Saturday, March 7, 2009

Hillary in the Holy Land

Clinton's toothless proclamations were not backed with any concrete sanctions to punish Israel's misdeeds

Seth Freedman
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 7 March 2009

"Hillary Clinton's Middle East visit this week was hailed by many as the latest manifestation of America's new get-tough stance towards Israel. Still left in a starry-eyed daze by the effect of Obama's ascent to power, pundits took the view that the world would never again be the same since his victory, hence anything he or his entourage touched would turn inevitably and immediately to gold.......

However, now that she's been and gone and the fanfares have died down somewhat, it is clear that – as far as the Israeli government are concerned – it's business as usual, regardless of who's calling the shots in the halls of US power. One example of the new reality mirroring the old was Clinton's feeble outburst against the demolition of Palestinian homes, in which she described the actions as simply "unhelpful", a charge which was immediately rejected out of hand by Jerusalem's mayor, who scoffed at her pronouncement with all the petulance of a child complaining that mum and dad "just don't get it"......

Clinton's toothless proclamations were not backed with any concrete sanctions to punish Israel's misdeeds, instead falling back on the standard American formula of expressing mild annoyance at the Israeli government in public, while privately soothing Israeli politicians, patting them on the head and sending them out to play with another year's pocket money to spend on arms, roadblocks and concrete slabs of separation wall......."

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