<?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[Wave in favor of Palestine gathers momentum &#8211; Arab&nbsp;News]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<div class="col1">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article240937.ece"><img src='https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/logo4.gif' alt='' /></a></p>
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<p><span class="blogAuthorName">URI AVNERY | ARAB NEWS</span><br />
Jan  23, 2011 22:04</p>
<p><strong>PLO’s permanent delegation in Washington has been allowed to fly the Palestinian flag over its building </strong></p>
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<p>ISRAEL IS, as we well know, the land of  unlimited impossibilities. In Israel, for example, the diplomats are  striking. Postmen strike. Longshoremen strike. But diplomats — the most  conservative, the most establishment people?</p>
<p>Well, in Israel it  is possible. All the Foreign Office services have ceased to function.  For years, these people have suffered from miserable working conditions.  Their salaries are bordering on the ridiculous. So they went on strike.</p>
<p>Does this infuriate the prime minister? Is the foreign minister  upset? Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman do not care. On the  contrary, they look almost happy.</p>
<p>The President of the Russian  Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, was scheduled to visit Israel. But before  that, he went to Jericho, which is considered the oldest town in the  world. There, in the presence of President Mahmoud Abbas, he declared  that Russia had recognized the Palestinian state long ago, and that it  continues to recognize the Palestinians&#8217; right to a state of their own,  with its capital in East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Not exactly. It was not Russia  that recognized Palestine, but the Soviet Union. And the recognition  was conferred on the virtual state declared by Yasser Arafat in 1988.  That is very different from recognition of the Palestinian state now,  when it is becoming a reality.</p>
<p>After his visit to Jericho,  Medvedev was to come to Jerusalem, to be photographed next to Netanyahu  and shake hands with Lieberman. How was Netanyahu to react to the  Jericho declaration? How could he extricate himself from this matter,  without humiliating himself or offending the largest country in the  world? This embarrassment was avoided by the sanctions of the Israeli  diplomats. They refused to prepare the visit and organize the meetings.  Medvedev gave up, and the two great statesmen — Netanyahu and Lieberman —  could breathe again.</p>
<p>Deep in his heart, Lieberman surely blessed  the people of his office, whom he hates. They saved him. What could he  tell Medvedev? Ever since walking into the Foreign Office like a bear  entering the proverbial china shop, he has boasted of his excellent  relations with Russia. The Americans loathe him?  So what? America is a  declining empire. The Europeans don&#8217;t want to meet with him? So what?  Who are they, anyhow?</p>
<p>But Russia is Russia. Here we have a real  friend. Lieberman admires Vladimir Putin, speaks with him in his mother  tongue. He boasted of having established really intimate relations with  Russia. And now they do this thing to him. What a disgrace.</p>
<p>But  the truth is that Putin is not really his friend. Yvette Lieberman (his  original name) has only one real friend in the world: Aleksandr  Lukashenko, President of Belarus, &#8220;the last dictator in Europe&#8221;.</p>
<p>Lukashenko  is his soul-mate. He is his model. From him he learned how to deal with  human rights organizations. It was Lukashenko who sent an official  warning to the human rights activists in his country and threatened them  with heavy penalties if they continue to &#8220;distort information&#8221; about  Belarus.</p>
<p>From there Lieberman drew his inspiration, when he opened  his campaign against the peace and human rights activists in Israel,  whom he called this week &#8220;collaborators of terrorism&#8221;.</p>
<p>One can  laugh (for the time being) at Lieberman&#8217;s claim that the peace and human  rights organizations cause the de-legitimization of the State of  Israel, and especially the de-legitimization of the Israeli Army. But  one cannot laugh about the de-legitimization itself. More and more  governments are recognizing the State of Palestine, boxing the ears of  the Netanyahu government in the process. When the Palestinian National  Council declared, 22 years ago, the foundation of the independent  Palestinian state, about 110 countries recognized it. All of them raised  the status of the Palestinian delegations to the rank of embassies. The  Israeli government ignored them. In its eyes, one new settlement in the  West Bank was more important than the opinion of a hundred countries.  As they say in Yiddish: Oilam Goilam — the world is a Golem (the clumsy  monster of Jewish legend.).</p>
<p>But the new wave of recognition of  Palestine is a different matter altogether. When important countries  like Brazil, Argentina and Chile recognize Palestine, and draw behind  them the other Latin American countries, this is significant. When  Russia renews its recognition, through its highest official and on  Palestinian soil, this is an important event. If anybody is relying on  the rock solid American support we are used to, they should pay  attention to a small news item that appeared this week: The permanent  delegation of the PLO in Washington DC was allowed to fly the  Palestinian flag over its building — a right generally reserved for  embassies alone.</p>
<p>An interesting plot is unfolding. Two thirds of  the world&#8217;s countries have already recognized the State of Palestine,  and the wave is gathering momentum. These are no longer just small Third  World states, but significant actors on the world stage. Mahmoud Abbas  and Salam Fayad are quietly and persistently building the institutions  of the Palestinian state. They are investing a lot of effort in  development, building a new town north of Ramallah, restricting the  powers of the security services and gaining the sympathy and attention  of the world&#8217;s governments.</p>
<p>So what? — the average Israeli asks.  After all, the Goyim are only proving yet again that they are all  anti-Semites. How is this important? We control the territory and no  diplomatic tricks will change that. And as long as we have unlimited  American support, we don&#8217;t give a damn.</p>
<p>Really? For many years we  could rely on the Americans with eyes closed. Every &#8220;anti-Israeli&#8221;  resolution was met with a firm American veto. But is this still so  certain? When all the important countries in the world recognize the  State of Palestine — will the US alone hold out forever?</p>
<p>While  the Israeli diplomats are striking, a new initiative condemning the  settlements is gaining momentum in the UN Security Council. The entire  world is against these settlements, which are manifestly illegal under  international law. Even the US has demanded a freeze. Can the US veto a  resolution that expresses its own policy, without becoming a laughing  stock? And if it does do so all the same this time, what about next  time, or the time after?</p>
<p>And if the American veto still rules the  Security Council — it does not rule the UN General Assembly. It was the  General Assembly that resolved in 1947 to set up in Palestine, next to  each other, a Jewish and an Arab state. If the Assembly decides now that  the time has come to realize the second half of the resolution — the  establishment of the Arab State in Palestine — it will strengthen even  more the world-wide recognition of Palestine.</p>
<p>The Arab governments  must now think again. In Tunisia the people rose up against a  dictatorship — a small and corrupt elite, indifferent toward the wishes  of the people and overtly or covertly in collaboration with Israel.</p>
<p>That  is the writing on the wall. The present Israeli government is leading  us toward disaster. But this week this government was shored-up even  more, when Ehud Barak, the pocket Napoleon, finally abandoned all  pretense of belonging to the social-democratic left and set up a clearly  rightist party, something like Likud II, that will be a loyal partner  of Netanyahu and Lieberman.</p>
<p>With such leaders, does our country really need enemies?</p>
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<p><a href="http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article240937.ece">Wave in favor of Palestine gathers momentum &#8211; Arab News</a>.</p>
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