By Ramzy Baroud
"In a spacious yet fortified United Nations compound in Rome, members of a Palestine committee at the General Assembly repeated old mantras: They vowed support for Palestinians, issued a press release and went for lunch.
The committee consisted of several UN ambassadors; all well-intended, sympathetic and concerned; nonetheless, they also knew too well that their efforts were, more or less, futile. One of the ambassadors, of a country not so friendly by American standards, exclaimed: “No matter how hard we try, America blocks our efforts.”....
These are not mere symbolic problems that can be addressed via a well-articulated Arab peace initiative or that can be solved via dialogue. Israel understands well that a Jewish state can only be established in a domain that is free from anyone who fails to subscribe to such a quality. Joseph Weitz, who was appointed by the Jewish Agency to head transfer committees in 1948 captured the underlying essence of the Israeli project since day one: “Between ourselves it must be clear that there is not room for both peoples together in this country. ...We shall not achieve our goal of being an independent people with the Arabs in this small country. The only solution is a Palestine without Arabs.”
From the early days of Ben Gurion’s transfer to Vladimar Jobotinsky’s “Iron wall” to today’s Separation Wall and purely Jewish colonies, the impetus of the Israeli project has never lost momentum. Meanwhile, Palestinians are in a constant state of transfer and re-transfer. It is undoubtedly clear that Israel will not achieve peace out of benevolence and through unconditional dialogue; it can only be pressured to do so. It neither needs Arab initiatives nor joint parliamentary meetings in which misunderstandings are smoothed over. We must either begin to think on that front, or quit wasting precious time in extravagant conferences, symposiums and NGO meetings."
No comments:
Post a Comment