Bruce Wolman writes:
The indefatigable Helena Cobban has an important posting on her 'Just World News' web site this morning. She picks up on a report from Ha'aretz's Bradley Burston yesterday headlined, "Loving Israel by hating Obama" that says that settlers are prepared to destroy Palestinian land in response to pressure from Obama:
This month, as the American president visited the Middle East, the fashion [of expressing love of Israel by reviling Obama] turned ugly. On the Sabbath, Israeli television viewers were treated to the recorded-on-a-weekday observations of Arele, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron, grinning as he watched the progress of an arson fire burning Palestinian land near the Gilad Farm, an icon of the outlaw outpost movement.
Asked by Israel Channel Two Television reporter Shai Gal what would happen if Israeli forces tried to evacuate Havat Gilad, Arele replied, "At most, they'll demolish one measly shack, so they'll have something to show – that Kushon [a Hebrew slur equivalent to the "N" word] in the United States, in order to have an Etnan [the biblical term for a fee paid to a prostitute] to give him – if you [secular] guys know what an Etnan is."
According to Arele, the fire, in this instance a form of pre-emptive revenge, was the price tag Palestinians would be forced to pay each time Obama pressed Israel to "touch any settlement of any kind, any place in Judea and Samaria."
"This last point is very important," stresses Cobban. Palestinians on the West Bank are to be exposed to "pre-emptive revenge" for the settlement demands on Israel being called for from President Obama. The Palestinians "urgently need protection from this violence."
Cobban asks,
Can the very numerous Palestinian "security forces" who have been trained and armed by the US do anything to provide it – or are they too busy trying to suppress internal political opposition to Ramallastan in an attempt to help Abu Mazen "protect" the settlers?
It is not very often on this site that we ask readers to contact their Representatives or the White House, or maybe even Rahm Emanuel's office. But this may be the special case. Is the United States going to do anything to protect Palestinians from being harmed as revenge for the foreign policy decisions of the Obama administration?
As an aside, I was about to write on Glenn Kessler's heart to Dennis Ross this morning in the Washington Post, but again Ms. Cobban beat me to the punch. Check it out. It's amazing to what extent WaPo will protect a man that has completely failed at every peace process he ever directed.
