One State Declaration Vs Annapolis Statement
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
One State Declaration Vs Annapolis Statement
The One State Declaration
CounterPunch
"For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them.
The two-state solution ignores the physical and political realities on the ground, and presumes a false parity in power and moral claims between a colonized and occupied people on the one hand and a colonizing state and military occupier on the other. It is predicated on the unjust premise that peace can be achieved by granting limited national rights to Palestinians living in the areas occupied in 1967, while denying the rights of Palestinians inside the 1948 borders and in the Diaspora. Thus, the two-state solution condemns Palestinian citizens of Israel to permanent second-class status within their homeland, in a racist state that denies their rights by enacting laws that privilege Jews constitutionally, legally, politically, socially and culturally. Moreover, the two-state solution denies Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right of return.
The two-state solution entrenches and formalizes a policy of unequal separation on a land that has become ever more integrated territorially and economically. All the international efforts to implement a two-state solution cannot conceal the fact that a Palestinian state is not viable, and that Palestinian and Israeli Jewish independence in separate states cannot resolve fundamental injustices, the acknowledgment and redress of which are at the core of any just solution.
In light of these stark realities, we affirm our commitment to a democratic solution that will offer a just, and thus enduring, peace in a single state based on the following principles:
....
....
The struggle for justice and liberation must be accompanied by a clear, compelling and moral vision of the destination a solution in which all people who share a belief in equality can see a future for themselves and others. We call for the widest possible discussion, research and action to advance a unitary, democratic solution and bring it to fruition."
Madrid and London, 2007
Signed:
Ali Abunimah
Naseer Aruri
Omar Barghouti
Oren Ben-Dor
George Bisharat
Haim Bresheeth
Jonathan Cook
Ghazi Falah
Leila Farsakh
Islah Jad
Joseph Massad
Ilan Pappe
Carlos Prieto del Campo
Nadim Rouhana
The London One State Group
# posted by Tony : 10:20 AM
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Annapolis Statement: "Palestinian Bantustan"
by Francis A. Boyle
(Professor Francis A. Boyle served as Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations and its Chair, Dr. Haidar Abdul Shaffi from 1991 to 1993 and is the author of "Palestine, Palestinians and International Law" )
Global Research, November 28, 2007
"The mass mobilization against Annapolis by Palestinian civil society around the world and especially in occupied Palestine prevented the Palestinian Delegation from selling out the rights of the Palestinian People under international law to Israel and the United States as some of these same delegates had previously done during the Oslo, Norway negotiations of 1993.
For once Palestinian People Power triumphed over Israeli/American power politics. But the Palestinians and their supporters must remain ever-vigilant against a permanent sell-out as these so-called "final status" negotiations unfold during the next year.
Based upon the Oslo Agreement, the "final status" contemplated by Israel and the United States is a Palestinian Bantustan. To be sure, the Palestinians must expect no meaningful assistance from those quisling governments and organizations that dignified the Annapolis photo-op with their presence."
# posted by Tony : 4:39 AM
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UN archives reveal plan to arm Jewish militia
An Explosive Story and A Must Read
Contributed by Lucia in Spain
"It was November 29, 1947. The United Nations General Assembly had just passed Resolution 181 - the Partition Plan, according to which the British Mandate was to be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Civil war broke out between the Jewish and the Palestinian residents, particularly in the mixed cities and on the roads. The UN faced a difficult problem: how to implement the partition resolution together with the economic union of the two states, as specified by the resolution. The UN Secretariat created a Special Committee to deal with what was seen as the first major challenge of the young body.
Dr. Elad Ben-Dror, a historian at Bar-Ilan University, has been studying UN diplomacy after the Partition Plan, at the University Institute for Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation of Tel Aviv University. Last year, he sat in the UN archives and read recently-declassified documents relating to the work of the Special Committee. He made an interesting discovery: The UN had planned to implement the Partition Plan by means of a Jewish militia, trained by the UN and armed, also by the UN, with weapons, combat aircraft and tankettes.
"The plan to establish a militia was the most surprising material I found at the UN," Ben-Dror says. "As part of the Partition Plan, both states were to create militias - a military force under government control and charged mainly with domestic policing duties."
But because the Palestinian leadership viewed Resolution 181 as a pro-Zionist plan and did everything possible to foil it, the UN focused only on establishing the Jewish militia.
"From quite an early stage, due to a lack of cooperation, the UN dropped half of the Partition Plan - the idea of establishing an Arab state," Ben-Dror explained.
"The idea was to implement at least part of the plan - that is, the Jews would create the Jewish state, on the assumption that eventually the UN Security Council would implement the creation of the Arab state," Ben-Dror continued. "As soon as the Partition Plan was adopted, UN Secretary General Trygve Lie and senior UN officials became identified with the idea of the Jewish state. The Arab assault was interpreted as an assault on the UN resolutions, and the UN trusted that the Jews would carry out the partition and not do anything beyond that."
According to the plan, the main role of the Jewish militia was to impose the authority of the Jewish state over its Arab residents; under the partition map, the Arab population within the Jewish state was nearly the same as the Jewish population. The militia command was to be supervised by the UN, which would also appoints its commanders. In practice, however, the Special Committee intended to base the Jewish militia on the Haganah [the pre-state underground Jewish militia].
"It was clear to them that there was no need to create an army out of thin air, and that they could rely on the Haganah," Ben-Dror said. "All that was left to do was to give the UN seal of approval to the Haganah and to provide arms. Among others, there was the question of how to control the Negev Bedouin, who would oppose being under Jewish sovereignty. So they planned to supply the militia with combat aircraft, using British military techniques. At that stage, they didn't think the militias would engage each other."
The story of the Special Committee, in particular its failure to implement the plan created by UN diplomats, is similar to that of many other plans in the following decades that remained on paper only. Ben-Dror attributes the failure of the Partition Plan primarily to opposition from the Palestinians and the Arab states as well as lack of cooperation from Britain......."
# posted by Tony : 9:57 AM
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Hamas: Palestine could not be partitioned by resolutions or agreements
Contributed by Lucia in Spain
"GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement on Thursday held the UN fully responsible for the tragedies that befell the Palestinian people as a result of the "oppressive" resolution 181 that sanctioned the partitioning of Palestine and allowed the creation of the Hebrew state.
It said in a statement on the 60th anniversary of that resolution that the implementation of that decision had led to the displacement of hundreds of thousand of Palestinians and replaced alien invaders in their place.
"We call on those who sanctioned this historic oppression to amend their mistake," Hamas said.
It also said that all those attending the Annapolis conference will shoulder the historical and national responsibility for their participation in a conference that was held under the condition that Palestine is a Jewish homeland.
The Movement urged the Arab and Islamic countries to be aware of the conspiracy that is being hatched against the Palestinians' presence in their own land and to renew political, material and moral support for the Palestinians to bolster their steadfastness.......
In 1947 the UN passed its ominous 191 resolution that allowed the partitioning of Palestine between its indigenous people and the Zionist invaders and even gave those aliens 56% of historical Palestine and left 46% for the Palestinians and internationalized Jerusalem."
# posted by Tony : 9:00 AM
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Israeli Arabs: Abbas lacks mandate to make concessions
Poll conducted by Arab Center for Practical Social Research finds that the majority of Israeli Arabs distrust Palestinian negotiators to settle on core issues in peace talks with Israel; 65.6% of respondents state that negotiators lack the authority to recognize Israel as a sovereign state; staggering 81% of Israeli Arabs say negotiators cannot concede the rights to Jerusalem
"A poll conducted among Israeli Arabs finds them unwilling to recognize Mahmoud Abbas' authority to negotiate with Israel on their behalf.
A survey conducted by the Mada-El- Carmel Institute, or the Arab Center for Practical Social Research, found that most Israeli Arabs feel that Palestinian negotiators lack the mandate to make concessions on key issues in peace talks with Israel, including the right of return, the future of Jerusalem, formal recognition of the state of Israel, as well as other territorial concessions.
Professor Nadim Ruchana, who conducted the poll, said: “These results essentially imply that Israeli Arabs are telling Abbas and the PA that they have no right to make decisions that impact upon their future.”....."
# posted by Tony : 8:23 PM
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Lies from Annapolis
Comment by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
"The peoples of the world are being subjected to a fresh dose of lies, this time coming from Annapolis, Maryland, in the United States.
George Bush, the Fuehrer of the White House, who has destroyed two nation-states and killed a million human beings, and then had the chutzpa to claim that the Almighty told him to do so, displayed some of his characteristically morbid magic this week.......
After all, the Palestinians, who have almost miraculously survived in spite of history, are the main victim of this sinister lingering outrage which allows Israel to constantly steal more Palestinian land for the purpose of creating more lebensraum for Jewish settlement expansion. But Palestinian national survival can’t really be taken for granted no matter how many “peace” conferences are organized and how many foreign dignitaries are invited and how many nice-sounding speeches are given.......
Let us be frank and honest about this. Israel is not about to make peace with the Palestinians. Israel has not made a strategic decision to make peace with the Palestinians. Israel is not about to give up the spoils of the 1967 war. Israel is not about to give up occupied East Jerusalem......
And above all of this, Israel is insisting that it be recognized as an exclusively Jewish state whereby Israel’s non-Jewish citizens (25% of the population) would be treated not only as lesser citizens with more or less transient and uncertain status, but actually as children of a lesser God.
So, how can we possibly expect peace with attitudes like these, and with the outrageous willingness on the part of the West to entertain Israel’s racist whims?......
Israel wants any prospective settlement with the Palestinians to reflect Israeli military supremacy, political hegemony and Jewish predominance over American politics and policies......
For these reasons, I am certain that this endeavor will meet the same failure that previous endeavors ultimately met. And then, another American administration might invite the “sides,” along with another multitude of false witnesses, to a new peace conference.
But then, it might be too late for a Palestinian state, or even for peace."
Palestinian refugee children die in Iraq
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 30 November 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Two sick Palestinian refugee children waiting for resettlement from Iraq died in the last two weeks, one of them in Al Waleed refugee camp at the Iraq-Syria border and the other one in Baghdad. Another refugee, a 50-year-old man, also waiting to be resettled, died earlier this month in Al Waleed refugee camp. So far seven people have died there, including three young children, since Palestinian refugees started to arrive at the border in March 2006 fleeing violent attacks against them.
http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ RWB.NSF/db900SID /PANA-79FHSD? OpenDocument
Israel high court okays Gaza fuel cuts
Israel's high court on Friday ruled that the state could continue with month-long fuel cuts to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, but ordered a delay on plans to reduce electricity supplies too, officials said.
http://afp.google. com/article/ ALeqM5jM6VzxBYuC EXcyPfOy2CNL37ut TQ
PCHR Weekly Report: 6 killed, 22 wounded, 51 abducted by Israeli forces
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) Weekly Report, in the week of the 22nd to 28th of November, 11 Palestinians, including 2 brothers, were killed by Israeli forces, 28 were wounded, and 42 were abducted by Israeli forces this week.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51795
Israeli military invade Nablus and attack two mosques
At least 30 Israeli military vehicles invaded the Balata refugee camp in eastern Nablus in a pre-dawn military operation on Friday.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51799
Israeli army forcibly evacuate at least 200 Palestinians from Kherbet Qessa
At least 200 Palestinian residents of Kherbet Qessa in the Hebron district were left homeless after being forcibly evacuated by the Israeli army in order to establish the annexation wall in their place.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51785
Israeli military invades Al Bireh and kidnaps three from Hebron
Israeli military forces kidnapped three Palestinian civilians from the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, transferring them to an undisclosed detention center.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51801
Palestinian security forces arrest 7 Hamas men in West Bank
Palestinian security services arrested seven members of Islamic Hamas movement in West Bank over the past 24 hours, security sources and Hamas said on Wednesday.
http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ 2007-11/28/ content_7162183. htm
PA police terrorize Palestinian journalists
Palestinian police answerable to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have been terrorizing non-conformist Palestinian journalists throughout the West Bank in a manner unprecedented since the creation of the PA following the Oslo Accords in 1993.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7fMOXK% 2bxWa99RfCnAmldp P6uOVD2j1ICqqxuN yblzSKeMiCfLZ9uA szxjkwved9PB614c %2fkuRsJsonlWD9u rRAQmMn3BEr7ZPL3 zkTwEa5Vk% 3d
Four injured in peaceful Billien protest
On Friday after the weekly prayers, residents of the West Bank village of Bilien, west of the city of Ramallah and a group of International and Israeli peace activists marched in a massive rally.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51806
IDF catches two Palestinian teens with bombs at West Bank checkpoint
Security forces on Friday found three bombs in a bag belonging to two Palestinian teenagers at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus in the West Bank.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/929946. html
PHR-Israel emergency appeal for medical supplies for Gaza
The prolonged siege imposed by the Israeli government on Gaza, the closing of its borders, the tightening of policies regarding permission to exit Gaza for medical purposes, and the severe shortage of medications and other medical supplies all severely damage the Palestinian health system and endanger the lives and health of thousands of Palestinian patients.
http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ RWB.NSF/db900SID /KARI-79EQH5? OpenDocument
Israeli High Court orders army to allow passage of four terminally-ill Palestinians
After the deaths of three Palestinian patients awaiting permission from Israel to receive medical treatment, the Israeli High Court ordered on Thursday that the Israeli military must allow four other terminally-ill patients to exit Gaza for treatment.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51797
Report: Gaza closure threatens education of 3,000 students
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza has released a report condemning the Israeli ban on the travel of Gaza Strip students to pursue studies in universities and schools abroad. The Center called upon the international community and international organizations, especially UNESCO and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to pressure Israeli Occupying Forces in the Gaza Strip to allow more than 2,700 students to travel so as to avert the negative consequences for their educational future.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51792
Report warns against proposal for funding of W. Bank outposts
The author of a highly influential government report on illegal outposts in the West Bank has recently warned the government against approving a new justice ministry proposal that would allow state funding for outposts, Haaretz has learned.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/929745. html
Abbas: Now is the moment of truth for Palestinian statehood
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told his people on Thursday the "moment of truth" on Palestinian statehood has come, following his participation in the Annapolis conference in the United States.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ pages/ShArt. jhtml?itemNo= 929692&contrassID=1&subContrassID= 1
Israeli Prime Minister: Without two-state solution, Israel will not survive
After meeting with the Palestinian President in the US on Tuesday and Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asserted that a two-state solution between the two peoples is the only possible solution.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51791
PA official: Olmert lying about Temple Mount
Israeli PM claims holy site not up for talks, but Palestinians say he has already agreed to forfeiture.
http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3477322,00. html
Haj pilgrims call for opening of Gaza border
Hundreds of white-robed Muslims staged a protest at the closed border crossing between Hamas-run Gaza and Egypt on Thursday to demand they be allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage.
http://www.reuters. com/article/ worldNews/ idUSL29203440200 71129
Hamas says it has secret, public contacts with Europeans
Islamic Hamas movement revealed on Thursday that the deposed Hamas government, which still rules Gaza, has "secret and disclosed" contacts with European sides.
http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ 2007-11/29/ content_7169748. htm
Ban Ki-Moon: Palestinians continue to suffer indignities of occupation
Marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that the International Day came at a time when Palestinians continued to suffer the indignities and violence of Israeli occupation.
http://www.kuna. net.kw/NewsAgenc iesPublicSite/ ArticleDetails. aspx?id=1861642&Language=en
Olmert: Israel 'finished' without Palestinian state
In unusually frank comments, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned in an interview published today that "the state of Israel is finished" if a Palestinian state is not created, saying the alternative was a South African-style apartheid struggle.
http://www.chron. com/disp/ story.mpl/ front/5339295. html
Blair: There won't be Palestinian state unless it is coherently run coherently
On Wednesday morning, the day after dozens of leaders from around the world came to Annapolis to express support for a renewed dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Quartet envoy Tony Blair was preparing to go to the White House for the ceremony marking the launching of actual negotiations, which was being hosted by President George Bush. We met him at the residence of the British ambassador to Washington, where he lodged during his stay in the U.S. capital.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ pages/ShArt. jhtml?itemNo= 929898&contrassID=1&subContrassID= 1
The One State Declaration
For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them. The two-state solution ignores the physical and political realities on the ground, and presumes a false parity in power and moral claims between a colonized and occupied people on the one hand and a colonizing state and military occupier on the other. It is predicated on the unjust premise that peace can be achieved by granting limited national rights to Palestinians living in the areas occupied in 1967, while denying the rights of Palestinians inside the 1948 borders and in the Diaspora. Thus, the two-state solution condemns Palestinian citizens of Israel to permanent second-class status within their homeland, in a racist state that denies their rights by enacting laws that privilege Jews constitutionally, legally, politically, socially and culturally. Moreover, the two-state solution denies Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right of return.
http://www.counterp unch.org/ onestate. html
James Petras: US Military versus Israel Firsters
The underlying deep and widespread hostility of the high-ranking military officials has nothing to do with Zion-Con charges of 'anti-Semitism' and everything to do with the destruction, demoralization and discredit of the US military.
http://palestinechr onicle.com/ story-1129071719 02.htm
After 40 years of occupation "solidarity" is not enough
On this, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the international community must not only clearly renounce its tacit acquiescence to Israel's violations of international law, but also commit to concrete action to end these violations, and in doing so, end the occupation itself.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article9133. shtml
PSL: On the International Day of Solidarity with Palestine, we remember the Nakba
Like all great struggles, it has had many twists and turns, and will have many more. But the root cause of the conflict— the forcible expulsion of a people from their homeland—is neither ambiguous nor confusing. Sixty years ago, this is precisely what happened to the Palestinians in "The Catastrophe," known as "Al-Nakba" in Arabic.
http://www.palsolid arity.org/ main/2007/ 11/28/psl- on-the-internati onal-day- of-solidarity- with-palestine- we-remember- the-nakba/
Palestinians commemorate 1947 UN resolution creating state of Israel on their land
On Thursday, November 29th, the Palestinian people commemorated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. November 29th marks the day on which the United Nations signed a resolution in 1947 recommending the partition of Palestine to create a Jewish homeland, called Israel.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 51794
Stuart Littlewood: See Gaza and Weep
(In the run-up to "Annapolis", Stuart Littlewood went to Gaza on an unusual mission. He joined a party of priests bringing moral support to the Christian community and to its Muslim neighbours, all suffering horribly under Israel's collective punishment and cruel siege.) Traffic into Gaza through the elaborate new border "facility" at Erez is down to a tiny trickle these days since Israel branded the Palestinian seaside enclave a "hostile entity". The purpose of our visit was to bring moral support to elderly Fr. Manuel, who ministers to his flock, runs an excellent school (for Christians and Muslims) and is revered as a local hero. Should he ever leave Gaza, the Israeli authorities will not allow his return, so he has allowed himself to be incarcerated there for 9 years. He'd had no visitors since February and when he heard we were coming, said a colleague, he burst into tears.
http://www.unobserv er.com/layout5. php?id=4123&blz=1
Shades of grey: Nusseibeh's "Once Upon A Country"
In his new historical autobiography Once Upon A Country, Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, who many accuse of selling out due to his comments regarding the right of return, highlights the shades of grey in a conflict that most people prefer to see in black and white. Miko Peled reviews Nusseibeh's new book and finds that it shows that neither Rabin, or Barak or any other Israeli prime minister had ever intended to make peace with the Palestinians. Their intention was, and still is, to turn the Palestinian people into "hewers of wood and drawers of water" for the Jewish state that was established on the ashes of a country that, as the book title suggests, once upon a time existed.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article9132. shtml
Photo Flash: West Bank, UK - The Musical
Oren Safdie (Private Jokes, Public Places) and Ronnie Cohen (Jews & Jesus) return to the New York stage with the world-premiere musical West Bank, UK – about an Israeli and Palestinian living under the same roof.
http://broadwayworl d.com/viewcolumn .cfm?colid= 23355
CHECKPOINT JERUSALEM BLOG
Going to the movies - in Ramallah: OK, I have a small confession to make: While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were delivering their historic speeches in Annapolis, I was watching a movie. Yes, I missed live coverage of the events, which coincided with the Ramallah debut of "Driving to Zigzigland."
http://www.kansasci ty.com/451/ story/382074. html
Earthquake rumour panics West Bank Palestinians
Ramallah - Schools, high building and even some government offices were evacuated Thursday in the West Bank and East Jerusalem after a rumour said an earthquake was about to hit the territory.
http://news. monstersandcriti cs.com/middleeas t/news/article_ 1377495.php/ Earthquake_ rumour_panics_ West_Bank_ Palestinians
NPR Watch: Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
All Things Considered coverage of the Annapolis meeting reinitiating Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks was a big disappointment. Ordinarily, such an event would prompt ATC to present a solid half hour of coverage, including providing listeners with the historical and factual background needed to understand and interpret the event.
http://www.counterp unch.com/ pace11292007. html
Robert Fisk: A different venue, but the pious claims and promises are the same
Haven't we been here before? Isn't Annapolis just a repeat of the White House lawn and the Oslo agreement, a series of pious claims and promises in which two weak men, Messrs Abbas and Olmert, even use the same words of Oslo. "It is time for the cycle of blood, violence and occupation to end," the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday. But don't I remember Yitzhak Rabin saying on the White House lawn that, "it is time for the cycle of blood... to end"?
http://news. independent. co.uk/fisk/ article3204054. ece
Op/Ed: Bush isn't the only 'decider'
Despite the show at Annapolis, this week's main diplomatic initiative has concerned Iraq, not Israel. Without any fanfare, the Bush administration and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki announced that the United States and Iraq will begin negotiating a long-term agreement that will set the terms of Washington's Iraq policy for "coming generations." President Bush is again in legacy mode. His White House "czar" on Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, explained that the administration intends to reach a final agreement between the two countries by July 31, 2008. In describing the negotiations, he made a remarkable suggestion: Only the Iraqi parliament, not the U.S. Congress, needs to formally approve the agreement.
http://www.latimes. com/news/ opinion/la- oe-ackerman29nov 29,0,3241305. story
Not Through Annapolis
As the U.S. convenes a Mideast summit in Annapolis, Maryland today, we spend the hour on the Israeli-Palestine conflict with two of the world's leading thinkers: former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and world-renowned linguist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky says U.S. backing of continued Israeli occupation and annexation of Palestinian land is the biggest obstacle to peace. He says: "The crimes against Palestinians. .. are so shocking that the only emotionally valid reaction is rage and a call for extreme actions. But that does not help the victims. And, in fact, it's likely to harm them. We have to face the reality that our actions have consequences, and they have to be adapted to real-world circumstances, difficult as it may be to stay calm in the face of shameful crimes in which we are directly and crucially implicated.
http://www.informat ionclearinghouse .info/article187 95.htm
Two Ships Passing in the Dark?: The Meaning of Annapolis
Last week, as participants in the latest international peace conference on Israel- Palestine prepared to wend their way to Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, in Tel Aviv senior Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officials were wrapping up a three-day headquarters exercise focusing on urban terror. Media reports said the drill was the largest in eight years to test reactions to and prevention of terror incidents.
http://www.counterp unch.com/ smith11292007. html
Annapolis: US prepares Palestinian civil war
Rallies Arab support against Iran.
http://www.wsws. org/articles/ 2007/nov2007/ anna-n29. shtml
Paint by numbers
The Israeli vice premier and minister of strategic threats (officially strategic affairs) Avigdor Lieberman doesn't let any opportunity pass without mentioning that the positions of the extreme right Israel Beituna Party that he heads have come to form a central "national" consensus in Israel. Lieberman does not conceal his relief that more parties and political movements in Israel have begun to adopt his party's position calling for the implementation of a land swap between Israel and a Palestinian state. In such a swap, the Palestinian leadership is supposed to agree to Israel annexing the major settlement conglomerations in the West Bank in return for annexing to a Palestinian state some of the residential areas in Israel in which the Palestinians live.
http://weekly. ahram.org. eg/2007/873/ re71.htm
Annapolis is About War, Not Peace
"Those claiming to see signs of a plausible peace process in the events that began at Annpolis on Tuesday are clutching at straws. You only have to look at the joint declaration adopted by the Israeli and Palestinian sides under U.S. prodding to see why....The key statement in the declaration adopted at Annapolis, however, is in its concluding paragraph: "Implementation of the future peace treaty will be subject to the implementation of the road map, as judged by the United States."
http://tonykaron. com/2007/ 11/29/annapolis- is-about- war-not-peace/
Flexibility versus escalation
Israel doesn't need bombs to abort the Annapolis meeting. The incendiary rhetoric with which Israeli officials and media are arming Arab and Palestinian opponents to Annapolis should do the trick.
http://weekly. ahram.org. eg/2007/873/ op11.htm
Demoralisation and absence
A once profound and widely read commentator recently c
