WSJ EDITORIAL” THE BEST MIDEAST INTENTIONS”….DUMBEST EDITORIAL EVER…SEE NOTE
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323419104578374423019005526.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
The Best Mideast Intentions Obama reassures Israel, but peace in Palestine seems a distant hope.
PULEEZ!!! HOW DUMB IS THIS SENTENCE? “History shows that a generation of militants can give way to a generation of pacifists. It happened in Germany and Japan, and nobody should give up hope that such a change will eventually come to Palestinians, whenever they tire of nationalist or religious slogans.” HUH? JIHAD IS A RELIGIOUS “SLOGAN”…..NO IT IS AN ARTICLE OF ISLAMIC FAITH. AND, THE JAPANESE SHINTOISTS AND THE NAZIS WERE “MILITANTS????” AND BY THE WAY THE ONLY THING THAT MADE THEM CHANGE WAS NORMANDY AND DRESDEN AND HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI AND TOTAL SURRENDER…..RSK
President Obama delivered an impassioned speech to an audience of young Israelis in Jerusalem Thursday, pledging America’s commitment to the Jewish state’s security while insisting that, when it comes to the Palestinians, “peace is possible.” Speaking alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah earlier in the day, he also got a taste of how distant that possibility is.
The best news from this trip is that it seems to reflect Mr. Obama’s recognition that America’s friends have to trust him before he can broker a peace with adversaries. The President spent his first term trying to put distance between himself and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the result was mutual disappointment and discord.
This week Mr. Obama has sought to reassure Israelis about U.S. commitments even as he coaxes them to take risks for peace. From his reference to Mr. Netanyahu as “my friend Bibi” to his tough language on Iran’s nuclear program and his determination to stop it, the President put on a charm offensive designed to woo his skeptical Israeli hosts.
All this is to the good. The President even came around to Mr. Netanyahu’s position that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should proceed without preconditions. That’s another break from the first term’s rancor. The Palestinians have so far insisted that they won’t come to the table without a total halt to Israeli settlement construction, and the U.S. position encouraged their intransigence.
Mr. Obama assured Israelis that they have a willing peace partner in Mr. Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. But you wouldn’t know it from Mr. Abbas’s remarks Thursday. The man who is supposed to represent the moderate side of local politics delivered a verbal salvo against Israel’s alleged “violence, occupation, settlements, arrests, siege and denial of refugee rights,” which isn’t mood music for negotiations to resume.
Mr. Abbas’s reference to refugees was especially toxic, given that most Palestinians take “refugee rights” to mean repatriating the descendants of Arab refugees from Israel’s War of Independence back to Israel itself, which would destroy Israel as a Jewish state. Mr. Abbas continues to advocate “reconciliation” with Hamas, which remains unreconciled to Israel’s existence and firmly in control of Gaza.
On the streets of Ramallah, meanwhile, protestors gathered to denounce America—”the head of the snake”—and Mr. Abbas, too. “The people want RPGs, not [security] coordination with the CIA,” said one demonstrator quoted in the Times of Israel. If “peace begins in the heart of people,” as Mr. Obama told his audience in Jerusalem, the feeling seems dispiritingly absent among too many Palestinians. At least Mr. Obama’s Israeli audience gave him a rousing ovation.
History shows that a generation of militants can give way to a generation of pacifists. It happened in Germany and Japan, and nobody should give up hope that such a change will eventually come to Palestinians, whenever they tire of nationalist or religious slogans. Until then, Israel will have to negotiate as best it can with eyes firmly on its security. Mr. Obama’s best intentions can’t deliver peace until enough Palestinians decide they want it too.
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