<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Obama’s Balfour Declaration]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><strong> &#8211; By Hasan Abu Nimah. <em>6 October 2010.</em></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong> <strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1621734229775&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs612.snc4/59284_1621734229775_1429037993_31648413_8149985_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></strong></p>
<p><strong><em><strong> </strong></em></strong><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p>Those  who invested again in the so-called peace process apparently believed  that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ready for historic  decisions, and that US President Barack Obama&#8217;s support for the talks  represented a unique and serious opportunity.</p>
<p>Netanyahu allowed  Israel&#8217;s mostly fictitious 10-month &#8220;settlement freeze&#8221; to expire on  September 26, setting off a desperate scramble among peace process  sponsors to find a formula to &#8220;save the peace talks&#8221; &#8211; as if simply  having such talks is the ultimate prize.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1621734109772&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59284_1621734109772_1429037993_31648410_8242430_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>US  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US envoy George Mitchell and EU  foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton all rushed in not with the goal of  stopping Israel&#8217;s criminal settlement expansion but to find a formula  for Israel to continue building settlements while pretending it is not.</p>
<p>This  allows Israel to feed its insatiable appetite for Palestinian land  undisturbed, and provides cover for Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud  Abbas to continue the talks that virtually all Palestinians oppose.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>As  Netanyahu showed he was true to his word and would not extend the  &#8220;freeze&#8221;, the Americans became desperate. The Obama administration  apparently offered Israel unprecedented promises and guarantees in  exchange for virtually nothing. The Americans reinforced their promises  to support Israel in its adamant opposition to guaranteeing Palestinians  rights; supported Israel&#8217;s desire to occupy and effectively annex the  Jordan Valley indefinitely even after a Palestinian &#8220;state&#8221; is declared;  and more military goodies, money and diplomatic cover. Obama&#8217;s offer  included a series of guarantees to prevent the smuggling of weapons and  missiles into a Palestinian state and a comprehensive regional defence  pact, for protection from Iran, to follow the establishment of this  state.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1621734269776&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs632.snc4/59284_1621734269776_1429037993_31648414_891162_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>All  Israel would have to do is extend the freeze by just 60 days, with a  guarantee that this would be the last time ever that the Americans would  ask Israel to stop settlements. After that, Israel could presumably  build without even the pretense of American opposition.</p>
<p>It is as if Obama delivered a second Balfour Declaration.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The  White House denied that the said offers were included in a letter from  Obama to Netanyahu, but there were no denials that the offers were made.  Apparently the alleged letter, or the draft that was meant to be  presented to Netanyahu to agree, was leaked to pro-Israel activist David  Makovsky by one of its two authors, Dennis Ross, Obama&#8217;s chief adviser  on the Middle East and a lifetime operative of the Israeli lobby, and  Israeli chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, as reported by Barak Ravid in  Israeli Haaretz newspaper (September 30).</p>
<p>Makovsky published the  article on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,  most likely to embarrass Netanyahu for rejecting so much for so little.  The offered terms were described as unprecedented and so critical to  Israel&#8217;s strategic security needs that Netanyahu himself has been  demanding them for years.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1621734429780&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs632.snc4/59284_1621734429780_1429037993_31648418_7632355_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Other  reports spoke of additional offers, such as the recognition of Israel  as a state for the &#8220;Jewish nation&#8221;, the abolition of the right of return  for Palestinian refugees and speedy normalisation by Arab  states. Washington&#8217;s response to Netanyahu&#8217;s disruptiveness is truly  shocking. Why should he, once faced with such appeasement, ever mind  Washington&#8217;s advice? Not only is Israel never punished, but every time  it impertinently disobeys its American sponsors, it gets generously  rewarded.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1665387881089&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs352.ash2/63192_1665387881089_1429037993_31742771_3105760_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The  offers, even if they are a fraction of what is reported, are so  dangerous for the shaky Middle East situation that their harm far  outweighs the meagre benefit they were set to achieve. It is outrageous  for Palestinian national rights to be offered away so cheaply to  apparently serve such petty causes as improving Obama&#8217;s Democratic  Party&#8217;s chances in the upcoming American elections.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Because  there is so little reality in the discussion, let us remind ourselves  of what is really happening. Even under the just expired &#8220;freeze&#8221;,  building never stopped. Villagers from Beit Nattif, near Hebron in the  West Bank, told the BBC that during the freeze they witnessed new  construction rising every day. &#8220;The story can be called many things but  &#8216;freeze&#8217; is certainly not one of them,&#8221; Dror Etkes, a noted settlement  monitor, wrote in Haaretz on September 28.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1665388041093&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs387.ash2/66538_1665388041093_1429037993_31742772_5387406_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Quoting  official Israeli government statistics in detail, Etkes calculated that  what actually occurred was &#8220;in the best case scenario, not more than a  negligible decrease in the number of housing units that were built in  settlements&#8221;. Roughly 2,500 units had been under construction during the  &#8220;freeze&#8221;, representing a drop of a mere 16 per cent of the comparable  previous period. Etkes added: &#8220;The truth is that the settlers know  better than anyone else that not only did construction in settlements  continue over the last 10 months, and vigorously, but also that a  relatively large part of the houses were built on settlements that lie  east of the separation fence [Israel&#8217;s illegal West Bank apartheid  wall], such as Bracha, Itamar, Eli, Shilo, Maaleh Mikhmas, Maon, Carmel,  Beit Haggai, Kiryat Arba, Mitzpeh Yeriho and others.&#8221;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1665388121095&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs765.snc4/66538_1665388121095_1429037993_31742774_1931708_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Most  certainly, the PA leadership was aware of this too. But it was  convenient for it to close its eyes to this reality and pretend reality  was something different, just like everyone else involved in the peace  process charade. Israel may or may not now extend the freeze, but even  if it does, it will be as fake as the earlier one, and a total victory  for its intransigence.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One can expect Washington to  continue its directionless, unwise and unrealistic policies. The antics  involved in the &#8220;peace process&#8221; would be comical if the consequences  were not so dangerous and tragic. As I write, Mitchell continues to tour  the region searching for the magic wand. If not found, there is always  the fallback position: back to indirect talks. That is not a silly joke.  He said that both sides asked him to continue with his efforts  shuttling between them. The &#8220;historic&#8221; PLO decision last Saturday was  not to end the talks, now that settlement building will continue  unchecked. It was only to refrain from engaging in &#8220;direct talks&#8221; if  settlement building resumed. Indirect talks are therefore exc?uded from  the ban.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1665388161096&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs785.snc4/66538_1665388161096_1429037993_31742775_2828139_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Actually  what is happening on the ground is more than direct talks, with close  security cooperation between Israel and the PA at its best. Do the PA  security forces not protect the settlers from their helpless Palestinian  victims? Did the PA forces intervene to prevent the settlers from  burning mosques and holy Korans, as they did in their latest raid, two  days ago, on the Mosque of Prophets in the village of Beit Fajjar, south  of Bethlehem? But that is not why the PA forces were created for to  start with Dayton made clear repeatedly. They are created to curb  Palestinian &#8220;terror&#8221; against the occupation and the colonisation of  their land, of which the building of Jewish settlements is an integral  part.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1665388081094&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs387.ash2/66538_1665388081094_1429037993_31742773_6966419_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Abbas  himself boasted proudly in the US how his security forces instantly  tracked down and arrested the Palestinians who attacked settlers in the  Hebron area a month ago. I have argued repeatedly &#8211; and at the risk of  sounding immodest, with unfailing accuracy &#8211; that such policies promise  no hope. The whole approach is futile, catastrophic and without  principle.</p>
<p><em><strong> </strong> </em></p>
<p><strong>Article Source:</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=30664" target="_blank">http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=30664</a> </strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1621734949793&amp;set=o.152361954801449"><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59209_1621734949793_1429037993_31648421_2987793_n.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
]]></html><thumbnail_url><![CDATA[http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs612.snc4/59284_1621734229775_1429037993_31648413_8149985_n.jpg]]></thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width><![CDATA[]]></thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height><![CDATA[]]></thumbnail_height></oembed>