I agree with Rennert rather than Herb Keinon in a JPOST article on the same subject. Keinon said Clinton is “interested in giving off the appearance of a fair and honest broker.”
By Leo Rennert, AMERICAN THINKER
Secretary of State Clinton’s reset of U.S. Mideast peace strategy again tilts heavily against Israel. But give Team Obama credit for persistence. Having failed to advance the peace process by obsessing about Jewish settlements and demanding unilateral Israeli concessions up front, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the administration’s Plan B, which is just as flawed in its hurry to create a Palestinian state without adequate attention to Israeli security needs.
In her speech at the Brookings Institution, Clinton again demonstrated why this administration, notwithstanding its claim to be an honest broker, is anything but.
In both her analysis of the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and her new push for U.S. mediation, Clinton gave Palestinian Authority leaders a pass while showing no such forbearance to Israeli concerns and interests..
So let’s examine and parse what the real obstacles to peace are, according to Clinton.
“Lack of peace and the occupation that began in 1967,” she declared, “continue to deprive the Palestinian people of dignity and self-determination.” She painted Israel as the heavy by declaring that the administration does “not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity” and their “continued expansion.”
Putting all the onus on Israel, she told her audience at Brookings that Israel badly needs a two-state solution because the “day is rapidly approaching” when Jews will be a minority between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River — a demographic timebomb requiring a quick fix. In similar vein, she warned that the advent of rockets and missiles in the hands of terrorist neighbors can be met in only one way — with a “peace agreement.”
And all the while, she heaped fulsome praise on the leadership of PA President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad.
There is more than a whiff of unreality in these basic premises of Clinton’s analysis of the dangers facing Israel and her prescriptions of how to counter them.
For one thing, Israel repeatedly has offered the Palestinians an end to “occupation” via two-state initiatives — only to have them summarily rejected by Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas. It is not Israel’s fault that Palestinian leaders to this day have not and are not in a mood to reach a sensible compromise.
Also, to expect an end to Hezb’allah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad rocket fire once Israel signs a two-state peace agreement with the PA is nothing more than a fanciful flight into dreamland.
As for Clinton’s warning about a demographic time bomb threatening the Jewish character of Israel, there are any number of qualified demographers who reject the notion that Jews will be a minority between the river and the sea anytime soon.
The Secretary similarly ignored inconvenient truths in her denunciation of Jewish settlements For example, she failed to acknowledge that settlements occupy less than 2 percent of the West Bank and that under both Ehud Olmert and now Netanyahu, Israel has not built a single new settlement or expanded exing ones.
Also, while piling on Israel, Clinton never mentioned the Palestinian Authority’s all-out campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state, glorify terrorists, and teach Palestinian children to pursue a one-state solution — a single Palestinian state from the river to the sea that would erase Israel from the map. Shouldn’t these obstacles be as noteworthy as “occupation” and “settlements”?
The only remote suggestion that Palestinian leaders may be hampering the peace process came when Clinton cautioned against “demonizing the other side” or pursuing “unilateral efforts at the United Nations” — without ever mentioning exactly who was engages in such practices. Her praise of Abbas and Fayyad was unalloyed.
As for the new U.S. mediation agenda, Clinton said the administration would push first and foremost for a quick solution on final borders — a priority amenable to Abbas but hardly in sync with Netanyahu’s insistence that borders must be discussed in tandem with security and other issues of vital importance to Israel.
Nor will the Israeli side be encouraged by Clinton’s high praise for the Arab Peace Initiative, which would require Israel to grant millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants a right of return to Israel — a real demographic time-bomb.
While Clinton lauded the PA’s efforts at institution-building and the booming Palestinian economy in the West Bank, she gave scant credit to Israel, instead demanding a “significant” reduction in further Israeli troop incursions into Palestinian areas. No mention that Israel already has paid dearly for dismantling scores of roadblocks and checkpoints — a policy that has made it easier for Palestinian terrorists to kill and injure Jewish residents.
Clinton brushed over such real security threats, even as she was piously declaring that the Obama administration’s commitment to Israel’s security is “rock-solid and unwavering.”
The U.S. as honest-broker under Obama and Clinton? Think again.
The great irony in the wake of Clinton’s Brookings address is that it is the Palestinians, far more than the Israelis, who are denouncing it as a sell-out. They don’t seem to have clue that the administration continues to favor their interests over Israel’s.
Let me add to the above that the sooner that Hussien Obama is out of the White House the better. I believe that Palin may very well be the nest president and she would be a friend to Israel.
Rongrand and Vinnie : Loved the posts. Obama is no leader, except in his own mind. He is not to be trusted and neither is Clinton. Their view of compromise is actually more like surrender. Israel has often shown its desire for peace with the arabs (I hate the misnomer of Palistinian) and just as often been betrayed. Israel should tell Obama to kiss off and then settle the peace negotiations by taking back the Golan and Gaza and expelling all arabs because they agreed to surrender these territories for peace. As soon as the papers were signed, there was more terrorism and more demands. Such is the history of peace talks. Arafat has plainly said that he would settle for no less than all of Jerusalem and the expulsion of every jew. Although Arafat is dead, his ideas were not buried with him. They live on in the hearts and minds of the arabs who lead the Authority still. Clinton and Obama are very dangerous and foolish. We watch for terrorists at airports, train stations, bus depots yet they ask Israel to open her doors to these that America fears. When there is a missle from Gaza, Israel should send ten, if they use a car bomb, Israel should send a transport truck bomb, and if any country interferes with Israel, Israel should only pause long enough to kick their ass into submission and send the arabs there…………..I PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF ISRAEL.
Israel is a terrorist state – per IRS:
‘Terrorism Special Policy’ Prevents Pro-Israel Group from Gaining IRS Tax Exempt Status
Vinnie, I believe you are on to something. Very plausible I must say.
Manchurian candidate, could very well be.
And George Soros spent a lot of money on this turkey.
rongrand,
I’d add to your assessment that he is also a “Manchurian candidate” for the Saudis. That he is also a front mand for Soros & Co., these two would not be mutually exclusive.
In broadest, thumbnail sketch terms, I’d say that on domestic policy, he is a Soros puppet, whereas on foreign policy, he is a Saudi puppet.
Some might object that if he really were a Saudi puppet, why is he so reluctant to deal desisively with Iran, since the Saudis are wetting their pants even more than Israel over an Iranian nuke?
The answer is that the Saudi “agents” who “programmed” Obama have only done their jobs too well. Here I am talking about his various mentors over the years, such as Edward Said, Rashik Khalidi, Khalid Al Mansour, and so on. These people instilled a hatred of Israel in this man so deep, that he is positively blinded to the issue of Iran in a way even his Arab puppetmasters are not. Sometimes, the bacteria in the petri dish does not behave as intended….
Vinnie, for starters Barry Hussein Obama is no more than a community organizing pamphlet distributing, incompetent state senator, incompetent US senator, pretending to be a Christian, anti-Semite who embraces Islam, incompetent US president.
We cannot trust him as far as you an I can throw a camel.
He is the character setup by the liberal left media and George Soros and company.
Hmmm. Obama is not an “honest broker”.
You know, the sun is actually very hot!
First, there is no question but that from day one – almost literally – Obama has aligned himself with the Arabs against Israel. Never mind the details of the negotiations related above. What can one say about a president whose VERY FIRST televised interview, upon becoming president, was not to CBS, or NBC, or CNN, or ABC, or to FOX…but was to Al Arabiya television??!!
He visits Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia…but has not visited Israel, and likely never will as president.
He compares Jewish suffering during the Holocaust to Palestinian suffering under Israeli “occupation”.
His very first phone call to a foreign leader upon taking office was to the leader of Hamas.
Like I said, the sun is actually hot!
I don’t know anyone besides a deranged fool who would consider Obama and Co. to represent “honest brokers” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Bush 43 was an “honest broker”, or at least a rough approximation of the same. Not that this constitutes an endorsement of him or his policies.
The whole “honest broker” concept is a bankrupt paradigm. I would never encourage any U.S. leader to act as an “honest broker” between a free, democratic, modern state on the one hand, and a collection of corrupt thugs on the other. To believe that there is some sort of imperative to being an “honest broker” between two sides implies moral comparability between the two sides.
Does anyone require the U.S. to be an “honest broker” between North and South Korea? Why not??!!! Hey, at least women can get jobs an drive cars in North Korea! And what has South Korea done for us lately? They run up huge trade surpluses against us, and we can’t even get them to buy our beef! We spend many, many times what we spend on military aid for Israel keeping 23,000 troops in South Korea to help defend them, plus the cost of all the assets we tie up that would support them in the event of war. If there were a war between North and South Korea, it would be far more destructive than anything we’d be called to do in defense of Israel, even in the worst case scenario.
BUT…we have to “do something” for the Palestinians, because our “moderate Arab ally” Saudi Arabia says we have to, or they might raise the price of oil (they can’t raise it too high or we cut back a lot, and they go broke), or they will keep supporting terrorists against us (naked blackmail). Makes you wonder who the “superpower” in that relationship is…..
Yep, if we screw over Israel, we can sure count on those Saudis to help us fight Islamic “extremists”…the same way they help Russia – for whom screwing Israel is a primary national pastime – deal with the Wahabbi terrorists who train and motivate the Chechens to keep attacking Russian civilians….NOT!
THE SUN IS ACTUALLY HOT!!
More “news”….recent Wikileaks disclosures reveal that Spain is a major intended target for continued terror attacks….Sweden just suffered an Islamist suicide bomber who killed a couple of people…THESE ARE TWO OF THE MOST ANTI-ISRAEL COUNTRIES IN EUROPE!
“HONEST BROKER”???!!!!! No, we don’t need to be an “honest broker”. We need to tell the Saudis, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, etc., to go to hell. We need to tell Israel, “Next time you are attacked by PA-sponsored terrorists, WIPE THEM OUT! Get rid of the PA! Whatever it takes! We’ll protect you in the UN and we’ll resupply you, but POUND your enemies into the DIRT! Then we tell the Jordanian kinglet that as far as we’re concerned HIS country is “Palestine”, and he can either share Judea/Samaria with Israel as a demilitarized zone peacefully, or he can choose to make trouble, in which case we back Israel when they take ALL OF IT!
And, except for the fire fight with the PA – and maybe one with Hezbollah, plus a joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran’s nuke facilities (hopefully coordinated with relevant parties in Iran so as to affect regime change a la Argentina after the Falklands debacle) – I’d guarantee that there really would be peace then.
That’s called behaving like a genuine ally, never mind this “honest broker” bullshit.
Maybe we’ll see something like this happen under a Palin or Huckabee administration….Romney probably doesn’t have the balls, neither does Pawlenty. We’ll see.
But things can change. They sure changed a lot -for the worse- after the ’08 election, and they can change for the better, as it becomes increasingly obvious to everybody down to barnyard animals how foolish and morally bankrupt – even treasonous – the polices of the current administration are.
Hillary and Bill Clinton as well as Hussein Obama are members and purveyors of the globalist CFR (Council of Foreign Relations). This policy making entity has had as an operating principle the dismantling and / or weakening of Israel since the 1970’s. They obviously see the small Jewish state as a nuissance that stands in the way of their oil and blood soaked agenda.
The most important book you will ever read is Charles Gasparino’s book entitled: BOUGHT AND PAID FOR, WHICH REVEALS OBAMA’S WALL STREET BANKER FINANCIERS.
You will see through every lie of Obama and Wall Street after you receive the proper education through this book.
Bottom line is Hillary and Bill are anti-Semites and they have an agenda and as friends of Yasser Arafat you know who they side with.
Think for a moment Bill and Hillary are not honest brokers, both lie, both are dishonest and both kiss butt in the Arab world and both seek power. Both self-serving bastards and phonies.
She should not be allowed in Israel.
It can only be met by exterminating the terrorists not by the creation of another islamic terror state.