Little Green Footballs called attention to two appalling articles Monday:
First there's this: UN's Annan announces "solidarity" with Palestinians.
"[Israeli actions] have undermined efforts to curb violence and fuelled hatred and anger towards Israel. They have pushed back the day when Israel will live without fear within secure and recognised borders," [UN Secretary General Kofi Annan] said in a statement."I wish to join with those from around the world who today express the deepest solidarity with the Palestinian people in their continued suffering. They remain stateless and oppressed."
Of course he made the perfunctory qualifications about Palestinian terrorism, saying there was "no justification" for it. But this in no way mitigates that he placed primary blame on Israel, the victim. Completely evading the fact that Palestinian leadership is neck-deep in terrorism, he goes on to say:
"Let us resolve not to rest until the Palestinian people finally obtain what is rightfully theirs," Annan said, "the exercise of their inalienable rights in a sovereign and independent state of Palestine."
No one has the "inalienable right" to establish a terrorist dictatorship, which is exactly what Arafat has so far established.
But Annan was merely joining the chorus of anti-Israel sentiment, which was lead by Jimmy Carter: Carter slams Israel, Bush in Geneva speech.
"No matter what leaders Palestinians might choose, no matter how fervent American interests might be or how great the hatred and bloodshed might become, there is one basic choice for the Israelis: Do you want peace with their neighbors or do you want to retain settlements throughout the occupied territories?" [...]Carter said the main flaw of the US-brokered road map is its step-by-step approach, which he said has allowed Israel to stop its advance by building "an enormous barrier wall" and with "the colonization of Gaza."
Carter, too, had the standard, lame qualifications about Palestinian "violence," but it's clear who he thinks is to blame for it. Like Annan, Carter must evade the full context, which is that Israel occupies those territories as a matter of national self-defense against neighboring Arab nations who have repeatedly launched wars of aggression. The article quotes a senior Israeli government official government official who puts the situation in its proper perspective:
"[Carter] should take a visit to our cemeteries and see what Arafat brought upon us after being offered everything [former prime minister Ehud] Barak offered him at Camp David and Taba."Posted by Forkum at December 3, 2003 07:29 AM
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