the notion that Israel is "an American problem" is perfectly preposterous! Please substantiate this statement. Is it an admission that the UN has been gutted of its authority and that US foreign policy has become "the law"?
The UN has been a bad joke since the collapse of the Soviet Union - at least.
But on the substance, Israel is in the US sphere of influence - are you going to contest that fact? And as long as the Americans keep running guns to Israel and giving them economic aid, Israel can keep having Apartheid.
Neither of those are of course inevitable: The UN could be restored to some semblance of relevance if and when one or more major powers decided to enforce UN decisions that go against the US and their clients. And Israel could probably be pried out of the US sphere of interest if we tried really hard.
But both of those venues of change fall under "general geopolitical considerations" - namely the consideration that we need to get our act together and stop being nice, well-behaved vassals for the American empire. Until and unless Europe takes an independent, credible stance in favour of human rights and rule of law, Europe cannot do anything about Palestine.
This is the cheap fall-back argument that because Africa, Indochina and the Ile de Nullepart are mistreated the present embargo and starvation of the Palestinians is no big deal. This argument is a nonsequitur. Europe has everything to do with the the problems in Palestine. Everything! From 1918 to this day. And that the EU should be shirking its duty, withholding its contribution to a peace settlement in Palestine is, in my view, nothing short of scandalous.
This argument is a nonsequitur. Europe has everything to do with the the problems in Palestine. Everything! From 1918 to this day. And that the EU should be shirking its duty, withholding its contribution to a peace settlement in Palestine is, in my view, nothing short of scandalous.
It is not "no big deal" and it is scandalous. But it's the tail, it's not the dog. Until and unless something is done about the general, structural reasons that Europe supports mistreatment of people elsewhere in the world, nothing serious will be done about Palestine - all you will see is sternly worded letters, impressive-looking conferences and impeccably-dressed diplomats that say nothing much at all.
Look at the whole dog, not just at the tail. That's all I'm trying to say here.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, just opened a branch in the US, following a move of the Israel Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD), which now has subsidiaries in the US and Britain in order to better publicize the Palestinian rights issue.
Should they instead remain silent, just because they are advocating for a small part of the elephant?
