Tainted Saints

The current holder of the rotating European Union presidency, Sweden, has put together a draft document calling for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state and implying that the EU would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood.

Haaretz has obtained a copy of the document (below) that has sparked criticism by Israel, which claims that such a move would further harm the chances of renewing the Mideast peace process.  [more...]

Tom Friedman [on Sunday had] some very harsh words for both the Israelis and Palestinians, both of whom — he claims — are not serious about reaching a peace agreement.  As a result, these are the principles which Friedman — rather surprisingly — advocates the U.S. should follow:

Let’s just get out of the picture. Let all these leaders stand in front of their own people and tell them the truth: “My fellow citizens: Nothing is happening; nothing is going to happen. It’s just you and me and the problem we own.”

Indeed, it’s time for us to dust off James Baker’s line: “When you’re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.” . . .

If the status quo is this tolerable for the parties, then I say, let them enjoy it. I just don’t want to subsidize it or anesthetize it anymore. We need to fix America. If and when they get serious, they’ll find us.

[more...]

 The US has called for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible and without preconditions, an apparent climbdown on earlier demands for Israel to halt settlement building.

The settlement issue should be considered as part of peace negotiations, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said at a news conference in Jerusalem late on Saturday.

Dozens of people have been wounded in clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians in and around the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a flashpoint site  holy to Muslims and Jews.

The Red Crescent emergency service said at least 18 Palestinians were wounded in the violence on Sunday.

At least three officers were also hurt in the fighting, Israeli police said.

The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprising al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock…

Some [Arabs] have told me that the US talks a good game about international law and human rights, but when a report emerges chaired by one of the world’s most respected, leading human rights and war crimes jurists, America goes the realpolitik course and embraces Israel no matter its behavior.

Read entire article…

This year has seen a dramatic shift in American Jews’ attitudes toward Israel. In January many liberal Jews were shocked by the Gaza war, in which Israel used overwhelming force against a mostly defenseless civilian population unable to flee. Then came the rise to power of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose explicitly anti-Arab platform was at odds with an American Jewish electorate that had just voted 4 to 1 for a minority president. Throw in angry Israelis writing about the “rot in the Diaspora,” and it’s little wonder young American Jews feel increasingly indifferent about a country that has been at the center of Jewish identity for four decades.

Read entire article here…

After weeks of attempted suppression of the U.N.’s Goldstone report by the U.S., Israel, and Western Europe, the Human Rights council finally agreed to refer the findings to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague if Israel and Hamas don’t conduce credible investigations in 6 months. Such a referral could result in individual members of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) being charged with war crimes.

Given the horrors committed against the Jewish people in the name of “racial purity”, anti-miscegenation and Israel shouldn’t even be uttered in the same sentence. Unless it’s in condemnation…

“Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, reopened today after a long break for the summer and the Jewish holidays. In line with protocol, Israel’s president opened the winter session and Shimon Peres had this to say on the linkage between reaching peace with the Palestinians and addressing the Iran issue:

In my opinion, if we move forwards with peace and make peace with the Palestinians, and if we start negotiations with Syria and Lebanon, we will remove the main pretext for the Iranian madness – against us and against the other residents of this region. (President Peres, October 12th in the Israeli Knesset).

Now Mr. Peres is in reality not exactly the dove he is portrayed to be (he authorized many of the settlements, he supported Israel’s recent wars with Lebanon and Gaza, and he never really earned his own Nobel peace prize), but this was nonetheless an interesting acknowledgment of the linkage from Israel’s head of state – and it seems to directly contradict the messaging coming from Israel’s ambassador to Washington D.C., Michael Oren…”