Monday, December 1, 2003
I almost wasn't going to bother putting up any pointers on the Geneva thing. I see nothing new in the story at this point, and I'm sure it will be pointed out all over the blogosphere, but what the hell...
The story has everything that every peace fantasist could desire - well meaning Hollywood dupes (Richard Dreyfus), a bunch of unelected and de-elected politicians who run nothing and can be imagined to have merely suffered losses via unfortunate circumstances rather than their own horrid failures and despite their good intentions, as well as an international stage (Switzerland!) to play-act their fantasies on.
Poor Jimmy Carter. I'm just sure he's a fine man, a well-meaning man - but as we all know, in the public policy arena good intentions are not enough! In fact, they are often the worst starting place. The public policy arena, the place where the talking stops and the rubber meets the road, requires...good policy! And poor Jimmy Carter, he just follows failure with failure. Now, outrageously, he takes the stage and bashes the Bush Administration and Israel for the problems in the Middle East. This is not a man who should be criticizing other people's foreign policy.
Carter, in Geneva, slams Israel
"The present administration in Washington has been invariably supportive of Israel, and the well-being of the Palestinian people has been ignored or relegated to secondary importance," he said.
"Without a resurrection of strong and unbiased American influence, Israeli and Palestinian extremists will prevail.
"There is no doubt that the lack of real effort to resolve the Palestinian issue is a primary source of anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East and a major incentive for terrorist activity."
Carter said settlements in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip and the security fence are the main obstacles to peace...
As for the rest - failures as Israeli politicians, rejected by their own people (NOT just the extremists - these people got electorally hammered.), and Palestinian representatives who cannot possibly bring anything of value or meaning to the table. As long as the Palestinian death-cult clicks along, as long as the PA Mafia keeps ticking, as long as the world continues to demand absolutely nothing from the Palestinians, no responsibility whatsoever, these "representatives" (what do they actually represent again?) represent absolutely nothing other than the bait on the tip of Yasser Arafat's hook.
What will Jimmy Carter do to make any agreement stand? What will any Hollywood actor do? The UN? Please. What can any agreement like this accomplish? There are two governments that exist, and whatever one thinks about Arafat's PA, they hold the cards. They are the only two entities that can really accomplish anything. All of this chasing of butterflies just complicates the already difficult job the elected government of Israel already has.
I hope that the attendees all felt very good about their very good intentions (Those that actually had good intentions - I do not count those who are only pursuing this program as a step on the road to Israel's destruction among that set.) and that the fantasists all had a very good daydream for themselves. Without facing the facts, fantasy it will remain. I can understand not supporting settlements in post-1967 areas, I can understand differing over the path of the Fence, but if that's ALL you do, and further, if you put such things as settlements and the Fence on the same moral plane with incitement to suicide and murder, and further, if you assign responsibility equally between them, then you are allowing your fantasies to inhabit and create a dangerous reality. Palestinian leaders are adult, responsible actors - not children or animals. They are responsible for themselves.
Geneva ceremony becomes forum for slamming Israel
A letter from Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat endorsing the initiative that was read at the ceremony said the Palestinians have extended an olive branch and Israel has responded by building "a shameful and disgraceful wall."
Former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abbed Rabbo told of the plight of "farmers who have seen their land and trees sacrificed to the alter of the separation wall."...
But by doing this, Israel will become an Apartheid state. This is an alternative we will never accept."
One Palestinian speaker called Sharon a "fascist." Another called the fence "a Berlin wall that separates Palestinian land into bantustans."...
One can understand the Palestinian representatives bashing Israel. It's de rigeur - although it ought to be surprising, given that the event was meant to be a diplomatic, peace-pushing event. So one could be forgiven for being a bit surprised that the Fatah reps just can't hold back the strident rhetoric even at a moment like this. It makes the Israeli presence all the more shameful, and indeed, even Beilin must have noticed:
"We don't believe we can make peace by boycotting the other leader or by calling him a fascist," Beilin said.
Of course, this all rolls right off the back of patronizing men of the Left like Carter, since in his world, the Palestinians, poor dears, bear no responsibility for themselves.
Geneva represents the daydreams of Oslo brought to life again, and that thought ought to give anyone nightmares.
Previous comments on the Geneva Accord:
Staying Gold
"Geneva Accord: it's not right and certainly not left"
JPost: 'Geneva Accord' Palestinians called to US for talks
Stephen Cohen: A new US movement for Middle East peace
Someone forgot to tell Amram Mitzna he lost the election
Here we go again...
Update: Looking back, I can see this became a bit of a rant of only moderate organization and coherence and for that I apologize, but hopefully somewhere in there is an accurate conveyance of my impressions on reading these stories.
