Gideon Levy; 30/11/09; (2 Items)
Those types have always been seen on big-city streets, talking to themselves, asking and answering, shouting, speaking in a low voice, deliberating and pontificating. As children, we were afraid of them. They were “crazy.” That’s exactly what Israeli public discourse is like. We are talking to ourselves, inventing bogus axioms and sticking with them as if they were decreed from on high, convinced that the whole world accepts them. But we are only talking to ourselves. No one else accepts them. The Israeli collective is not only talking to itself, it’s deceiving itself completely. Jerusalem is a perfect example of this. It’s a neglected city, filthy and in parts frightfully ugly, stricken by poverty and ignorance. Nationalist, religious and social tensions are tearing it asunder, and part of the city is under the burden of occupation with all its most violent characteristics. The purported education, culture, openness and prosperity – far from the actual situation – are the locus of our national aspirations.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1131340.html; Netanyahu: Israel wants peace, but Palestinians don’t seem ready; Gili Izikovitch; 30/11/09; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1131464.html
Time running out for peace
Neri Zilber; 30/11/09
On his recent trip to the Middle East, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner observed: “The coming days are a test for the Israeli government, since time is not on the side of both parties [to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process].” It would be easy to dismiss such a statement as just more of the same alarmist hyperbole masquerading as news. And yet, there is a vital kernel of truth in the Frenchman’s statement: time is not on the side of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As any reasonable observer understands, the contours of an agreement are already known, beginning with a two-state paradigm and likely concluding with the Clinton parameters and Taba negotiations of the winter of 2000-2001. The problem on the whole has been a lack of any sense of urgency in moving from the current, seemingly endless stalemate to these unavoidable conclusions. The constant daily politicking, while useful for internal consumption on both sides, has a price which will, in the near future, turn prohibitive. Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders still act like the Camp David talks took place yesterday, instead of a whole decade ago. The Oslo Accords themselves, whose basic framework, including the Palestinian National Authority, is still with us, were negotiated and signed almost two decades ago.
See: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/time-running-out-for-peace-1.541976
Tags: Human Rights, Israel, Settlers, USA