Yesterday President Obama went to the United Nations and offered up a stout defense of the state of Israel. At the heart of this year’s General assembly meeting is the desire by Palestinians to have a separate state of their own, side by side with the Jewish state of Israel. The president went to great lengths to articulate the commitment of the United States in defense of the state of Israel. Absent from the speech was any parallel commitment to see the thorny issue of Israel’s continued building of settlements stopped, an issue many objective observers see as a land grab. The Israelis for their part seem to argue that the continued building of settlement is in the interest of their own security, this convoluted argument is part of their response to this issue when they are not arguing they have no control over the settlers. In fairness to Israel some settlements have been bulldozed as a sign of good-will by a previous administration. This Administration of Benjamin Netanyahu is a less than ready to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas aka Abu Mazen.
The problems that exist between the Palestinians and Israelis are old and dates back to Biblical times, they were not fixed with any American president since the state of Israel was formed on contested lands in 1947. Those who purport to support Israel on biblical grounds, arguing that God had promised the land to Israel, will find it difficult to continue to make that argument in the face of Israel’s continued occupation of a sovereign people, subjecting them to multiple spot checks just to move or do ordinary things during the course of a day, something we all take for granted. The United States cannot be a credible broker for peace in light of its continued and sustained support for all things Israel even in light of her transgressions and subsequent condemnation by the international community. Israel will continue to find itself isolated as long as she is protected by the United States, and does as she pleases out of the reach of normal punitive sanctions that would have been attached to other states. The sense of entitlement Israel feels is at the heart of the problems and will not be addressed in our lifetime if the process toward peace is the road presently being travelled. Israel cannot expect to flaunt international law and cry anti-Semitism when others speak out. Despite the noise by those on the campaign trail prostrating themselves in front of Jewish voters, there are some statesmen who have a grasp of some semblance of fairness. Former president Clinton stated in an interview with CNN.” The Israelis should state publicly that they do not want a two state solution, let the Palestinian people get on with their lives, and live with the consequences”. Once again president Obama has reneged on a stated promise; he stated he supported a two state solution between Israel and the Palestinian, yet yesterday he explicitly went to the United Nations with the intent to veto any move by Abbas to ask the Security Council for statehood for the Palestinian people. Christian fundamentalists in America push for unconditional support for Israel, They do so irrespective of Israel’s transgressions against the Palestinian people, if they are arguing from a religious perspective that God has chosen Israel, are we to believe that God favors some people over others? Does God not care what his chosen people do unto others? The Palestinian people for their part must understand that they will, not win a battle of might over Israel, they must approach their cause the way Doctor King and Gandhi approached their problems, their cause as it relates to their oppression and continued occupation is just . They must use moral persuasion, they will be vindicated only through that path.
mike beckles”
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