A Promising Shuffle By President Obama

A Promising Shuffle By President Obama

Here is a statement from the Australian Jewish Democratic Society:

As Jewish Australians who care greatly for both the future of Israel and the legitimate national aspirations of Palestinians we strongly endorse the views recently expressed by the US President in Cairo. His words represent a sea change in approach to a conflict that has festered for so long that many of us have despaired of the possibility of finding a path to a resolution. His words articulate both the main elements of the conflict and a way forward to hope:

"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."

"Hamas must put an end to violence, recognise past agreements, and recognise Israel's right to exist."

"So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own."

"...the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress."

"Palestinians must abandon violence."

"Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society."

These are bold words that must lead to bold action. An opportunity has arisen unlike any other in the last 15 years. We call on the rest of the Jewish community to accept and embrace a new path. We call on the Australian government to use its good offices to encourage all the parties to the conflict to reject the failed policies that have prevailed till now and grasp the possibilities of a new beginning.

“The AJDS is urging all Jewish Australians to sign the petition, which you can find at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/australian-jews-support-obamas-mideast-statement.html.”

All journalists wanting to be broadly informed about underlying Middle East issues will find further interesting reading on the AJDS website: www.ajds.org.au. These people, like President Obama, are making commendable noises about moving in the right direction, that is shuffling towards solving the root cause of the conflict in the Middle East, but even a cursory glance at President Obama’s words they have endorsed above shows that six decades of deeply entrenched Zionist propaganda are going to take a lot of shifting.

The AJDS opening statement is fair enough but President Obama’s words illustrate plenty of bias. No, we don’t mean that they stirred up a storm among Israel’s more intemperate supporters. See this Youtube special from Israel, but only if you can tolerate arrant racism, foul language and sexual vulgarity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxt9HwfPwPo You will notice this was recorded a few days before Obama’s Cairo speech but the message is clear.

To illustrate the entrenched bias in President Obama’s words we will edit them for him, in bold. Maybe next time he can do better.

"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements or of any other settlements or any occupation of Palestinian land since the beginning of the 1967 war. This construction violates the Geneva conventions, UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, many other UN resolutions, previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop and for all Israeli settlements and other structures to be either removed or handed over intact to the Palestinian owners of the land on which they are built. We note that in other countries ownership of land confers ownership of any structures built on that land. Accordingly, these structures on Palestinian land do not belong to the settlers or to any Israeli agency. This means the settlers have no right to damage them when they leave. Any damage which does occur will be paid for by the Israeli government, either directly or from America’s annual aid to Israel.

"Hamas must put an end to violence, recognise past agreements, and recognise Israel's right to exist. And noting that Hamas’s violence toward Israel is minuscule compared to Israel’s violence toward the Palestinians, Israel must also cease all violence toward Palestinians. And Israel must recognise the right of the Palestinians to exist in their own state. This right will include the unrestricted right to enter or leave Gaza and the West Bank, and unrestricted movement between those two regions.

"So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.

"...the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity and continuing oppression and widespread Israeli abuse of Palestinians’ human rights in the West Bank and especially in Gaza. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress."

"Palestinians must abandon violence. This also applies to Israel, especially where such violence is funded by American aid or delivered by American weapons."

"Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. From this time on we in the US no longer subscribe to our belief of the past sixty years that Palestinians are excluded from the human rights internationally applicable to all other people."

There you are. Is anything in ACTME’s editing unreasonable? More to the point – will the Australian government heed these calls from the AJDS and President Obama?

ENDS

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