“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas… This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
I remember Rabin's assassination and the events that preceded it - Wow, were we ever encouraged by these developments. I was very enthusiastic of Rabin's initiatives and was devastated when he was killed by a zealot, no less, with no critical thinking skills (so much so that he had to consult with a rabbi - of his opinion of course.)
I must say that your reflexion takes a long time to reach the Rabin era and in this respect, you almost lost me as a reader.
I dare say, despite my pining for Rabin-like diplomacy in the middle east, I cannot agree with your conclusion. While zealotry and mindless religious fervour (or any faith) can certainly derail processes, there is room to be a bit more optimist. The issue in my view is that those in power (supra national governing bodies as well as national governing bodies including Canada's) at this time want this chaos and indeed need it to accomplish goals. There is no will on their part for peace in that region of the world. This is apparent given the one-sided view provided by the media and the allowance of anti-fa and anti-Israel demonstrations to take place. Moreover, silence as to the way Hamas has been behaving over many years (without ever giving up on its primary objective - the anihilation of Israel and the Jews, further supports this contention.
But, I am cautiously optimistic that the upcoming US election will have a true peace seeker and maker will provide a renewal of hope in the region, as long as measures are taken in the immediate to allow for 4 years of "getting to know thy neighbour" and in the long term, to prepare the next leader to continue the work begun. That said the 2 major enemies of a lasting peace in the area (reliegious zealatry - on both sides - and chaos seeking supra governments will exist for a long time if not forever and will continuously be a cause for concern.
President Anwar Sadat showed the way to his people, the Arabs, and to the Jews, how to make peace if this is what they desired. He paid with his life. Rabin came late in responding to Arafat, unless you do not know the history of the period between Begin-Sharon led invasion of Lebanon in 1981-82 and the signing of the Oslo Accord, and yet Rabin also paid with his life. Those responsible for the deaths of Sadat and Rabin were and are of the same mind set, and while the Arab majority were moving in the direction of making peace based on a final settlement of the Palestine question, as in King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's peace proposal from 2002 before the Iraq war, the Israelis under the Likud leadership moved in the opposite direction regardless of what their complicit media broadcasts, that is continued ethnic-cleansing (read Ilan Pappe, for instance) and now genocide to annex the Occupied Territories in defiance of the UN Security Council Resolution 242 that has been and remains the basis of permanent and final settlement of the Palestine question.
The whole Zionist agenda going back to Herzl was and remains a scam. You might want to read and think hard over my two other essays following the one on Rabin murder as pre-history of Oct 7 you have read. With the Gaza genocide there is now no basis for any negotiation by Arab states and the OIC with a genocidal state and its mass-murdering criminal leaders.
What I see on the horizon looming is the dismantlement of Israel analogous to that of the apartheid South Africa, and either a reformed and repentant Israel making peace with a Palestinian state (the Occupied Territories and Gaza) -- in other words the two states envisaged in the UN Resolution 181 of 1947 that remains the UN position accepted now by most of the UN members except for the collective West led by the US -- or a single Palestinian state of Arabs and Jews that once Judah Magnes and Martin Buber talked about.
Thanks Salim.
I remember Rabin's assassination and the events that preceded it - Wow, were we ever encouraged by these developments. I was very enthusiastic of Rabin's initiatives and was devastated when he was killed by a zealot, no less, with no critical thinking skills (so much so that he had to consult with a rabbi - of his opinion of course.)
I must say that your reflexion takes a long time to reach the Rabin era and in this respect, you almost lost me as a reader.
I dare say, despite my pining for Rabin-like diplomacy in the middle east, I cannot agree with your conclusion. While zealotry and mindless religious fervour (or any faith) can certainly derail processes, there is room to be a bit more optimist. The issue in my view is that those in power (supra national governing bodies as well as national governing bodies including Canada's) at this time want this chaos and indeed need it to accomplish goals. There is no will on their part for peace in that region of the world. This is apparent given the one-sided view provided by the media and the allowance of anti-fa and anti-Israel demonstrations to take place. Moreover, silence as to the way Hamas has been behaving over many years (without ever giving up on its primary objective - the anihilation of Israel and the Jews, further supports this contention.
But, I am cautiously optimistic that the upcoming US election will have a true peace seeker and maker will provide a renewal of hope in the region, as long as measures are taken in the immediate to allow for 4 years of "getting to know thy neighbour" and in the long term, to prepare the next leader to continue the work begun. That said the 2 major enemies of a lasting peace in the area (reliegious zealatry - on both sides - and chaos seeking supra governments will exist for a long time if not forever and will continuously be a cause for concern.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Cheers.
Thanks Jean-Jacques for your comments.
President Anwar Sadat showed the way to his people, the Arabs, and to the Jews, how to make peace if this is what they desired. He paid with his life. Rabin came late in responding to Arafat, unless you do not know the history of the period between Begin-Sharon led invasion of Lebanon in 1981-82 and the signing of the Oslo Accord, and yet Rabin also paid with his life. Those responsible for the deaths of Sadat and Rabin were and are of the same mind set, and while the Arab majority were moving in the direction of making peace based on a final settlement of the Palestine question, as in King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's peace proposal from 2002 before the Iraq war, the Israelis under the Likud leadership moved in the opposite direction regardless of what their complicit media broadcasts, that is continued ethnic-cleansing (read Ilan Pappe, for instance) and now genocide to annex the Occupied Territories in defiance of the UN Security Council Resolution 242 that has been and remains the basis of permanent and final settlement of the Palestine question.
The whole Zionist agenda going back to Herzl was and remains a scam. You might want to read and think hard over my two other essays following the one on Rabin murder as pre-history of Oct 7 you have read. With the Gaza genocide there is now no basis for any negotiation by Arab states and the OIC with a genocidal state and its mass-murdering criminal leaders.
What I see on the horizon looming is the dismantlement of Israel analogous to that of the apartheid South Africa, and either a reformed and repentant Israel making peace with a Palestinian state (the Occupied Territories and Gaza) -- in other words the two states envisaged in the UN Resolution 181 of 1947 that remains the UN position accepted now by most of the UN members except for the collective West led by the US -- or a single Palestinian state of Arabs and Jews that once Judah Magnes and Martin Buber talked about.