Obama on Palestinian Rights: "Nyet" - Ambassador Susan Rice Outrageous Lie
26 February 2011By Stephen Lendman
On February 18, as expected, Washington vetoed a UN
Security Council resolution condemning Israeli
settlements as illegal under international law. The
vote: 14 yes, America the sole no, isolating the US
and Israel on this long festering issue. The measure
had nearly 120 co-sponsors.
In a post-vote briefing, ambassador Susan Rice
outrageously lied, saying:
"....as the United States has said on many, many
occasions for many years, we reject in the strongest
terms the legitimacy of continued settlement
activity."
Unsaid was that America, for many decades, funded
Israel generously to build them, a process continuing
grievously under Obama, besides outlandish amounts of
military aid, support for Israel's occupation, and
partnering in all its aggressive wars.
In a February 18 press release, Americans for Peace
Now (APN) expressed "disappointment," APN's President
and CEO Debra DeLee, saying:
"President Barack Obama missed a key opportunity today
to demonstrate US leadership on peace. America's
failure to hold both sides accountable for their
actions is a contributing factor to the state of"
today's moribund peace process because Washington and
Israel won't tolerate it.
Nor do they support Palestinian sovereignty, ending
occupation, the right of return, and long denied
democratic freedoms. Instead they enforce imperial
harshness against millions of oppressed Palestinians,
exploited and brutalized for decades. February 18
offered more evidence how.
On February 19, Al Jazeera said Washington's decision
"is certain to anger Arab countries and Palestinian
supporters around the world. Correspondent Cal Perry
said the decision isn't:
"going down well in the occupied West Bank. People are
wondering when some action is going to be taken.
People here are tired of a lack of a peace process.
They are tired that the two sides are not talking.
They are tired that they continue to hear, especially
by (Obama) that human dignity cannot be denied" when
he does it egregiously and repeatedly.
For decades, Washington used its veto power abusively
to prevent any measures hostile to Israel from
passing. By doing so, it arrogantly ignores the will
of most other nations, at times nearly all of them,
except for Israel and a few supporters. As a result,
an angry UK observer once used a baseball analogy,
saying: "Only the USA could have a World Series and
not invite the rest of the world."
Even worse is Israel's response to UN resolutions,
mostly General Assembly ones. With full US support, it
ignored or flaunted dozens of them condemning or
censuring its actions, deploring it for committing
them, or demanding, calling on or urging Tel Aviv to
end them. It continues doing so with impunity,
including daily oppression, mass arrests, torture,
killings, targeted assassinations, regular incursions
into civilian communities, aggressive wars, and
relentless settlement expansions.
On February 19, Haaretz Service headlined,
"Palestinians plan 'Day of Rage" to protest US veto on
UN settlement resolution," citing Ma'an News Agency
saying:
Palestinian head of general intelligence, Tawfik
Tirawi, said it's planned for Friday, February 25,
calling the veto "blackmail," revealing America's true
face and intent to subvert regional peace and flout
Palestinian interests. "(T)hey are liars," he said,
"who pretend to support democracy and peace. Far from
it." Nonetheless, "(t)his will not affect our
steadfastness and insistence on our rights." He also
said "there will be no negotiations with settlements."
Before the vote, Washington tried pressuring Abbas to
withdraw the resolution. An anonymous senior
Palestinian official said, during an hour-long phone
call, Obama made veiled threats of "repercussions" for
refusing, saying:
"Obama threatened on Thursday night to take measures
against the Palestinian Authority if it insists on
going to the Security Council to condemn Israeli
settlement activity, and demand that it be stopped.
There will be repercussions for Palestinian-American
relations if you continue your attempts to go to the
Security Council and ignore our requests in this
matter, especially as we suggested other
alternatives."
Speaking for Hamas in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoun said:
"This confirms the total support by the American
administration for the arbitrary police of the
occupation government. It should push the PA to adopt
a strategy of unity....and take a national decision to
end all forms of negotiations with the (Israel)
occupation." Washington is "completely biased towards
the occupation and this confirms the failure of
betting on a peace settlement" America doesn't want,
never did, and won't tolerate as observers following
the process know.
Withhold kudos for Abass/Fayyad and other top PA
officials, figures serving Israeli/Washington, not
Palestinian interests for years. Their resolve comes
now as a face-saving measure only after Al Jazeera's
late January Palestine Papers release, exposing PA
peace negotiations treachery. A previous article
explained, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/01/palestine-papers-revealed_25.html
The documents showed Palestinian negotiators were
duplicitous traitors, bargaining away Palestinian
rights for their own self-interest. Abass and
appointed prime minister Salam Fayyad were principally
responsible. Abass' treachery way predates his
presidency. At least from when he was chief Oslo
negotiator for agreeing to Israeli demands,
effectively capitulating for nothing in return. All
major issues were left unresolved, including
settlement population growth that more than doubled
since 1993 and keeps expanding on stolen Palestinian
land.
On February 19, the International Middle East Media
Center said 300,000 Israeli settlers occupied the West
Bank and East Jerusalem since 1993. "Currently, over
500,000 live in settlements constructed on Palestinian
land occupied by Israel since 1967. The other 4.5
million Israelis live on land that was confiscated
from Palestinians in 1948" to create the state of
Israel.
They lost everything: their homeland, freedom, and
chance to live peacefully because Israel and its
Washington paymaster won't tolerate it - not then, not
now, not ever unless forced.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog
site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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