[Dean's World] Ali Eteraz: Robert Novack on Israel: "Apartheid" With A Question Mark

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Posted by Ali Eteraz:
Robert Novack on Israel: "Apartheid" With A Question Mark
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1176139868.shtml


   From [1]WaPo:

     Jimmy Carter raised hackles by titling his book about the
     Palestinian question "Peace Not Apartheid." But Palestinians allege
     this is worse than the former South African racial separation.
     Nearing the 40th anniversary of the Israeli military occupation of
     the West Bank, the territory has been so fragmented that a genuine
     Palestinian state and a "two-state solution" seem increasingly
     difficult.

     The security wall has led to virtual elimination of suicide
     bombings and short-term peace. But life is hard for Palestinians,
     whose deaths because of conflict increased 272 percent in 2006
     while Israeli casualties declined. In a minor incident last week of
     the type that goes unnoticed internationally, Israel Defense Forces
     (IDF) troopers killed a Palestinian man accused of illegally
     entering a firing zone while collecting metal scraps to sell. The
     Britain-based organization Save the Children estimates that half
     the children in the occupied territories are psychologically
     traumatized.

     The U.S.-backed boycott following the election victory of the
     extremist group Hamas in early 2006 has made the Palestinian
     Authority destitute, crippling government services. Deprived of
     help from the authority, with the economy in a shambles, city
     governments are bankrupt. Bethlehem's mayor, Victor Batarseh, has a
     special problem because tourists and pilgrims no longer stay
     overnight in the city of Christ's birth. Out of money and credit,
     he is ready to lay off the city's 165 staffers.

     Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey was at the university the
     same day I was, and faculty members could hardly believe a real
     live member of Congress was there. Smith later was given a tour of
     Jerusalem to see with his own eyes that the separation barrier in
     most places is a big, ugly and intimidating wall, not merely a
     fence.

     Smith, an active Catholic layman, was drawn here because of the
     rapid emigration of the Holy Land's Christian minority. They leave
     more quickly than Muslims because contacts on the outside make them
     more mobile. Peter Corlano, a Catholic member of the Bethlehem
     University faculty, told Smith and me: "We live the same life as
     Muslims. We are Palestinians."

     Concerned by the disappearance of Christians in the land of
     Christianity's birthplace, Smith could also become (as I did)
     concerned by the plight of all Palestinians. If so, he will find
     precious little company in Congress.

   Bush is the problem. [2]This is from the previous Novack article:

     Last week's Riyadh declaration indicated the willingness of the
     Arab world to consider a peaceful solution. Now, belief here among
     peace-seekers is that nothing will happen until a new president
     enters the Oval Office in 2009.

     That was the consensus Tuesday at a conference here on Middle East
     policy in which I took part. Deal W. Hudson, executive director of
     the Morley Institute in Washington, which held the conference,
     expressed hope that Bush might yet grasp the reins of peace. But a
     diverse assemblage of Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian),
     Israelis, Americans and other foreigners held little hope for a
     Bush initiative in the closing months of his administration.

   NeoCons can croon about Iraq all they want. In the I/P crisis they
   have been royal failures. There's substantial criticism of Bush's
   failure on I/P from AEI as well.

References

   1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/08/AR2007040800924.html
   2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040402317.html