Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Farce goes on


Comment by Khalid Amayreh

"As prospects of true peace in Palestine look as bleak as ever, mainly because of Israeli intransigence and American complicity with the Zionist state, peace-loving people in the Middle East and around the world are once again affronted by yet another disingenuous visit to the region by US Secretary of State.

Rice has made numerous visits to Ramallah and occupied Jerusalem ever since she became Secretary of State more than three years ago.

However, the overall situation pertaining to the Palestinian plight has more or less remained unchanged. In fact, one can safely contend that the Israeli occupation and apartheid are now much worse than they were three years ago.

Hence, it is highly unlikely that Rice’s current visit is going to make any difference.

It is really not difficult to pinpoint the causes and reasons for the failure of American “peace efforts” in this part of the world.......

Why does Israel fly in the face of the Bush administration, which has asked Israel for the umpteenth time to relax its harsh and crippling measures against ordinary Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

The answer is very clear? Israel thinks, rightly or wrongly, that it controls the United States of America, that it controls American politics and policies, that it controls congress and media and major financial institutions in the US.

A few years ago, it was rumored that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Shimon Peres, who was then Foreign Minister, that “we control America and the Americans know it

One Jewish settler leader in Hebron, whom this reporter met a few years ago, was even blunter. He said that “the Jewish people could bring America to its knees in less than 24 hours.”

I asked the apparently arrogant settler leader, who himself had immigrated to occupied Palestine from Florida, how a few million American Jews could bring the most powerful country on earth to its knees. “We don’t directly control the 300 million Americans,” he said rather ostentatiously. “We control those who control them.”......

Hence, it is imperative that the Palestinian people and their true leaders and representatives stop letting the United States of Israel …yes, the United States of Israel, to dupe them endlessly toward the liquidation of their enduring cause......."

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