The great Annapolis Peace Conference has resulted in exactly nothing. This is not the opinion of Hamas, or Hezbollah, but the opinion of Ghaith al-Omari, legal adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who, according to CNN, declared:
The Israeli-Palestinian statement read by President Bush at the start of Tuesday’s peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland, amounted to a “public relations gimmick”. “The statement has a shelf life of two days,” he said. “There’s nothing new in it”. Amazingly, he also added that “events will happen in the next two days that could change everything”.
Really? Like what? Maybe the biggest Palestinian faction, Hamas, will be invited to join in the negotiation? Or maybe the USA will actually try to get Olmert to start respecting international law? Hardly.
Here is what Ismail Haniya, Prime Minister of Palestine and Hamas leader, had to say about this so-called “peace conference”:
Clearly, the Palestinians have been totally betrayed (yet again) by the leaders of all the countries which showed up at this conference, including Syria, and the Palestinians now fully realize that there is only one country which cares about them and who will stand by them: Iran.
Iran, of course, is what this conference was really all about. Annapolis was little more than an Imperial get together to get everybody on the same tune, hence Syria’s presence. There is no other possible explanation for the truly bizarre Syrian idea of sending diplomats to talk peace with Israel right after being bombed, however unsuccessfully and uselessly, by the Israeli Air Force. No – Syria showed up with the sole aim to be told by the Empire’s representatives how they need to behave when the aggression against Iran takes place, and that the Syrians better listen, or else…
Sure – at the end of the conference some kind of grand statement will be made and everybody will declare it a historic first step. Still, besides an official Syrian sell-out there is very little that this conference will achieve. Except maybe one thing maybe:
Annapolis will be yet another colossal Neocon miscalculation. By ‘squeezing’ all the Imperial stooges of the Middle-East into one room for a photo op, the Neocons are literally pushing the Palestinians into the warm embrace of Tehran who now stands alone in defense of the basic right of the Palestinian people. At times one could be forgiven for wondering whether the Neocons are not paid agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (just kidding).
The Neocons’ short-sighted policies removed Iran’s two worst enemies (Saddam and the Taliban) and essentially handed Iraq over to Iran. Likewise, in Afghanistan, the real power behind the Gucci-wearing “Mayor of Kabul”, Karzai, are Iran’s Tadjik, Uzbek and Hazara warlords (the other power behind them is Russia). In Lebanon, by forcing the Syrian’s to withdraw and with the utterly insane war of 2006 the Neocons have made Hezbollah the most popular and powerful force in the country. Thanks to the GWOT (Global War on Terror) oil prices are through the roof, which greatly helps Iran (not to mention Russia and Venezuela). Now the Neocons are pushing the Sunni Hamas and the rest of the Palestinians who are not doing the bidding of Olmert straight into Iran’s sphere of influence. It also makes Iran (and Hezbollah) look heroically noble in the eyes of “Muslim street’ all over the Middle-East.
Right now it looks like the circle is closing in on Tehran, but after the Empire suffers yet another strategic defeat in its war against Iran (and that is inevitable as I explained in a previous article) it will become clear that the Annapolis Conference was just another strategic blunder of a clueless and increasingly hapless Empire.
The Murder of Jewish Toddlers! What HEZBOLLAH is “ALL ABOUT!”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/SendMail.aspx?print=print&type=1&item=7487
18 Kislev 5768, 28 November 07 11:52 by
Jeff Michell
(IsraelNN.com)
On July 12, 2006, Lebanese Hizbullah terrorists crossed the border into Israel in an operation dubbed “Operation Truthful Promise.” The plan was to abduct Israeli soldiers in exchange for previously captured Lebanese terrorists. Hizbullah succeeded in the operation by successfully abducting two Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. During the operation, eight Israeli soldiers were killed. This ignited the sequence of events that led to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
The story, however, goes further back than July of 2006. It really began in April of 1979. On April 22, 1979, Danny and Smadar Haran met up with a Lebanese monster named Samir Kuntar.
Danny and Smadar were a loving Israeli couple. They had everything they could ever hope for – love, marriage, and two precious daughters, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2. On that day, Smadar was home anticipating Danny’s return from work. She had just picked up their two toddlers from day care. Danny, on the other hand, was looking forward to nothing more than getting home and spending time with his wife and his two young daughters.
Around midnight, the nightmare began. Kuntar and three other terrorists – all members of the Palestinian Liberation Front – infiltrated the northern Israeli coastal town of Nahariya and broke into the Haran family apartment. Danny Haran and his 4-year-old daughter, Einat, were taken hostage. During the home invasion, Smadar Haran and her 2-year-old daughter Yael managed to find a crawl space in which to hide. To prevent Yael from crying and giving away their hiding place, Smadar covered the child’s mouth with her hand.
Kuntar and his group took Danny and little Einat down to the beach. At the beach, Kuntar shot Danny in the back. Danny survived the gun shot, but moments later was drowned personally by Kuntar. All this was witnessed by the young daughter. Kuntar forced her to watch her father’s murder so that [in Kuntar’s words] “his death would be the last sight she would ever see.” He then laid her down on a rock and smashed her head with the butt of his rifle. She didn’t die right away, so Kuntar beat her with his rifle repeatedly, over and over again, to ensure that she was dead.
Meanwhile, in the apartment, Smadar’s attempt to muffle her daughter’s whimpering proved fatal. Yael was accidentally suffocated and died within the hiding space.
Samir Kuntar is currently one of only three Lebanese prisoners still serving time in an Israeli jail. This Druze from the Lebanese mountain village of Aabey currently holds the dubious distinction of being the longest held Lebanese prisoner in Israeli prisons. And the sentence is far from over. He was convicted and sentenced to a 542-year prison term. His crime was of such a heinous, barbaric nature that Israel nearly passed a bill to have him executed.
Fast forward to July 12, 2006. The only reason Ehud Goldawasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hizbullah was to force Israel to release Samir Kuntar. Now, the dilemma is whether or not Israel should release Kuntar in order to secure the release of Goldwasser and Regev. And since there has been no news as to the health of the two Israeli soldiers, Kuntar may be exchanged for two body bags.
The July 12 abduction plot was originally named “Operation Freedom Samir Kuntar” by Hizbullah. However, just days before the operation was launched, Hizbullah changed the name to “Operation Truthful Promise.” This was based upon the “true promise” that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah made to Kuntar’s family to have him freed from Israeli prison.
Hizbullah has never claimed that Kuntar was innocent or that he may have been framed. Kuntar is their hero and they demand his release as if he were being held unlawfully. Sadly, Israel has an extensive history of releasing prisoners with blood on their hands. Most expect that it might happen again, this time with Kuntar.
It is important to keep in mind that prisoners in Israeli jails are serving time for something. Israel is not a “gangster” or “lawless” state that imprisons people based solely on a whim. Every prisoner was charged, stood trail, was convicted and properly sentenced. They were not kidnapped simply because they were Arabs. Hence, there is no justification in comparing the kidnapped Israeli soldiers to Samir Kuntar.
If Israel were to release Kuntar, it would be the biggest surrender. The Sinai Peninsula, Israel gave back under negotiations; the West Bank and Gaza Israel also gave away under negotiations of the Oslo Accords. In 1985, during the famous “Ahmed Jibril Exchange,” Israel released 1,200 prisoners for the release of three IDF soldiers. Some of those prisoners who were released had blood on their hands, including Kozo Okamoto who killed 26 people in Israel. But even all those 1,200 prisoners put together cannot compare to the savage murderous act committed by Samir Kuntar. Israel also currently holds 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been incarcerated for conspiring, carrying out or masterminding murderous terrorist attacks (suicide bombings, shootings, etc.), which targeted Jewish civilians in Israel. But even all those 10,000 prisoners put together cannot compare to Kuntar.
Kuntar could have shot little Einat or blown her up, but instead, he took his loaded gun and just bludgeoned her on the head repeatedly for several minutes until she was dead. Lets not also forget the fact that several minutes prior to murdering Einat, Kuntar drowned her father in front of her, and forced her to watch.
There is a fine line between a humanitarian release of prisoners, or releasing prisoners for the sake of peace, and knuckling under to unadulterated extortion. The latter will be viewed as a response by a weak state that can be brought easily to its knees by extortion. What obscene messages does it send to the families of those Israelis murdered by Kuntar and future Kuntars? And what demoralizing message does it send to the Israeli troops and security services who risk their lives in order to capture and arrest Arab terrorists?
There is no doubt that Goldwasser and Regev need to be unconditionally released from Lebanon, Syria, Iran or from wherever they are now being held. Olmert’s “good-will gesture” has disaster written all over it. Appeasement didn’t work with Hitler and it will not work with Hizbullah. What exactly is there to negotiate? How far will Israel go to assure its own disappearance?
There will be nothing positive coming from the release of Samir Kuntar.
For more information, please visit http://SamirKuntar.net.www.IsraelNationalNews.com© Copyright IsraelNationalNews.com
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I agree overall with your analysis. However, I would not say that the meeting resulted in nothing.
It was a major success for Olmert and Livni and the Israelis are rightfully crowing about that. At the same time it is a major step backwards for the Palestinians. Let me elaborate:
As Dr Mustafa Barghouti pointed out in his interview with Amy Goodman this morning, none of the key Palestinian issues were even raised. No reference was made to UN resolutions, the Arab peace initiative, the role of the quartet, etc. The meeting succeeded in framing the issue within a Road Map frame, modified to fit Israeli demands. This is much worse than the original Oslo agreement. Now with US blessing and support, the “negotiations” will only involve the part of the W.B. outside the 130 or so major Israeli colonies. Bush’s letter to Sharon and subsequent Congressional endorsement gave these colonies and the land required for their “natural” growth to Israel. This leaves the Palestinians a little more than half of the W.B., not for a true state, but to work out the modalities of their existence in 4 or 5 cantons in this Bantustan.
The issue of the Jewishness of Israel is another major step backwards. Now the PA, in order to continue “negotiating” has to concede that Israel is the home of the Jewish people. Not only this precludes the right of return, but also prepares the way for ethnic cleansing of the 1948 Palestinians (so-called Israeli Arabs) who number about 1.3 million.
Jeff Halper has an excellent article in CounterPunch today in which he lays out the road ahead for the Palestinians: Apartheid in the full sense of the word. If the PA does not fulfill its role as a security agent for the occupation, then Israel will likely declare unilaterally a transitional Palestinian “state” with no defined boundaries or any rights, while colonization continues unabated.
This is how Jeff Halper ends his article: “Given this political landscape in Israel, in the territories and abroad, it’s hard for Israeli leaders to conceal their ebullient feeling that, whether formally or not, “we’ve won”.”
As far as Syria is concerned, it was too clever by half. It thought that it could trade its presence for something. Instead, Bush lectured Syria about not interfering in Lebanon without a single mention of the Golan. The Syrian regime was taken for a fool, and it proved that it is. The regime looks even more discredited than ever. Its relations with Iran and the Palestinians are very tenuous at best; it was a big loser in this gamble.
Tony Sayegh, Palestinian Pundit
Dear Tony,
Thanks a lot for your insightful comments. It is a pleasure and a privilege to have you ‘visit’ my blog!
I just wanted to make clear one thing I guess I should have made more clear in my initial post: I agree that the summit did not really yield ‘nothing’ and that the Olmert crew got something out of it: everything which you outline. But in a typically Neocon kind of ‘victory’ it is, I think, an extremely short term gain which will be paid for by a middle/long term loss. You said it yourself, Assad looks like the fool that he is, Abbas looks like the stooge that he is, the international community shows that all it is capable of is genuflecting in front of the Empire while Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah look like the only powers in the Middle-East which actually speak for their people and who also care for the Palestinians.
Another point which I did not address in my original post but which I want to add here is that Annapolis, by entrenching the Olmert policies is yet another nail into the coffin of the ‘two state solution’: having made a Palestinian state truly impossible the Israelis have left them only one option: a single unitary multi-ethnic and multi-religious state for all the inhabitants of all the territories currently under Israeli control.
So the here is how I tally all this:
Short term winner: Israel
Middle term winner: Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran
Long term winner: one state solution
That’s an (inevitable) outcome I am quite happy with (not that it is good in any way – but it does precipitate the liberation of the region from the Neocon yoke). But the Neocons, if they could look just beyond the next hill, would realize that it is almost the exact opposite of what they are trying to achieve.
Thanks and please drop by again!
The Saker
VS,
Regarding the “one state” solution that you alluded to, did you mean all Jewish?
Nope, that would be, by definition, racist. I mean something like any other civilized state on this planet: one in which the law does not discriminate between various ethnic or religious groups. But you knew that all along anyway…
Good analysis VS.
With regard to the first comment about Hezbollah murdering Jewish toddlers, I think it’s safe to sat that Israel also has plenty of innocent blood on its hands.
I agree with both Tony and VS.
I think the Annapolis farce was symbolic of the whole ‘conflict’. In the short term, Israel appears unassailable, yet in the long and even medium term, it is surely doomed.
The truth:
http://www.irshadmanji.com/im-why-the-annapolis-talks-can-and-should-matter
Most Palestinians could care less about getting even or conflict with Israel. Like the vast majority of people in the world, they want to get ahead. And by ahead I don’t mean Israeli or Dubai levels of success. Palestinians want to be far more successful and prosperous than that. If anybody can do it, they can.
Look at how rich and successful muslim Palestinian Israelis are. Look at any of the graduating classes of PhD and Masters candidates at all the top Israeli universities in most fields. Look at the most successful Israeli companies that have gone public (many recently.) In whatever field of endeavor you look at, the brightest and most successful Israelis are Palestinians. Palestinians are responsible for Isreal’s enormous success (more Israeli companies are listed on the Nasdaq than companies from any other country except America and Canada.)
Palestinian Israelis have achieved all of this for Israel despite anti-Palestinian suicide bombers that target Palestinian and Israeli civilians alike (who most Palestinians detest . . . how dare those murderers claim to be representing the good Palestinian people).
The Palestinians know what Palestinian Israelis have achieved, and want to set up their own version of Israel (only much much better) in the occupied territories.
The primary focus of these “conferences” should be on facilitating rapid growth in Palestine’s private sector. When this happens, the settlers and other Israelis will be begging the Palestinian state to accept them into the Palestinian nation. Israelis will be applying for Palestinian citizenship left and right. That is as it should be.
Palestine will be the Hong Kong to Britain. More successful and prosperous than the occupying power. Palestine will economically take over Israel and become the dominant partner.
Hamas should openly state that this is their long term strategy. To become so successful that Dubai will become a poor cousin by comparison. They should openly encourage Israelis and other foreigners to visit and live in Palestine (Gaza for now.) They should welcome dual citizenship, and encourage Israel’s best and brightest to move to Gaza and set up their businesses or outsource there. They should “DEMAND” a marshall plan and complete free trade and free investment with the rest of the world to accelerate their progress. And all of us should lobby our own countries to help them get it.
And they should hire Karl Rove to help them market themselves for the next election. With this type of populist pro-business platform they could blow the corrupt Fatah out of the water. Karl Rove will also go down in history as a successful political consultant for Hamas.
BTW, those who say that Palestinians can’t make it are anti-Palestinian bigoted racists.
“Karl Rove will also go down in history as a successful political consultant for Hamas.”
LOL!