By Chris Ryecart from Essex, UK
This commentary was published in The Arab News on 24/01/2011
This commentary was published in The Arab News on 24/01/2011
Addressing a town hall meeting in the Omani capital of Muscat recently, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said “women can be a major power in convincing Mideast leaders to agree to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace deal.”
While there may be some truth to that, no woman in the Middle East has the power and influence that the US secretary can bring to bear on Middle East leaders. The tragedy is that Clinton has been so keen on impressing the Jewish lobby in Washington with her Zionist credentials that she can always be relied on to appease the racist and fascist leaders of the Israeli government when they seek to sabotage meaningful peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, as they continue to do.
Clinton should not be preaching to the converted. It is after all King Abdullah’s peace plan that offered Israel both peace and recognition by the entire Arab/Muslim world in return for Israel’s compliance with UN Security Council resolutions. Israel has rejected it because it wants to maintain those borders that are not recognized by international law. When a Muslim country defies international law, it can expect to be bombed into the Stone Age.
The US is in great danger of not having learned the lessons of Sept 11. If Clinton wants to protect the security of the US and the Middle East, she will need to put pressure on Israel to comply with UN resolutions, even if that means freezing all US aid to Israel until it does comply and until it agrees to the implementation of the two-state solution based on those resolutions.
Tony Blair in his capacity as Middle East envoy is on record as saying that without US pressure on Israel, there will never be a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Clinton should have the intelligence to realize that in this respect at least Blair is right. Does she have the integrity to act on this and become unpopular with the Christian Zionists, the Jewish lobby in Washington and even the government of Israel in the process? If she does not, perhaps she should resign and make way for a US secretary of state who is prepared to put international justice and peace before his/her career.
While there may be some truth to that, no woman in the Middle East has the power and influence that the US secretary can bring to bear on Middle East leaders. The tragedy is that Clinton has been so keen on impressing the Jewish lobby in Washington with her Zionist credentials that she can always be relied on to appease the racist and fascist leaders of the Israeli government when they seek to sabotage meaningful peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, as they continue to do.
Clinton should not be preaching to the converted. It is after all King Abdullah’s peace plan that offered Israel both peace and recognition by the entire Arab/Muslim world in return for Israel’s compliance with UN Security Council resolutions. Israel has rejected it because it wants to maintain those borders that are not recognized by international law. When a Muslim country defies international law, it can expect to be bombed into the Stone Age.
The US is in great danger of not having learned the lessons of Sept 11. If Clinton wants to protect the security of the US and the Middle East, she will need to put pressure on Israel to comply with UN resolutions, even if that means freezing all US aid to Israel until it does comply and until it agrees to the implementation of the two-state solution based on those resolutions.
Tony Blair in his capacity as Middle East envoy is on record as saying that without US pressure on Israel, there will never be a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Clinton should have the intelligence to realize that in this respect at least Blair is right. Does she have the integrity to act on this and become unpopular with the Christian Zionists, the Jewish lobby in Washington and even the government of Israel in the process? If she does not, perhaps she should resign and make way for a US secretary of state who is prepared to put international justice and peace before his/her career.
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