Het is ook hier een bekend fenomeen: een Palestijnse staat is de oplossing voor alle problemen in de wereld. Onrust in het Midden-Oosten, dreiging van Iran, spanningen tussen de islam en het Westen, antisemitisme, islamofobie, radikalisering, steun voor Wilders, you name it: een Palestijnse staat zorgt voor stabiliteit, maakt een einde aan Arabische onvrede, aan anti-Westerse sentimenten in het Midden-Oosten en elders, aan anti-Israel sentimenten en acties, en zal zorgen voor een welvarend Midden-Oosten dat vervolgens een lichtend voorbeeld zal zijn voor de hele wereld. Er is echter een vervelend obstakel dat die staat al meer dan 60 jaar verhindert en dat heet Israel.
In werkelijkheid is de kans behoorlijk groot dat een Palestijnse staat autocratisch bestuurd zal worden (zoals tot nu toe alle landen in het Midden-Oosten behalve Israel en Libanon) en een behoorlijke portie islam zal kennen. Hamas en Fatah zijn beide corrupt, verheerlijken geweld tegen Israelische burgers en verspreiden antisemitische propaganda. Er moet natuurlijk wel een Palestijnse staat komen, maar er is wel wat voor nodig om te zorgen dat die niet door extremisten gekaapt zal worden en de regio niet verder zal destabiliseren. Westerse druk op (en eisen aan) de Palestijnen bijvoorbeeld.
RP
--------
Friday, March 04, 2011
Great report from the J Street conference
Wonderful insights from Z-Street's Lori Lowenthal Marcus:
Psychologists teach that an obsession is "a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling." There is a persistent theme on J Street: a Palestinian State must be created RIGHT NOW ("PSRN"), and it's almost as if there is a complete memory block about the refusals of varying forms of the state, including the original offer by the United Nations of yet another Arab State in 1947.
That PSRN is J Street's obsession is revealed by the fact that unanimity on that "solution" co-exists with radical disagreement about the nature of the problem. Here's an abbreviated list of the ideological positions you pass as you walk down J Street:
...Around the corner we learn from Knesset member Shlomo Molla that bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Arab Palestinians are the only way to move towards peace in the region. Two houses down on the same street, Tom Dine of Search for Common Ground tells us that bilateral movement is impossible, and instead a regional approach is the only possibility for peace. And that the only choice open to Israel is to create a PSRN.
Just across J Street from these guys is New York Times reporter Roger Cohen who insists that the unrest in the Middle East is actually weakening Iran, while down the block we learn from the Saban Center's Shibley Telhami that Iran is the main threat in the region. Iran is weaker, says Cohen, so now is the time to create a Palestinian State, and Iran is the major threat, says Telhami, so now is the time to create a Palestinian State. Polar opposite reasoning, yet naturally both ineluctably lead to the conclusion that the only possible answer is the immediate creation of a Palestinian State.
Hebrew University professor Bernard Avishai berated Dennis Ross for wimpishly claiming that "bilateral negotiations is the only mechanism" for achieving peace. Avishai instead called for an "Obama Blueprint" in which the US uses its bully pulpit to galvanize "international momentum and pressure" (on Israel, of course), to create a Palestinian State. In the same building but down a few flights we heard from the ubiquitous Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy that the "West has become irrelevant" and that rather than the West, the region demands freedom and dignity for the Palestinians. Both agreed about one thing -- wait, I'm trying to remember -- oh yes, the need to create a PSRN.
That PSRN is J Street's obsession is revealed by the fact that unanimity on that "solution" co-exists with radical disagreement about the nature of the problem. Here's an abbreviated list of the ideological positions you pass as you walk down J Street:
...Around the corner we learn from Knesset member Shlomo Molla that bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Arab Palestinians are the only way to move towards peace in the region. Two houses down on the same street, Tom Dine of Search for Common Ground tells us that bilateral movement is impossible, and instead a regional approach is the only possibility for peace. And that the only choice open to Israel is to create a PSRN.
Just across J Street from these guys is New York Times reporter Roger Cohen who insists that the unrest in the Middle East is actually weakening Iran, while down the block we learn from the Saban Center's Shibley Telhami that Iran is the main threat in the region. Iran is weaker, says Cohen, so now is the time to create a Palestinian State, and Iran is the major threat, says Telhami, so now is the time to create a Palestinian State. Polar opposite reasoning, yet naturally both ineluctably lead to the conclusion that the only possible answer is the immediate creation of a Palestinian State.
Hebrew University professor Bernard Avishai berated Dennis Ross for wimpishly claiming that "bilateral negotiations is the only mechanism" for achieving peace. Avishai instead called for an "Obama Blueprint" in which the US uses its bully pulpit to galvanize "international momentum and pressure" (on Israel, of course), to create a Palestinian State. In the same building but down a few flights we heard from the ubiquitous Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy that the "West has become irrelevant" and that rather than the West, the region demands freedom and dignity for the Palestinians. Both agreed about one thing -- wait, I'm trying to remember -- oh yes, the need to create a PSRN.
Read the whole thing.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten