Read For Comprehension
I already covered this back in November. Pierre Tristam’s post, You Mean It’s Not Apartheid?, went over it in mid-December.
Now James Wolcott comments on it in the second part of Serial Comma Killer, Qu’est-ce que C’est?, Pat Lang mentions it in his post, War Against the Boogey Men, Juan Cole covers it in Attempts at Marginalizing Carter Intensify, and OhDave at Candide’s Notebooks looks at the “controversy” in Jimmy Carter’s Holy Land.
Essentially you have people screaming because Jimmy Carter isn’t rabidly pro-Israel. If you notice that Israel is not following the rules you are an anti-Semite and want Israel wiped from the face of the planet. Get a grip. Jimmy Carter has been at this longer than any of the current leaders in Israel and Palestine. He knows what deals were proposed, and what the conditions are on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza. He also reads all of the newspapers in Israel and knows that significant number of Israelis oppose some of the policies of their current government.
I’m a good deal more interested in the national interests of the US than Israel. Blindly supporting Israel is not in the US interest.
4 comments
But… you’ll prevent the Rapture from coming if you don’t support Israel wholeheartedly!
Personally I support the nation of Israel, but I don’t have much use for many of the governments of Israel.
No one is interested in peace in the Middle East. It’s a cycle of senseless violence for land and water, the age old fight. Throw in religion, and you’ve got a mess. The US doesn’t want peace. A stable middle east means lower oil prices, which doesn’t help the oil industry and hence the government. Israel doesn’t want peace, it wants land. Palestinians don’t want peace, they want vengance and land. The other middle eastern government don’t want peace, they want to “destroy” Israel and funding palestinians to kill themselves. Oh, and in the mean time, their own citizens are too busy chanting death to Israel instead of “Down with our suppresive government.”
alright, simplistic, yes, but it’s past my bedtime and I had an after dinner drink. I say off with Bush, bring back Carter. He’s got a brain.
I agree with you, CD. As Carter knows, the framework that will bring a settlement has existed for decades, but no one wants to just do it. Every side is stalling hoping that they can get more. Religion is an excuse, not a reason this drags on, and the religious arguments keep changing to fit new conditions on the ground.