#At least Arafat was willing to negotiate

[libertarian-druid-ny-separatist]

Nah she's right. We don't get to choose how they "resist", but they don't get to choose how the people they attack respond either.

In other words: "we are allowed to commit genocide on you, but you don't get to kill our millitias"

[sethshead]

I am not the least bit surprised about this news.

Background: Robert Malley's father, Simon, was from Egypt, and was one of a handful of Jews allowed by Abd al-Naser to remain in the country, out of a 1948 population of 75,000, because as a journalist he was willing to toe the Arab Nationalist party line. He sold out the entirety of Egyptian Jewry in order to secure his place as Naser's chief international apologist.

The apple did not fall far from the tree. Robert made his name by spreading mischaracterizations about the Camp David Israeli/Palestinian negotiations, justifying Arafat's disastrous rejection of the basic Clinton Parameters that would have guaranteed Palestine sovereignty, contiguity, control of its borders, an evacuation of settlers and IDF, some repatriation of refugees to Israel, etc. He's about as trustworthy as a cat with canary feathers in the corner of its mouth.

So now it appears he might have been trading secrets to Iran for access to senior officials there. Again, the only thing that surprises me is how Malley's kept his credibility and credentials for as long as he has.

[opedguy]

Kushner’s Mideast Peace Plan DOA

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), May 28, 2019.--Hoping for a June 25-26 meeting on Mideast peace in the Gulf State of Bahrain, 38-year-old senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner faces a uphill battle to get a key players to buy in. Palestinians broke off ties with the U.S. after 72-year-old President Donald Trump recognized Dec. 6, 2017 Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.  Running counter to Palestinian demands for a two-state solution, 83-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority, broke off ties with Washington.  When Abbas continued to thumb his nose at the White House, Trump cut $200 million Aug. 24, 2018 in financial aid to his West Bank government.  Palestinians have been divided between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip since June 7, 2007 and Abbas’ Ramallah-based government.  Hamas has been at war with Israel since blind, quadriplegic Sheikh Ahmed Yassin founded the group in 1987.

            Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital prompted 18-months of violent protests on the Israeli border. At least 183 Palestinians have died breaching Israel’s border fence, subjected to Israeli Defense Forces live fire to drive protesters away from Israel’s border fence.  Kushner wants the Bahrain conference to deal with economic development in the Palestinian territories, not Palestinian political issues related to the right-of-return, status of Jerusalem or fate of Palestinian refugees.  With stops planned in Morocco, Jordan, Israel and Europe, Trump hopes to get U.S. Mideast allies to buy in on a Mideast peace plan.  With Hamas still at war with Israel, it’s going to be difficult to bargain for peace, when Palestinians demand that Israel comply with past U.N. resolution requiring Israel to return to pre-1967 Six Day War borders.  Israel has said old U.N. resolutions are no longer relevant.

            Palestinians refuse to attend any U.S.-brokered peace plan, believing the U.S. is no longer an impartial peace broker.  Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump tried to motivate Palestinians to come to the peace table.  Over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objections, the U.S. was willing to cede East Jerusalem to Palestinians for their capital. Trump’s 2017 move on Jerusalem so inflamed Palestinians, it precluded future peace talks.  Going to the U.S.-friendly Gulf States isn’t enough to enlist Palestinians back in the process.  With Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi the only Arab leader with a peace treaty with Israel, it’s not easy to convince Egyptians to back the U.S. peace plan.  White House officials hope that wealthy Gulf State donors can jump on the peace-making bandwagon, though it’s doubtful it will bring Palestinians back to the table.

            Since seizing Gaza from the PLO in 2007, Hamas has shown no signs of seeking peace with Israel.  Gaza residents are told routinely that Hamas will one day conquer Israel, telling residents to go to the Israeli border to breach the security fence to reclaim land lost to their ancestors in Israel’s 1948 war of independence.  “The deal of the century or the deal of shame will go to hell, with God’s will, and the economic project they are working on next month will go to hell too,” said Abbas yesterday. With Abbas seen as a more flexible peace partner than Hamas, it’s hard to imagine Kushner will get any reception for his plan.  “Whoever wants to solve the Palestinian issue must start with the political issues, not by selling the illusion of billions [of dollars],” rejecting, out of hand, any attempt by Kushner to advance an economic agenda.  Kushner knows that Palestinian political threats won’t work with Israel.

            When Israeli won the 1967 Six Day War, Palestinians worked feverishly with the U.N. to return land seized by Israel as spoils of war.  Palestinians, led by PLO founder Yasser Arafat, promised land-for-peace, demanding Israel return to the pre-1967 borders.  Former President Jimmy Carter worked feverishly to get peace treaty with Egypt, known as the 1979 Camp David Accords, never to get Israel to return to the pre.1967 borders.  Carter subscribed to U.N. Resolution 242, demanding Israel return to the pre-War borders, only to have his demands ignored.  Faced with constant suicide attacks from Hamas and other Islamic groups, Israel simply couldn’t honor U.N. Resolution 242 without threatening Israel’s national security.  Abbas hasn’t faced the reality that he won’t win an armed conflict with Israel, now or ever.  Hamas continues to lie to Gaza residents about conquering Israel.

            Abbas and Gaza’s Hamas ruler Ismail Haniyeh haven’t faced the fact that rich Arab Gulf States have grown weary of Palestinians armed struggle against Israel.  “The Palestinians should negotiate hard, and then take what they can to secure a nation state for future generations,” Faisal Abbas wrote in the Arab News. “There is nothing to be gained from a refusal to come to the negotiating table,” showing the Gulf State’s growing frustration with Palestinians.  Every time Hamas wages war with Israel, it costs Gulf States billions to clean up the mess.  Hamas and the PLO face more insolvency, spending precious cash on building tunnels, stockpiling arms and rockets.  “There will be no economic prosperity in Palestine without the end of the occupation,” said senior Palestinian diplomat Saeb Erekat.  Erekat exposes the fallacy of Mideast peace-making that Israel must vacate all Palestinian land before peace.  Giving up land, like Israel did in Gaza, has never brought about peace.

About the Author  

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[newstfionline]

Ex-Hamas Head Meshal on Trump’s Mideast Peace Initiative

Interview Conducted By Nicola Abé and Christiane Hoffmann in Doha, Qatar Der Spiegel, May 27, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a new Middle East peace initiative. Khaled Meshal offers his take on the chances for success.

Khaled Meshal, 60, spent more than 20 years as head of the Hamas Politburo. At the end of May, he stepped down from his post and will now become the chairman of the movement’s religious council. He is nevertheless still considered the most powerful man within Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by both the European Union and the United States. The Islamist group won the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election, but then withdrew from government under pressure from the international community. In 2007, Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip by force. Meshal has been living in exile since 1991, first in Kuwait and later in Jordan, where he survived an assassination attempt by Israel’s Mossad using poison. He then moved to Syria, but he left Damascus and headed to Qatar after the breakout of the civil war. The building where the interview takes place is located in an outlying neighborhood of Doha and serves as the Politburo’s offices. The security measures are very thorough. Even the pens brought by the two DER SPIEGEL journalists are replaced.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Meshal, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a new peace initiative in the Middle East. In the speech he gave on May 21 in Saudi Arabia, he divided the Islamic world into “good” and “evil.” It’s his view that Hamas clearly falls into the “evil” category.

Meshal: We reject President Trump’s view. It was a mistake to say that--a major wrongdoing.

SPIEGEL: Trump has placed Hamas in the same ranks as al-Qaida or Islamic State (IS). Was he wrong to do that?

Meshal: We totally reject that. What Hamas and the Palestinian people are doing is legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation. Our resistance is confined to the territories inside Palestine and only targets the Israeli occupation. We are not blood-mongering killers who kill innocent people around the world.

SPIEGEL: Before Trump’s Middle East trip, you spoke of a “historic opportunity.” What had you been expecting?

Meshal: We are witnessing a new American president who speaks differently than his predecessors. If he is serious enough, he could pick up the opportunity that is available to create real peace in this region. With a new approach, he could achieve what all previous approaches have failed to. Regrettably, what we are now seeing is that the new U.S. government is stuck in the same old, partisan thinking patterns in terms of our resistance. That is a mistake.

SPIEGEL: In the past, Hamas has never participated in peace talks. Were you hoping that might change now?

Meshal: In principle, Hamas is not keen to be part of an unjust negotiation process in which the only things that comes out of it are new concessions for our people.

SPIEGEL: Trump’s initiative appears to envision bringing together Israel, the Arab states and the moderate Palestinian faction led by President Mahmoud Abbas. One idea is to deescalate the conflict by improving the economic situation in the Palestinian territories. What do you think about that?

Meshal: The Palestinian issue is a national, political issue. It’s not to be seen as an economic issue that would be solved or addressed by some economic approach that makes the living standard of the people under occupation better. The Palestinian people are fed up with talks that have been going on for years. We are looking for peace, but we are not looking for a new peace process.

SPIEGEL: Hamas recently published a new policy document. It appears to be aimed at ending the international isolation. According to it, Hamas would accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders--meaning before the Six Days’ War--at least provisionally. Does that mean that you would give de facto recognition to Israel’s right to exist and the two-state solution?

Meshal: Our political document shows that we are prepared in the context of a national consensus to accept a state on the lines of the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the capital and fulfilling the right of return for refugees. That does not mean that this document recognizes the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation. Nor does it mean that we will cede any part of the Palestinian territories.

At the same time, however, we are prepared to accept a state within the 1967 borders within the scope of a consensus. That is our pragmatic, realistic policy.

SPIEGEL: But there is a serious contradiction between your policy and your vision.

Meshal: Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas have recognized Israel’s right to exist. What was the outcome of that political stand? The Israeli government has never recognized our right to a sovereign state and self-determination. The international community has been extracting concessions from the weaker side suffering under the occupation. For decades, this strategy has done absolutely nothing for the Palestinians. Now they are demanding that Hamas go the same route. We will not accept that. Extracting concessions is not the key to achieving peace. Pressure must be exerted on the occupier.

SPIEGEL: Is your new line just window dressing? Is the destruction of Israel still Hamas’ goal?

Meshal: Our pragmatic approach shows how seriously we are about this. We are prepared to accept a state within the 1967 borders.

SPIEGEL: But would you be willing to make concessions in order to make peace possible?

Meshal: When we see seriousness from the Israeli side toward addressing the requirements of real peace in this region, then we would be prepared to make concessions.

SPIEGEL: The document no longer makes any mention of Israel being the archenemy. Instead it is referred to as a “Zionist entity.” But it does not rule out violence. Does this mean that Hamas will continue with its rocket attacks and suicide bombings?

Meshal: For us, this is not violence, this is legitimate resistance. This is our people’s right to resist Israeli occupation.

SPIEGEL: But you target civilians.

Meshal: No. We target the Israeli occupation, not civilians.

SPIEGEL: When your Qassam Brigades fire rockets at Israel, the ultimate targets are completely random.

Meshal: We are defending ourselves with the simple military means that we have at our disposal. We are keen to develop and to get accurate, sophisticated weaponry in order to precisely target Israeli military installations.

SPIEGEL: But the people who are dying are often civilians.

Meshal: No, most are soldiers. In the last war in 2014, the Israeli side lost 70 lives, and 95 percent of them were soldiers. On the Palestinian side, 2,500 people were killed, of which almost 80 percent were civilians. The Israeli army had the most sophisticated weaponry and they used it against residential towers, schools and hospitals.

SPIEGEL: Because Hamas often hid weapons and fighters in them.

Meshal: This is the narrative that was propagated by the Israeli occupation.

SPIEGEL: But even the United Nations confirmed this had happened in the Gaza Strip.

Meshal: We do not use our people as human shields.