coalition. "This may result in the breakup of the government, and it will depend on whether Lieberman also decides to quit," Yishai said.
Livni: PA's 'revolving door policy' harms relations with Israel
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told ministers Sunday at the cabinet meeting that she had discussed the PA's failure to deal with terror organizations during her meetings last week with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia.
Livni said she told Qureia that "a return to the revolving door policy fundamentally harms Israel's ability to put faith in the Palestinian side."
(That's why Israel backed violent elements of Fatah, and is helping funnel arms into Gaza.)
The foreign minister added that "any agreement with the Palestinians will be subject to the implementation of the road map, and first and foremost the war on terror. This is a fundamental principle in the contacts with the Palestinians."
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/915135.html
