Palestinian P.M. Salam Fayyad spoke at the American Task Force for Palestine in D.C., Haaretz reports, and said all he wants is a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, but now is not the right time to negotiate. But he opened the door on a different future:
“All we Palestinians are looking for is viable sovereign state on 22% of the land,” Fayyad said. “That’s what we want. All we want is freedom from Israel, not freedom to vote in Israel. That’s what we really want. If it doesn’t happen who can prevent it from becoming a struggle for equal voting rights [for Palestinians in Israel and Palestine]?
A friend gets at the political truth here: If it becomes a movement to gain voting rights, for adult human beings governed by a sovereignty that won’t let them vote, it is hard to see how Europe and the United States could associate themselves with that denial. The aberration would be too gross. Voices held back till then would say: “How can we support this in view of our own history?”
Im sure the “voting rights are a ploy to take power and throw the Jews into the Sea” campaign will be very, very intense.
Can’t wait.
They need to rid themselves of all these un elected officials running the show, (new fresh young ideas) not the puppeteers whom were not elected.
and demand for all west bank through to gaza be border extending out to the sea, which means all the money made from the illegal stealing of natural gas is paid back by the occupation which was not a democratic state when it took hold originally and should not be mistaken for a democratic state now. This is just an extention of the usaipac
They won’t be able to.
Yet, conservative Israelis feel that even if East Jerusalem is developed in Jewish settlements to the extent that East Jerusalem is no longer a viable Palestinian capital or even part of a Palestinian state, that the world and Palestinians will more or less accept that.
Conservative Israelis believe that the world and Palestinians will accept a limited and very maze-like Palestinian sovereignty.
The task to convey the relevance of the voting issue, is to firm up the understanding that the land is either divided at the green line at a viable Palestinian sovereignty basis, or one whole.
The inclusion of Gaza in that whole is difficult, as it is not in river to sea annexed West Bank, and NOT on international maps of Israel/Palestine, nor in the British mandate of Palestine, instead in Egypt.
Likud ambassador Michael Oren wrote about the possibility of a single state from river to sea, but only included West Bank and Israel in that formulation, not Gaza.
Even after agitation for one-person one-vote, there will be enough civil conflict to suggest partition again, and then after partition, the need for trade and cross-border transit will suggest the need for a federation of states affording free movement and even inter-state residence.
All ironies, but all stopped by likud.
It is important to SUPPORT the PA in its efforts for sovereignty. If not supported, the argument “we tried, but look what happened” will get very diluted and dismissed.
The advantage of a disciplined and coherent political strategy, is that those arguments can be successfully made.
The simultaneous agitation for BDS accompanied by single state advocacy, before sincerely unifying behind the PA efforts for a UN petition, and then negotiated viable settlement with Israel, is one of the diluting and dismissed approaches.
Subjectively, it is frustrating for Palestinians to pursue sovereignty and have it be always kept away. But, objective considerations will be the measure of international support, in the environment of rationally confusing assertions.
So, where there still is a potentially viable transit path around the settlement blocs (even if incorporated into Israel), then objectively the viability of Palestine is not dead.
How can the USA and EU support the denial of democracy? How not!
The USA and EU can associate themselves with the denial, sillies, as they’ve always associated themselves with the denial of democracy — by DENIAL. And DOWN-THE-MEMORY-HOLE.
Where do you see the USA MSM telling Americans that West Bank and Gaza Palestinians should be allowed to vote, but cannot? When did you last see them tell the stirring, uplifting story of the USA and Israel killing off the elected government after HAMAS won the election (and Israel arresting and imprisoning so many of the HAMAS legislators)? This is a really great story of American love of democracy, but it is the greatest story never told. remember USA loving Gaddafi and his torturers? See it in MSM?
USA has no trouble sweeping inconveniences under the rug, off the map, into prison w/o charge or trial, out of life w/o c-or-t, etc.
This is not a problem, Trust me.
I think nobody knows what the next 5 years are going to bring. Things could start falling apart . The economic system is broken and the political consequences are unknowable.
I wouldn’t move to Israel.