"We Have Consulted With Many Foreign Policy Experts. They Have Many PhDs."
"An accurate dramatization, per State Department cables published by Wikileaks, of how the United States conducts diplomacy in the Middle East."
posted by Terry Glavin at 10:57 PM
5 Comments:
I love that video. And it makes a lot of sense. For, as Stephen Leacock once said, when you've got your PhD, it means you are all full up, and thereafter no knew knowledge can ever be imparted to you.
In the case of these disciples of Edward Said... they're all full up, with no knowledge ever having been imparted to them.
"Building schools and supermarkets" is a cheap shot at opposition to the ending of the freeze on settlements in the occupied territories, arguably the crucial issue that is stalling the peace talks.
Obviously, the question of Iran is an entirely separate issue, despite the facile attempts to argue that all would be fluffy doves and rose petals if only we could end the Israel/Palestine conflict.
See here and here
But then my PhD is in Anarchism; though I am not full, I am hungry.
You're quite right, Plump. I just couldn't resist. . . I also have a crippling weakness for those Youtube "cute animal" videos.
I don't believe plump is quite right when he says that Israeli settlements are "arguably the crucial issue that is stalling the peace talks."
Don't get me wrong. I've always been opposed to israeli settlement of the West Bank. But that is but a little side show compared to the real issue stalling any ME peace talks -- Arab rejectionism of the very existence of the state of Israel, as most recently evidenced by (a) senior palestinians admitting a two-state solution, for them, is but an intermediate step to a single state; (b) insisting on the right of return for all Palestinian "refugees." (refugees in "" because only Palestinians get to call the 4-7 million descendents of 700,000 true refugees refugees; and (c) refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Not to mention that Jews won't be allowed to settle anywhere in the future Palestinian state, and sale of property to a Jew is punishable by death. After hearing all that, I don't know how anybody could "arguably" believe that the settlements are what is stalling peace talks. If Palestinians/Arabs would truly accept Israel, public opinion would put an end to the settlements in no time.
The little skit would sound extremely relevant to those people who live in Gilo, Ramot, Ramot Eshkol, French Hill, Mount Scopus, etc, all decades-old neigborhoods in Jerusalem which have come to be known, under Obama's administration's new linguistic rules, as "settlements".
I'd like Mr. Plump to tell me that I cannot live in any of these neigboroods, because they are "arguably the crucial issue that is stalling the peace talks".
When one is faced with this kind of information:
"a senior Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information official had the audacity to say, “The Jews have no historical or religious ties to the Temple Mount or the Western Wall. There is no archeological evidence that the Temple Mount was built during the period of King Solomon….”
or this:
"Palestinian Authority president and Fatah chairman Mahmoud Abbas stated Monday that he does not accept Israel's demand for recognition as the nation of the Jewish people.
"I say this clearly: I do not accept the Jewish State, call it what you will," he said at a preliminary conference of the Palestinian Youth Parliament in Ramallah.
At the end of the conference, Abbas was presented with a large framed map of "Palestine," covering the entire area of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. He held the map aloft in a photo that later appeared on the front page of both daily publications of the Palestinian Authority."
According to Palestinians, entire Israel is a "settlement". When Mr. Plump talks about "settlements in the occupied territories" he thinks he is making a distinction but that distinction has no resonance with the Palestinians. None whatsoever.
It's very easy to get Israelis to notice these distinctions but what good does it serve? How does that get us even half a step closer to peace?
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