Obama V Netanyahu (Shadow Boxing or A Real Contest?)
That resolution, passed on 11 December 1948, called for the Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to their homes provided they were prepared to live in peace with their neighbours, or be compensated for the loss of and/or damage to their homes if they chose not to return. Leaving aside the fact that Zionism’s ethnic cleansing policy included the demolition of Palestinian homes to ensure that the refugees had no homes to return to, the problem for Israel with the letter and the spirit of Resolution 194 is this….. If all the Palestinian refugees wishing to return to their land did return, and if Israel inside its pre-1967 borders remained a democracy, there could come a time when Israel would be voted out of existence by its Arab majority.
On the face of it that alone is reason enough for Israel not to be interested in the Arab peace plan, but….. If Israel’s leaders were seriously interested in peace on terms almost all Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere could accept, they, Israel’s leaders, could have sought and obtained clarifications about how pragmatic the Arabs are prepared to be in final, good faith negotiations. Israel’s leaders could have discovered, and still could discover, that the pragmatic Arabs are prepared to accept that the return of the refugees will be limited to the territory of the Palestinian state. In other words: The matter of the return of the refugees does not have to be an obstacle to peace UNLESS ZIONISM WANTS IT TO BE.
If they were seriously interested in peace, Israel’s leaders could also seek and obtain clarification of how pragmatic the Arabs are prepared to be in final negotiations on the status of Jerusalem. Yes, the Arab peace plan calls for East Jerusalem to be the capital of the Palestinian state but….. The Arabs are completely open to the idea of an undivided and united Jerusalem as the capital of two states. So the status of Jerusalem does not have to be an obstacle to peace UNLESS ZIONISM WANTS IT TO BE.
In reality, and as Israel’s leaders could easily discover for themselves if they were seriously interested in peace, the Saudi-inspired Arab peace plan of March 2002 – actually no different from what Arafat was prepared to accept many years ago – offers a full and final peace on terms which any rational government and people in Israel would accept with relief.
Now a question: If Americans in sufficient numbers could be made aware of that reality, would President Obama’s prospects for successfully confronting Netanyahu and the Zionist lobby be greatly improved? I think the answer is YES, and not least because AIPAC, the cutting edge of the Zionist lobby in America, actually speaks for not much more than one quarter of Jewish Americans. It’s also worth noting that according to the latest poll by Real Clear Politics, Congress’s approval rating is down to 36% and its disapproval rating up to 53.7%.
So another question: What could and should the Arab regimes do to help create a constituency of understanding in America that would enable President Obama to do what Nahum Goldmann advised President Carter to do – break the Zionist lobby’s stranglehold on Congress?
The short answer is that they could throw money – tens and if necessary hundreds of millions of dollars – at promoting their peace plan and understanding of it. Zionism buys American politicians. The Arab regimes (or agencies for them) could buy television, radio, newspaper and magazine advertising space.
Just imagine, for example, a whole page advertisement in the New York Times. It could include, top left, a picture of President Obama, and, top right, a picture of Arab leaders at the March 2002 summit in Beirut. The lead text could be something like President Obama called for a two-state solution in June 2009. Arab leaders offered that to Israel in March 2002. Etcetera, etcetera.
The Arab regimes (or agencies for them) could even buy television stations and newspapers – do a Rupert Murdoch. (Right now, for example, CNN is in real financial trouble, as are very many of America’s media institutions).
Simply stated, there is no reason why most Americans should remain ignorant of the fact that so far as virtually all Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere are concerned, PEACE AND SECURITY FOR ALL IS THERE FOR THE TAKING – if Israel stops behaving, or can be stopped from behaving, as a criminal state and complies with the requirements of international law, and ends its defiance of the will of the international community as expressed in UN resolutions.
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