Rice's last and final visit to Israel/Palestine is conclusive proof that the neocons achieved nothing and could offer nothing
By Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah
By Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah
Al-Ahram Weekly
(Cartoon by Carlos Latuff)
".......Commenting on the "failure of the sides" to reach a breakthrough, despite high-level international involvement and several high-profile peace conferences in the US and Europe as well as the Middle East, Rice claimed that Israel and the PA were now "closer to reaching peace than ever before". Some of Rice's Palestinian hosts and interlocutors couldn't hide their frustration. One official close to chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei remarked: "This woman is just giving out another dose of lies."
"She may think that we believe her lies; otherwise, what makes her utter the same lies every time she comes here?" the man added. The Palestinian official was not merely voicing his own opinion, but reflecting widespread disillusionment with Rice's fruitless visits and unfulfilled promises.
......Giving Rice the benefit of the doubt, as usual, Abbas said he would continue to honour "our commitments under the roadmap".
The PA has been unilaterally honouring the Quartet-backed roadmap by arresting and persecuting Hamas supporters, closing Hamas-affiliated institutions and establishing an unprecedented close cooperation -- even collusion -- between the Israeli occupation army and PA security forces against the "common enemy", which is Hamas. Far from reciprocating PA measures against Hamas, Israel kept expanding settlements while giving Nazi- like Jewish settlers virtually free rein to terrorise Palestinians and vandalise their property, including the olive harvest.......
...... Rice said she was "especially proud of the situation in the Palestinian territories".
Proud? In 2006, during the Israeli war on Lebanon, Rice reacted to the widespread destruction wreaked on Lebanese population centres, including the dropping by the Israeli air force of 2-3 million cluster bomblets, enough to kill or maim 2-3 million children, by saying that "Israel has the right to defend itself". She described the annihilation and maiming of thousands of Lebanese civilians as representing "the birth pangs of a new Middle East".......
"I have decided to visit Jenin because it is the first Palestinian town in which Fayyad was able to achieve security and economic reforms, with international assistance," she said. Tellingly, Jenin remains one of the most -- if not the most -- impoverished Palestinian towns, mainly due to the restrictive measures of the Israeli occupation.
Fayyad, who was speaking during a joint press conference with Rice at the local hospital in Jenin, described Rice's visit as "historic". He also heaped praise on the Bush administration for helping the Palestinian people, ignoring the scandalous embrace by the Bush government of the most extremist policies of the Israeli government, including settlement expansion, the building of the annexation wall, and the continued Judaisation of East Jerusalem........ "
".......Commenting on the "failure of the sides" to reach a breakthrough, despite high-level international involvement and several high-profile peace conferences in the US and Europe as well as the Middle East, Rice claimed that Israel and the PA were now "closer to reaching peace than ever before". Some of Rice's Palestinian hosts and interlocutors couldn't hide their frustration. One official close to chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei remarked: "This woman is just giving out another dose of lies."
"She may think that we believe her lies; otherwise, what makes her utter the same lies every time she comes here?" the man added. The Palestinian official was not merely voicing his own opinion, but reflecting widespread disillusionment with Rice's fruitless visits and unfulfilled promises.
......Giving Rice the benefit of the doubt, as usual, Abbas said he would continue to honour "our commitments under the roadmap".
The PA has been unilaterally honouring the Quartet-backed roadmap by arresting and persecuting Hamas supporters, closing Hamas-affiliated institutions and establishing an unprecedented close cooperation -- even collusion -- between the Israeli occupation army and PA security forces against the "common enemy", which is Hamas. Far from reciprocating PA measures against Hamas, Israel kept expanding settlements while giving Nazi- like Jewish settlers virtually free rein to terrorise Palestinians and vandalise their property, including the olive harvest.......
...... Rice said she was "especially proud of the situation in the Palestinian territories".
Proud? In 2006, during the Israeli war on Lebanon, Rice reacted to the widespread destruction wreaked on Lebanese population centres, including the dropping by the Israeli air force of 2-3 million cluster bomblets, enough to kill or maim 2-3 million children, by saying that "Israel has the right to defend itself". She described the annihilation and maiming of thousands of Lebanese civilians as representing "the birth pangs of a new Middle East".......
"I have decided to visit Jenin because it is the first Palestinian town in which Fayyad was able to achieve security and economic reforms, with international assistance," she said. Tellingly, Jenin remains one of the most -- if not the most -- impoverished Palestinian towns, mainly due to the restrictive measures of the Israeli occupation.
Fayyad, who was speaking during a joint press conference with Rice at the local hospital in Jenin, described Rice's visit as "historic". He also heaped praise on the Bush administration for helping the Palestinian people, ignoring the scandalous embrace by the Bush government of the most extremist policies of the Israeli government, including settlement expansion, the building of the annexation wall, and the continued Judaisation of East Jerusalem........ "
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