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Pro-Israel thinktanks comprise Congressional panel on Palestinian politics

And this is how Congress discusses Palestine: three Israel lobbyists on a panel that says Palestinian reconciliation threatens peace. Apartheid in D.C.; do Palestinians ever get a voice? No: “Edward Said wrote about this. How Zionism requires the effacement of Palestinian presence in order to succeed.” From House Foreign Affairs:

Subcommittee Hearing: The Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation: Threatening Peace Prospects

Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa 

Feb 5, 2013 10:00am

Witnesses Matthew Levitt, Ph.D. Director Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Michael Rubin, Ph.D.

Resident Scholar American Enterprise Institute

Mr. David Makovsky Director Project on the Middle East Peace Process

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

As Issandr el Amrani says,

So first, frame Palestinian reconciliation as a BAD THING even if it seems peace is pretty unlikely if the Palestinians are divided. Second, only invite Jewish experts from pro-Israel think tanks and advocacy groups. Third, whatever you do, don’t invite Palestinians. Got it? Good.

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I don’t think the US has to support Hamas or any other party. We could just mind our own business for a change. Hamas doesn’t intend to respect the rights of others in their own society any more than the Muslim Brotherhood next door. Both have imposed unpopular laws and constitutional measures on their fellow citizens.

At the same time, there’s nothing to be gained by trying to disenfranchise anyone or continuing to meddle in the domestic affairs of another state in violation of our UN Charter commitments. Hamas deserves to be represented on a proportional basis in the PLO and government of the State of Palestine and to hold the top offices, if that’s what the voters decide at the polls.

Absolute charade. So there will be an entirely worthless committee meeting which will issue a report already drawn up in Tel Aviv. When will Americans get a say in who gets on these rigged panels?

The committee also includes Ros-lehtinen, the spear carrier for the Lobby, and Eliot Engle, democrats ranking member. I just sent a note to Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, expressing my misgivings of the objectivity of the panel and the suggestion that a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah would constitute a threat to the state if Israel.
I will also call the L.A. Times this morning for their failure to mention the U.N. Human Rights Commission’s decision to demand settlement construction to cease and withdrawal and withdrawal from the Occupied Territorities, as well as Israel’s unprecedented decision to withdraw from the Commission. (Algemeiner, a pro-Israel blog claimed that it would amount to ethnic cleansing if the settlers were forced to leave???)
We are witnessing a time in our nations’ history similar to the McCarthy era when threats, intimidation, and powerful groups like AIPAC et. al rule the day. We are in need of a Joseph Welsh, who called out McCarthy on national television.

RE: “And this is how Congress discusses Palestine: three
Israel lobbyists on a panel that says Palestinian reconciliation threatens peace.
~ Weiss

MY COMMENT: And yet, the hasbarists frequently say that one of the reasons their is no peace agreement is because the Palestinians are so divided! ! !

thinktank reminds of this
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Tears