Yesterday there were two posts on the recent report "A Last Chance For A Two-State Israel-Palestine Agreement: A Bipartisan Statement on U.S. Middle East Peacemaking"(pdf). Both Roger Cohen and Andrew Sullivan made reference to it, and it is reportedly on its way to the Obama administration. The report was created through Henry Siegman's U.S./Middle East Project and written by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Chuck Hagel, Lee H. Hamilton, Carla Hills, Nancy Kassebaum-Baker, Thomas R. Pickering, Brent Scowcroft, Theodore C. Sorensen, Paul A. Volcker and James D. Wolfensohn. Not a too shabby a lineup. If they can't budge U.S. policy, we might as well pack up shop.
The report is worth reading, but a few things stand out. First the time line, from the report:
Failure to act would prove extremely costly. It would not only undermine current efforts to weaken extremist groups, bolster our moderate allies and rally regional support to stabilize Iraq and contain Iran, but would also risk permanent loss of the two-state solution as settlements expand and become entrenched and extremists on both sides consolidate their hold. In short, the next six to twelve months may well represent the last chance for a fair, viable and lasting solution.
Emphasis mine. The clock is ticking, Obama, and you have the ball. It's no coincidence the Cohen's article on the report was titled "The Fierce Urgency of Peace." In the past few days it has appeared that the incoming Netanyahu government senses that the endgame is here, and it would seem that this distinguished panel would agree.
So, if this is true, what would stop the Obama administration from standing in the way? Rhetorical questions aside, they take this on as well:
Regardless of how the new administration organizes to deal with Arab-Israeli matters it will not avoid domestic political controversy. There are Jewish-American and Christian Zionist groups that feel comfortable amplifying the positions of Israeli politicians hostile to hard compromise and painful concession. At times the administration may take positions coordinated with an Israeli Prime Minister who may nevertheless feel unable, for domestic political reasons, to acknowledge his or her complicity. Moreover, there are virtually limitless ways in which actions and words emanating from Arab parties can make constructive American behavior look ridiculous. A disciplined American diplomatic approach can inadvertently yield bouts of domestic political unpleasantness that can spill over onto other priorities.
We do not, however, believe it is beyond the capability of any American President to explain to the American people why this long-running dispute must at long last be ended and why it will take much diplomatic heavy lifting and public expenditure to make it work. In the end the stakes are too high to pursue a hands-off or arm’s-length approach.
Translation: "The Israel lobby will try to stop you Mr. President, but it's time to put U.S. interest over short term electoral considerations and traditional alliances. You are the person to explain this to the American people." Is he up to the task? We'll see, but so far the signs are doubtful.And even if he is, can he move fast enough to make a difference?
This report ignores the question of what happen in a year when the window has closed – what next? There will be many questions on the table – postmortems of the failed plans of the past and new possibilities for the future. That thinking has already started and will continue this weekend in Boston at the conference "One State for Palestine/Israel: A Country for All Its Citizens?" I'll be there and will post reports – reports from the future.
As usual our illustrious leaders are trailing events on the ground. The time for a two state solution has already passed away, it's headstone is the 'security' wall.
could it be better that the two state solution fall apart? then the world will be forced to deal with it?
After the failure of the two state comes organized racial suppression, eviction and legal apartheid… well, actually, the continuation of racial suppression, eviction and legal apartheid.
So what is new? That the rest of the world finally realizes that there never was an Israeli partner for peace? It took 40 years for the obvious to become acknowledged?
It's been known for a long time. So what is the US gov't going to do, really? Same thing it always has done. Arm the powerful side, and try to minimize the blowback with words.
There is no "death of the two-state solution". It is just made continually more difficult until other solutions are more desirable.
Its odd to hear "realists" make statements about a political "death".
Even after Netanyahu's likely distortion, the two-state solution will be the only game in town, short of expulsion (a uniquely inhumane, stupid, and impossible effort).
I've written at length that very sadly, the stated political orientation of all of the western presenters at the conference originate in Palestinian nationalist and/or anti-Zionist orientation, and seem to rely on that same logic as the basis of their efforts.
That might be an early motivation of some proponents, but retaining that motivation as organizing thesis, will doom the effort. The REALITY is that the people's think of themselves as separate nations, NOT as a single one.
There are prominent multi-cultural cities (Haifa, Beersheba), where acceptance of the other is the norm, and racial or politically motivated hatred of the other is the rare exception.
There are other prominent ultra-nationalist areas though in Israel and in Palestine.
To achieve a single-state REQUIRES a very high level of confidence in civility, to enact. That is the SAME requirement as is needed for a viable two-state solution.
And, it is the same characteristic that militants (opportunists) contest and defame as "collaborator" or "coward".
could it be better that the two state solution fall apart? then the world will be forced to deal with it?
I can't see this happening any other way. The pro-Israeli insistence on relying on their negative exceptionalist narrative to explain the world will see this new bout of pressure in a long succession of "unjustified" and "hateful" attacks. They'll retreat back into a siege mentality where history is rewritten into the collective memory as a black-and-white struggle, with Israeli heroes and ____ villains. Israelis will ultimately be the victims in this negativist exceptionalist self identification. Any act of aggression will ultimately be the fault of 'enemies' who force this 'reaction.' "Its Hamas' fault we bombed Gaza. Israelis collectively are ultimately victims in this." The bias of this collective memory won't allow for compromises with this black-and-white view of the enemy whether its the Palestinians, Arabs, or some hypothetical pressure from the United States.
Until this negativist exceptionalist world-view changes, and the whole victim narrative is dropped, I don't see compromise.
i know it has been said before, but this whole "big lie" of the israeli narrative is just so stalinist. is there a reason for this? take it away, joachim.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of the conference this weekend, hopefully a more proactive rhetoric and international solidarity. Virginia Tilley has a really good post here:
The one-state solution is not a ‘dream’. It is the only hope for real peace but it is also the grim reality we already face. The Israeli government knows this full well and also knows that the two-state façade is cracking. We see the bloody consequences of that knowledge in Gaza, where Israel deliberately created mayhem partly to derail Hamas and distract the world from the increasing transparency of the two-state lie. So there is nothing ‘utopian’ about this one-state reality.
Zbigniew Brzezinski … a "luminary"? Why, because he has such a great track record, while working for "history's greatest monster," in Iran and Afghanistan in the late '70s?
What this report represents is the REAL clash of civilizations. Not between Islam and Christianity, but between Jews and Gentiles. The establishment is starting to fight back.
the two state solution is a fig leaf…
"What this report represents is the REAL clash of civilizations. Not between Islam and Christianity, but between Jews and Gentiles."
No wonder David Duke and Stormfront love this site. Their brethren are here.
Anyway…leftist fringe goons so badly want to believe this nonsense. Then become enraged at being marginalized and poked fun of.
You're easy game, people. Really.
@Suzanne No wonder David Duke and Stormfront love this site. Their brethren are here.
Hasbara Manual, page 32-33:
Name Calling
Through the careful choice of words, the name calling technique links a person or an idea to a negative symbol. Creating negative connotations by name calling is done to try and get the audience to reject a person or idea on the basis of negative associations, without allowing a real examination of that person or idea. The most obvious example is name calling — "they are a neo-Nazi group" tends to sound pretty negative to most people.
oh my freaking gawd…I've been busted! I thought my secret agent activities were well concealed. But that brilliant Hasbara is on the case. Now I have to come up with another plot! pfffffttttt!
BTW–that link Adam posted regarding the Boston event is hilarious. Check out the maps and agenda etc on the home site.
By all appearances a barely concealed movement to create one state, rename it Palestine, and ruin the infrastructure and culture of Israel.
Meeting to be held at a opium den in Boston's illustrious Chinatown. Make sure to go for Dim Sum at China Pearl. Excellent! :-)
Suzanne, being sarcastic at your own expense is not a good move, rhetorically speaking,
You said it, Suzanne.
For Obama and the United States to play the role required of it to broker peace, the power of the Neocon/ADL/CAMERA coalition to smear words and actions as "Anti-Semitic" that in truth are only "Anti" the worst of the Israeli settler racist/land grab movement, must be broken. Abe Foxman revealed himself recently as an apologist for racist nationalism, just as Dershowitz has gone on record apologizing for ethnic cleansing. Yet their power to shut down debate by appealing to the public's sense of justice and fairness against AntiSemites is not yet broken. Harvard is Dershowitz's platform. ADL is a tax exempt charity. Until national media, Congresspersons, and administration officials can, in relaxed state, dismiss such charges as "of course, employing definitions of Anti-Semitism conveniently and unfairly reconstructed to include opposition to violent and racist Zionist policies," progress will be difficult. It is the acceptance and tolerance of these convenient and unfair word games by those in the know, without protest, that enables them, and that prevents progress. Their power will eventually be broken.
Holy Hasbara! what was I thinking? The REAL movers and shakers are watching my every move.
I blew it for Judaism, Israel, and the Jewish Telepathic Association to Transmit Mind Messages to Obama.
Kill me now! haha!
Suzanne's response was a nice mixture of No.3 (You Suck!) and No.4 (The World Sucks). Fact is, yiou will be seeing Nos. 3 and 4 quite frequently now, as Nos. 1 and 2 are pretty well played out.
See: link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com
No need to write paragraphs, when a simple 1-4 numbering will do. Hell, it's much simpler than the menu in your favorite Chinese restaurant.
Mooser –what number in YOUR rule book is:
Obama and Bill Cosby suck for talking about the responsibilities of fatherhood?
You have rather fucked up priorities. But hey…you ARE consistent. :-)
There is no one here that can "know" that the two-state solution is dead or even if it will be dead in 1 year. That goes for the authors of that letter. I happen to believe that it is no longer possible but if enough of the major actors believe otherwise then maybe they can make it happen. Certainly what I believe is irrelevant to the process. However, I also think we should back Obama in any effort right now to pursue a two-state solution. Also with the one year deadline (otherwise that will leave the Israelis free to delay for another few decades).
As someone said above, at least movement towards a serious one state solution can begin if all the major players realize two states are dead.
I don't get it, Hasbara — LD, Ryker and others use name-calling consistently (heck, who doesn't on this blog?) — and yet it's only a sinister/subversive if a Zionist does it?
Also, I don't see how Suzanne's comment was out of line (other than it doesn't comport to your views): a lot of what is posted here parallels what you find on Stormfront and other like-minded sites. Go view it for yourself. Or, if you're lazy, I can cut and paste (or link to) some of their comments. Does that make you guys racist? Not necessarily, but I'm surprised it doesn't make you uncomfortable to find that you share the same bed with those guys … unless you're one of them?
@ Shirazi:
"a lot of what is posted here parallels what you find on Stormfront and other like-minded sites."
Context dear, that's what makes the difference here. If you do find 'parallels' between some of what's said on Stormfront (et al) and some of what's said here, you should read the entire commentary on these sites. My experience there (playing hardball with these idiots can be fun) is that most of them don't give a rat's arse about the I/P conflict: Arabs are "non-Aryan" too.
No doubt there's the odd anti-Semite showing up here, as well as a few false flags. Phil should moderate better.
Hasbara put it very well.
Shirazi
Do a search on mondoweiss (or Phil Weiss) and stormfront or david duke. See what comes up. They luvvvvvv him. :-)
"As someone said above, at least movement towards a serious one state solution can begin if all the major players realize two states are dead."
If a two-state solution fails, the next stop is absorption of the territories by Jordan & Egypt.
The problem is, no one wants that hot potato called Palestine. They are about as popular as chicken pox.
Suzanne's response was a nice mixture of No.3 (You Suck!) and No.4 (The World Sucks).
I love the number four. But were does the ladies standard line: They are losers, fit into your combination? From an onlooker's perspective it seems to be recurring and effective.
Orwell's nationalism essay mentioned by Phil's historian friend seems to fit into this perception. Life, and/or ideological or national fights seem to be all about winning and losing.
Not only in her case the theme is central.
No need to write paragraphs, when a simple 1-4 numbering will do. Hell, it's much simpler than the menu in your favorite Chinese restaurant.
not really, repetition/memorizing is central in learning.
David Duke would also like Norman Finkelstein's book The Holocaust Industry.
But Norman has never revised the Holocaust and both his parents were victims of it.
You can't help that.
Only dishonest trolls like Suzanne would imply that Phil is a Nazi because a Nazi found some truth in his blog.
Furthermore, Zionists like Suzanne and Shirazi are just as disgusting as the people on Stormfront.
Shirazi keeps up this act like we're so out of line by cursing. Well, we understand your commentary just fine, Shirazi. In fact, we understand it well enough to react to it, rather than ignore it.
You may not talk like a sailor, sure. But you're dishonest. Thats far worse.
Let's just agree on this right now. Some of us (me for sure) swear. Deal with it and stop bringing it up every single time you get called out on your bullshit to divert attention away from the fact that you got clowned on.
Suzanne, speaks of Palestinians as if they were Jews!
I recall Jews being turned down for safe passage and shelter once.
Look at this pig fucker talk about the Palestinians in the SAME exact way as those cowards did back then, refusing to shelter the Jews.
Who is the Nazi now? You're human filth.
If a two-state solution fails, the next stop is absorption of the territories by Jordan & Egypt.
The problem is, no one wants that hot potato called Palestine. They are about as popular as chicken pox.
Posted by: Suzanne
Israelis have been talking about this since 1975 (when I first heard it). It is just not going to happen. big period. Not going to happen. You, Berel and Julian can wish for it to happen all you want, but not going to happen.
Of course Israel could drive the Palestinians forcibly and turn them de fact into citizens of Jordan and Egypt. But that is called the ethnic transfer option — should Israel try it the entire world and the US would put sanctions on Israel that would completely strangle here economy. Israel's leaders know this so the ethnic transfer option is also not going to happen.
The choices are one or two states. Get used to it.
syvanen's got a point. The one year window seems about right for the 2-state solution, given the latest USA & Israeli regimes configuration and moves so far.
The one-state solution isn't going to come with equal rights. It's not going to be a solution at all.
It will lead from the pretense of "peace negotiations" with bantustans to, wait for it…. "rights" negotiations with second class citizens.
And in forty years, if there isn't a successful Boycott, people will "discover" that the rights are (surprise surprise) still not equal!
Whether David Duke likes, links to, or wipes his ass with any given thing is utterly irrelevant.
Syvanen–Get with the program. I'm not talking physical transfer or forced movement of Arabs out of the territories…but rather Jordanian and Egyptian dominion over the territories.
Or rather, autonomous rule in the territories as part of a larger confederacy.
The snag there is that the Jordanians and Egyptians don't want the headache of absorbing the territories and inheriting a bunch of Palestinians (guess they are personae non grata?).
Someone needs to sweeten the deal for them. :-)
maybe you could offer them your ass, Suzanne.
I mean, seriously; it makes sense — you write like a slut, you think like a slut, you might as well make yourself useful the way a slut does — by peddling your ass for the cause.
The Americans can foot the cost of the bribe for what amounts to transfer–after all they are doing so well, the vast majority of them. Or just double up on the annual foreign aid to Israel & let Israel get the credit, good for tweaking hearts and mind sets.
But Rowan, if Suzanne did that, how could she speak?
lol@Rowbutt!
He's all messed up because I won't play along in his cyber fantasy. waaahhhhhhhhh!
(is it time for another Rowan meltdown?)
Suzanne rather engage in her own cyber fantasy–she could care less the real lives involved. That's just her lame romantic nature.
Suzanne, you already are my "cyber fantasy" of you. You don't need to add a thing. Just go on being the deliciously awful slut you are.