Friday, April 9, 2010

High in the Sky Hopes

"The Middle East peace process may well be the most spectacular deception in modern diplomatic history. Since the failed Camp David summit of 2000, and actually well before, Israel's interest in a peace process - other than for the purpose of obtaining Palestinian and international acceptance of the status quo - has been a fiction that has served primarily to provide cover for its systematic confiscation of Palestinian land and an occupation whose goal, according to the former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, is 'to sear deep into the consciousness of the Palestinians that they are a defeated people'." (The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam, Henry Siegman, LRB, 16/8/07)

This diplomatic scam of scams continues:

"Barack Obama is 'seriously considering' proposing a US peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to 2 top administration officials. 'Everyone knows the basic outlines of a peace deal', said one of the senior officials, citing the agreement that was nearly reached at Camp David in 2000. He said a US plan, if launched, would build upon past progress on such issues as borders, the 'right of return' for Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. The second senior official said, '90% of the map would look the same' as what had been agreed in previous bargaining. The US peace plan would be linked with the issue of confronting Iran, Israel's top priority, explained the second senior official. He described the issues as 2 halves of a single strategic problem: 'We want to get the debate away from settlements and East Jerusalem and take it to a 30,000ft level that can involve Jordan, Syria and other countries in the region' as well as the Israelis and Palestinians." (Obama's latest Middle East peace plan a case of back to the future, David Ignatius/Washington Post Writers Group, The Australian, 9/4/10)

Away from settlements and East Jerusalem, 30,000ft up in the air?

Yeah, right.

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