Last month:
Russian immigrants to Israel have emerged as a central obstacle to achieving a Middle East peace deal, according to former President Bill Clinton. He voiced fears that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which increasingly consists of soldiers hailing from this community, might not be fully willing to oppose Israeli settlers as a result.This month:
Former United States President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that forcing Israel to surrender Judea and Samaria to the American-backed Palestinian Authority would take away much of the motivation for terrorism around the world.Clinton is really going all out to push for the Mideast peace initiative that Hillary is spearheading.
He described the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict as the key problem in the region and said resolving it would have a knock on effect that could result in Syria ending its support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Iran turning back its controversial nuclear program.
"It will take about half the impetus in the whole world — not just the region, the whole world — for terror away"...
Forget about all that talk of freezing settlements--he is already talking about the reaching the endpoint of the negotiations. Actually, it is not even clear that he is talking about negotiating. Of course, Clinton was saying this to Egyptian businessmen from the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, but still--
For Clinton to say that the Arab Israel conflict is responsible for world terrorism is saying alot.
The website The Religion of Peace tracks global Islamic terrorism. According to its detailed list for 2009, there were Islamist terror attacks in 38 countries around the world: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Chechnya, China, Dagestan, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ingushetia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
These attacks totaled 9,157 deaths and 18,546 injured.
Here are the totals by country (view the spreadsheet online )
Below is the annotated list of casualties by country (view the spreadsheet online)
And it is in the power of Israel to put an end to most of this?
Will Syria then really give up its designs on Lebanon; will Iran actually give up its plans for dominance in the Middle East?
Does Bill Clinton really take jihadist threats of spreading Islam so lightly?
He must really be desperate to help Hillary with these peace talks if he is saying things like this.
Then again, he also knows how to please his audience.
Technorati Tag: Mideast Peace Talks and Bill Clinton.
6 comments:
There's no chance Israel will agree to such outcome. It can only be imposed by force.
Which of course the PA would love! They are thrilled by President Clinton's remarks.
As for Israelis, I suspect the "Shalom Chaver" sentiment is going to take a long plunge.
If he was thinking of using his popularity among Israeli Jews to sell them the Obama/PA agenda, he'll find he badly miscalculated.
helping Hillary?
If Hillary should have anything of the self-respecting woman in her she should give him a good hiding
he should shut up not only because he is ex-president but also as husband of the current secretary of state.
If he voices his stuff with her consent then my hair stands on edge and I'll start advocating for women to go back to the kitchen.
Silke
It is unlikely that Bill can derail the peace talks any more than they already are.
The problem is that as ex-President, Clinton feels he is supremely qualified to offer his opinion, just as he is in demand to appear with Democrats running for re-election, even more so than Obama.
Bill just craves the limelight too much.
sorry, I should have made it clear that IMHO the Peace Process is a charade - it may be a charade good for something like appeasing the egos of Palestinian bigwigs craving to be photographed on red carpets and thus deterring them from starting another heinousness but a charade it is and I hope Israel can prove slippery enough to not having to make any concessions.
I hope Israel can prove slippery enough to not having to make any concessions.
That is part of the problem--having to resort to 'slipperiness' instead of bluntly standing up for one's rights when the security and safety of one's country is at stake.
Daled
I know that is hard to swallow but for consolation I always remind myself that in all of the volumes of WW1 Churchill found something praiseworthy and respectable in everybody, even in Kemal Ata Türk. The only exception were the Bolsheviks, there one practically had to hold the book upright to let his vitriol drop out of it.
I am still in the first volume of his WW2 so I don't know whether he says anything what it cost him to suck up to Stalin, but suck up he did when it was for the good of his island he'd stop at nothing. He even found chatting ground with Stalin over their mutual interest in history as I heard his interpreter Hugh lunghi tell recently.
These stories make me guess that if you want to put your country first especially when that country has more than 2 neighbours and 2 oceans and less than a vast middle, you, as a politician, have to be able to function with two minds, one showing almost Stockholm-Syndrom and/or scoundrel-worthy like stuff while the other remains firmly grounded in patriotic self-interest and love of where's home.
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