Obama welcomed the Netanyahu speech:
"The president welcomes the important step forward in Prime
Minister Netanyahu's speech," said White House press secretary Robert
Gibbs. "The president is committed to two states, a Jewish state of
Israel and an independent Palestine, in the historic homeland of both
peoples."
President Barack Obama "believes this solution can and must ensure
both Israel's security and the fulfillment of the Palestinians'
legitimate aspirations for a viable state, and he welcomes Prime
Minister Netanyahu's endorsement of that goal," Gibbs added.
Akiva Eldar called it a colonialist speech:
Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a patriarchal,
colonialist address in the best neoconservative tradition: The Arabs
are the bad guys, or at best ungrateful terrorists; the Jews, of
course, are the good guys, rational people who need to raise and care
for their children. In the West Bank settlement of Itamar, they're even
building a nursery school.No empathy for the refugees from Jaffa who lost their entire world,
not a word for the Muslim connection to Jerusalem neither a fragment
of a quote from the Koran, nor a line of Arabic poetry.
Benjamin Hartman's blog at Haaretz makes a similar point:
The speech was like a nod to the old pre-intifada way of looking at the Palestinians, but at the same time mentioning two states.
It seemed to be no to dividing Jerusalem, no to the return of refugees or an independent state and no to a real settlement freeze. But you'll be well-off and taken care of.
I think Netanyahu has make it pretty clear that he will toe the line of his coalition and won't make any big concessions.
Helena Cobban is more optimistic:
This is, of course, only this Israeli leader's opening position in what I hope will be a speedy and successful negotiation. It is one that keeps his hard-line coalition intact and pays a nod to Washington on the two-state question, while Bibi is continuing to dig his heels in hard on the settlement issue.
…
His concession on a Palestinian "state" is still extremely paltry. Worth giving a small welcome to, I suppose. But let us never forget that Bophuthatswana and its like were also, back in the day, described by Pretoria (and significantly also by Israel), as "states."The term means nothing unless the state has real powers to determine its own policies…
So now we've gotten Bibi to say the S-word, Obama should push as fast as possible to secure a final-status peace in which the issues of Jerusalem, final borders, and refugees are all finally resolved. This S-word– like S-for-settlements S-word– is only a very preliminary step on the way.
I'd note that Netanyahu's speech had a nationalist character, mentioning the right of the "Jewish people" a dozen times, and their right to a state or homeland in the Holy Land. Meantime, he described the Palestinians as virtual interlopers:
–"a Jewish homeland for the Jewish People, [said] Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the State of Israel"
–"the right of the Jewish People to its own state in its historical homeland."–"The State of Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish People and will remain so."
–"We recognize the right of the Jewish People to a state its own in this Land."
–"The fundamental condition for ending the conflict is the public,
binding and sincere Palestinian recognition of Israel as the national
homeland of the Jewish People."
–"the demand to settle the Palestinian refugees inside of Israel,
contradicts the continued existence of the State of Israel as the state
of the Jewish People."
–"The connection of the Jewish People to the Land has been in existence for more than 3,500 years."
–"The right of the Jewish People to a state in the Land of Israel does
not arise from the series of disasters that befell the Jewish People"
–"The tragedies that arose from the Jewish People's helplessness show very sharply that we need a protective state."
–"Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People."
–"The truth is that in the area of our homeland, in the heart of our
Jewish Homeland, now lives a large population of Palestinians."
–"Palestinians must truly recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people."
–"if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state…"
In Followup (II): Origins of Modern Jewry, I discuss the falseness of the Zionist concepts that pervaded Netanyahu's speech. How does one know a Zionist is lying? Just check whether he is breathing.
Zionism kills
The Islamic State of Iran is currently subjugating its own people. (it has for 30 years now, but perhaps today you will actually take notice)… can you connect the dots and understand that Israel lives in a neighborhood of thugs, is in a constant state of existential threat…? just kidding— i know that for the readers of this website (excepting the few readers like me who read this for a laugh), israel exists in a vacuum…
I'm VERY happy with Netanyahu saying that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. The only negative statement would be any implication that it is the home of only the Jewish people. He was careful not to say that directly.
The doomed zionist state of israel was established by thugs who stole what did not belong to them. If given a choice as an American of European ancestors, I would fight against the zionist pigs. They live by a fairytale fantasy belief that they are Gods chosen people, superior to all others and above the law. The zionist jews are a curse on the world. The only way to deal with these murdering thugs is to use violence because they will not negotiate in good faith, and will, as long as they are allowed by the international community, continue to rule with an apartheid iron fist.
OT Pentagon analyst who leaked info has sentence reduced June 12, 2009 http://jta.org/news/article/2009/06/12/1005836/fr...
The following appeared in the Arab News on 05 May 2008: Are We Witnessing the Death of Israel by a Thousand Cuts? Jonathan Power, jonatpower@aol.com Even Jimmy Carter, who single handedly (without much Jewish appreciation) has done more to make Israel secure than any other living person, can’t change the march of demographics. Within the boundaries of the State of Israel and the occupied territories there are 5.4 million Jews and 4.6 million Palestinians. The Palestinian birth rate is almost three times that of the Israeli Jews. If anything the Jewish population is starting to fall as an increasing number of Jews decide that Israel has no future for them and in significant numbers emigrate. The far seeing Richard Nixon, when asked by Patrick Buchanan and his wife, how he saw the future of Israel, turned down his thumb “like a Roman emperor at the gladiators’ arena”.
Perhaps we are witnessing the death of Israel by a thousand cuts, the attrition of conflict and the attrition of population. Maybe after all the rabbis of Vienna who were sent in 1897 on a fact-finding mission to Palestine to investigate whether it was a suitable place for Jewish settlement were right. They reported back that the “bride was beautiful but married to another man.” The rabbis had been moved to visit Palestine by Theodore Herzl, an Austrian journalist, who had just published his highly influential book, “The Jewish State”, which launched the movement called “political Zionism”.
"Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People" is no different than saying The Roman Empire is the birthplace of the American people. So the-fuck-what? That means we're entitled to Europe?
Herzl, a broad minded man, was happy to think of the new Israel in Argentina which had a considerable Jewish migration in the 19th century and was well away from the clutches of anti-Semitic Europe. He was also inclined to accept the offer of Joseph Chamberlain, then the British colonial secretary, for a site on the Uasin Gishu plateau near Nairobi in what was then British East Africa. The Zionist Conference overruled him. But when the British government finally gave in to Zionist lobbying and, in the words, of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, favored “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” the only Jewish member of the Cabinet, Edwin Samuel Montague, denounced the whole project as a reconstruction of the tower of Babel. “Palestine”, he said, “would become the world’s ghetto”. Lord Curzon, the former viceroy of India, observed that Britain had “a stronger claim to parts of France” than the Jews did to Palestine after two millennia of absence. He denounced it as an act of “sentimental idealism”.
There are few rewards in this life for being farsighted on political questions. The Zionists still have the bit between their teeth on the creation of a permanent Jewish state, even as they face self-destruction. A few perhaps can see it coming and among the few is the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. In an interview last November he said, “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories) then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished.” For the Zionist this would be a terrible end. But need it be for rank and file Jews who just want to bring up their families and live in an atmosphere emptied of violence? (Read Israeli novelist Shifra Horn’s book, “Ode to Joy” if you want to smell the cordite and sense deep in the soul their everyday fear of being blown up.)
Not a vacuum, a fantasy
But unmistakably this is the direction events and demographics are moving and arguably the best thing that outsiders can now do for Israel is to stop trying to help organize the creation of a two-state solution and let the Israelis themselves look the Palestinians in the eye as the demographics bite. If the white South Africans can do it so can the Israelis. If this were the solution the Israelis would find that the only thing that most Palestinians would now want is a prosperous, capitalist economy that lives in peace with its neighbors. The Jews would not be driven into the sea. But those who wanted to return to Europe, America or even Russia would be more than welcome. Both Germany and Russia, the great centers of anti-Semitism in the past, have seemed to have flushed that horror away. Life does move on. Some problems, like apartheid, do get solved, even if not very long ago they seemed intractable.
The Jews should never have tried to turn back the historical clock by returning to Palestine after fleeing in AD 70. But now they are there in such significant numbers their only solution is to honor the rest of the text of the Balfour Declaration. “Nothing should be done that may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, it said. This was the British condition. The Israelis overlook it today at their peril. The link: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&...
If we look at it from the perspective of the jew trying to grow a jewish state in a land where the majority of the population is non jewish, one can grasp the desperation of the jew trying to play the victim while stealing the land of and murdering their neighbors. The whole zionist state in the land of Palestine is a failed experiment in "Modern Colonization"! The world has awakened to the fact that the jew is not a God chosen people superior to all others and above the law. The future is bleak for those that believe they can steal that which belongs to another in the name of God.
The "Jewish" State can't even abide by Jewish law.
But he did say it indirectly. he didn't have to add "only" because those who needed to understand, did. Israel was conceived as A home for the jewish people. meaning they should learn and share with others for whom it is also a home. After all, Israel is also the homeland for the Palestinian people. Strangely enough, without the Plaestinians, there is no legitimacy for the jewish israelis since they so many of them are not really jewish as to make the concept of a "Jewish" state a joke. Therefore it should suffice for the palestinians to recognize that jews (ie, those who wish to define themselves as such) have a right to live in israel too, just as christians do (who descend from the jews anyways). And of course, palestinian arabs who live there now (who also descend from the jews). Thus the Palestinians now in the west bank and gaza can recognize israel as a REAL state with the right – and prerogative – to coexist with its neighbours. hey Witty – how about agreeing that israel is a homeland for REAL jewish people instead? As defined, by — say, you and me?
This tidbit was endearing: "Territorial withdrawals have not lessened the hatred, and to our regret, Palestinian moderates are not yet ready to say the simple words: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and it will stay that way." Those goddam Palestinians! Why can't we get Dahlan in charge, he's willing to collaborate against his own people??
Except The Roman Empire is not the birthplace of the American people. That is why you are not entitled to the Roman Empire.
This week has shown us antisemites from the right (Holocaust museum attacker ). And antisemites from the left (most responders to these blog)
So the *Italians* are entitled to Europe. Most of it, anyway. As I said elsewhere, no sane, modern person, can take this 2000 year old birthright nonsense seriously.
Have you looked at news from South Africa since the fall of apartheid? The country has one of the highest murder and rape rates in the world. Anyone with money hides in a gated community, and the cities are falling apart. I do not think a single state solution in Israel/Palestine would resemble modern South Africa at all. I would never wish such a fate upon the Israelis. (As it is, I don't care whether they choose one or two states, as long as the solution provides for a lasting peace.)
It was the thugs from your area who created a Iran that is now trying to find itself again. Thanx to years of meddling in the area by western and European countries where you likely came from, that the whole Mid East is in turmoil. Isarel will always be in a constant state of existential threat, a thief never sleeps at night.
Actually the silent genocide of white farmers has been going on since 1994; interestingly, one never hears about it in the MSM of majority white countries: http://iluvsa.blogspot.com/2009/05/silent-genocid...
Jews returning to Poland in large numbers will not be welcome. Not today and not in the nearest future. The perception that "they" do not have Polish interests at heart, have no interest in integration, and that their loyalty (at best) is split permeates Polish society. Combine that with racism on both sides and with the rabid anti-polish sentiment frequently vented by sizable portion of Israeli public and frequently reported in polish media, and you have troubled combination. But it is not set in stone. There is explosion of happenings in Poland that celebrate Jewish culture. Let this culture permeate and combine with Polish culture until they are intergrated in hearts and minds of a new generation and positive pictures overcome ugly stereotypes.
I find it interesting that he has largely avoided talking about the Holocaust being as the primary event behind the creation of Israel, and that he prefers to concentrate on the Biblical narrative of things…He must be depending more on Zionist Christian support in America than on the Obama administration's support….
It's singular not plural from the right. A propos that attack: Am I the only one that feels that this attack, disgusting as it was, has been distastefully highjacked to further Israeli agenda in USA?
When I was working in Poland in the 90s, I often ran into people that associated Jews with Communism and the threat from the East. Consciously or unconsciously the memory of Trotsky leading the Red Army against Warsaw still seemed alive
RE: "subjugating its own people…it has for 30 years now" My comment: ONLY 30 years? So the Shah (with an assist from the U.S. and the U.K.) did not subjugate the Iranian people?
RE: "The Zionists still have the bit between their teeth on the creation of a permanent Jewish state, even as they face self-destruction." FROM KAFKA: " …Everyone has his sharp-toothed sleep-destroying devil inside him, and this is neither good nor bad, but is life. If one did not have him, one would not live. What you curse in yourself, therefore, is your life. This devil is the material (and basically what wonderful material) that you have been endowed with and with which you are supposed to make something. When you worked on the land that was to my knowledge no escape but rather you drove your devil out there like a cow who up to now had grazed in the streets of Teplitz and was now to graze in better pastures. In Prague we have this statue of a saint on the Charles Bridge, and on its base is a relief that tells your story. The saint is plowing a field, with a devil hitched to the plow. The devil is still furious (which marks a transitional phase; until the devil himself is pacified, the victory is not won), gnashes his teeth, looks back malignantly at his master, and tenses his tail, but he is still forced under the yoke…" SOURCE – http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/you...