The Mythical Peace That is Just Out of Reach
By Ami Isseroff   11/29/09    Abridged.

The conventional wisdom in much of the world holds that there is an Israeli-Arab peace settlement that is just out of reach - so near yet so far, frustrated only by tactical accidents. We all know what the peace settlement must look like, says the myth. If only Israel wasn't so stubborn about building in Jerusalem or (under Ehud Olmert) not negotiating at all about Jerusalem, there could be peace in a week. But somehow peace...remains beyond reach.... [because the Palestinian leadership -- as demonstrated by the existing documents of their statements to date --  insist on terms that are designed to destroy Israel as a Jewish state.]

 

[It is a myth] that the Palestinian leaders have really agreed or are secretly ready to agree to all the [supposedly 'everyone knows what peace will look like'] proposals and/or that polls show that the Palestinian people back these [everyone-knows-to-be reasonable] concessions.

 

There cannot be peace until...the Palestinian position changes from demands that amount to destruction of Israel to requirements that can be considered a legitimate and serious bargaining position. 

[The article documents Palestinian opinion on the so-termed "Right of Return"]

Ahmandinejad: Israel can’t stop Iranian nukes

December 2, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel cannot do a "damn thing" to stop his country's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad made the statement Wednesday in a televised speech, Reuters reported.

He called the International Atomic Energy Agency's resolution approved last week censuring the country's nuclear activity "illegal" and said it came "under pressure of a few superficially powerful countries."
The IAEA resolution called on Iran to halt construction of a recently disclosed underground nuclear enrichment facility. In response, Iran's parliament on Sunday approved the construction of 10 new uranium enrichment sites.

Israel's U.N. Quagmire

An important article by Uriel Heilman. An Uphill struggle: Israel's U.N. Quagmire. Bloc voting cobbles together the 56 votes of the Arab and Muslim states. Members of the Non-Aligned Movement usually vote with the Arab/Muslim states -- as does the E.U. Israel - 1 vote.

Excerpt from Israel's U.N. Quagmire

 "A lot of what goes on at the U.N. is about evening the score between the developing world and the developed world, and that puts Israel in a very difficult spot." -- Jeff Helmreich, an expert on international law and a former staffer at Israel's U.N. mission

The United Nations does not reflect the reality of what's going on in the world today because there is no political will to call attention to that reality. Sudan, Myanmar, and North Korea usually escape condemnation simply because not enough members are interested in confronting powerful blocs over massacres, conflicts, and human-rights violations.