How refreshing to hear the Fairfax press' senior journalist and author Paul McGeough on Radio National this morning talking with Fran Kelly about his new book Kill Khalid: Mossad's failed hit... and the rise of Hamas.
On the subject of the so-called peace process, McGeough made the point, virtually unheard in the corporate media, that Israel has never been seriously interested in making peace with the Palestinians. He said in effect that in 1967 Israel could have made peace with Jordan's King Hussein, but didn't, ending up with Arafat; that it could then have made peace with Arafat, but didn't, ending up with Hamas; and that it could today make peace with Hamas, but won't, ending up with...?
It's worth going back to that pivotal year, 1967, the year in which Israel invaded and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Syria's Golan Heights.
Here's what Tom Segev, Israeli historian of the 1967 war and its aftermath, has to say about Israel's 'peace talks' with Jordan: "The effort invested in talks with Hussein was intended largely to convince the US that it was genuinely trying to achieve peace. The fear in Jerusalem was that the Americans might force Israel to withdraw [from the West Bank]. In October, Johnson met with Eban, and made his view of the war very clear. He regretted that Israel had acted alone rather than heed his advice. He thought at the time that Israel had acted unwisely, and he still thought so. Besides Skyhawk aircraft and other military equipment, the Israelis were hoping the US would also sell them Phantom fighters, which were at the top of their shopping list. They therefore had to be extremely cautious. Washington was making angry noises, but as the months went by, the US turned out not to be putting any real pressure on Israel.' (1967, p 568)
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3 comments:
President Johnson was Israels pussy cat in 1967 when he recalled aircraft carrier based fighters called to assist the U.S.S. Liberty under sustained Israeli attack, TWICE.I recommend the web site of the survivors, just google "U.S.S. Liberty.
I heard Paul McGeough interviewed on the Richard Glover drive show (ABC). Glover spent a lot of time conflating the recent attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team with terrorists "like Hamas" in his promotions of his interview with McGeough.Glover should know that under the Geneva Conventions the occupied have not only "the right to resist" but the "right to take the fight to the territory of the occupiers" THIS IS NOT TERRORISM.
Glover has form in this. I didn't hear the interview, but I hope McGeough was able to compensate for Glover's pig-ignorance.
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