In the latest installment of the enthralling saga known as, “The Quest for Mideast Peace”, The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to pass a measure sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bob Corker (R-TN), which would suspend U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it ends its practice of rewarding stipends to families of Palestinian militants who carry out attacks.
Meanwhile… construction is now underway on the new Israeli settlement of Amichai. It is the first new settlement in the West Bank in 25 years, and is intended to house several dozen Jewish families.
Several months ago, I published a diary that offered my best guess as to what the main obstacles to peace are… I had suggested that they were, 1- the ongoing terrorism, and, 2- the ongoing settlement expansions. So naturally, I feel we’d have a better shot at attaining peace if we addressed both of these. The assumption inherent in this new Senate bill, is that the money we’re giving to the PA ought to gain us some leverage. Well, we do give money to Israel, too (quite a lot, in fact…) I have no qualms about making this suggestion, because I truly, emphatically believe that it is actually in Israel’s own best interests, for them to put an immediate halt to the settlement expansions (so I would consider this to be “tough love”).
Peace, is the “warm fuzzy vibe”… Peace isn’t each side constantly telling the other how badly they suck. Peace is fairness. Peace is balance. I’m pleased to point out, that the official Democratic party platform, in addition to stating strong support for Israel, says:
Palestinians should be free to govern themselves in their own viable state, in peace and dignity.
As a final note- I invite you to take a guess as to how many times the word “Palestinian” appears in the Republican party’s platform regarding this region (and if you wish, you may follow this link to see if your guess was correct). ☮