Washington Post Supports Israeli Settlements

Washington Post Supports Israeli Settlements

by Stephen Lendman

Post editors are contemptuous of fundamental human rights. They spurn democratic values. They consider rule of law principles quaint and out-of-date. Wealth, power, privilege, and dominance alone matter. 

When America goes to war or plans one, they march supportively in lockstep. They ignore the worst of imperial crimes. They endorse Israeli occupation harshness. 

Jewish rights alone matter, they believe. Settlement construction is legitimate, they suggest. It's no obstacle to peace, they claim. Further construction won't prevent a two-state solution.

Instead of telling readers what’s important to know, they defile responsible journalism. They turn truth on its head. They support wrong over right. 

They believe might is right. They endorse Jewish supremacy and specialness. They're comfortable with belligerence, persecution and land theft.

Israel has a divine right to settlements, they suggest. On January 1, their editorial headlined "Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements," saying:

The reaction to recent settlement construction plans is "counterproductive" and overheated. It "reinforces two mistaken but widely held notions: that the settlements are the principle obstacle to (peace), and that further construction will make a Palestinian state impossible."

Fact check

On November 15, 1988, Palestine achieved statehood. Most UN Member States recognize it.

Israel spurns peace. Netanyahu calls negotiating it "a waste of time." Decades of good faith Palestinian initiatives were spurned. 

Conflict resolution is impossible without a reliable partner. Palestinians never had one. They don't now. Post editors understand. Instead of explaining, they conceal what what readers need to know.

They compound bad commentary with lies. Settlement policy changed after Oslo, they claim.

"Mr. Netanyahu's government, like several before it, has limited building almost entirely to areas that both sides expect Israel to annex through territorial swaps in an eventual settlement."

Fact check

Diana Buttu spent six years as Palestine's legal advisor. She "attended countless negotiations sessions." She "examined scores of proposals." She "devised numerous counterproposals."

She learned the futility of negotiating with Israel. It demands. It yields nothing. It imposes its will forcefully. Official policy is do  things our way or else.

Oslo reflected betrayal. Rather than withdrawing to pre-1967 borders and "removing all illegal Israeli settlements, Israeli leaders decided to colonize more and annex more Palestinian territory."

"Every Israeli proposal….sought to accommodate" lawless behavior.

Two-state solution supporters "evoke the (notion) of 'land swaps.' In effect they're saying, 'The larcenist has succeeded. Let's respond to his bad behavior on his terms."

Conflict resolution is more distant today than 20 years ago.

Settler population "tripled from 200,000 in 1993 to almost 600,000" in February 2012. Currently it's greater. It's growing exponentially. It's on stolen Palestinian land.

Their resources are stolen in the process. Palestinian rights are entirely spurned. Israel's all take and no give.

Buttu was involved in Oslo negotiations. Israel refused to discuss Jerusalem, the right of return, settlement expansions, borders, water rights, Palestinian self-determination, and other final status issues.

They're still not discussed. Without resolving them, "no solution, one or two-states, will succeed."

Palestinians and Israelis live on the same land. Their populations are roughly equal. Israelis are heading for minority status. Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, and others call Israeli policy apartheid.

Conflict resolution is impossible. Israeli recognition of Palestinian self-determination "remains a mirage." Both sides "don't have another twenty years to waste."

Post editors suppress what readers need to know. They want Palestinians to resolve settlement issues "at the negotiating table." Saying so ignores reality. Israel doesn't negotiate. It demands.

Increased settlement construction won't prevent a two-state solution, Post editors claim. 

The only viable resolution is one state comprised of Israel and the Territories. Nothing else will work.

A single state for Jews and Palestinians in theory at least resolves most intractable issues. 

The alternative assures occupation, continued conflict, land theft, dispossessions, inequality, a permanent non-Jewish underclass, instability, and avoidance of within reach justice.

Israel wants occupation legitimacy and permanence. Palestinians are entitled to sovereign freedom. They deserve world support.

Their rights matter as much as Jewish ones. International law principles are inviolable. They demand ending decades of occupation, colonization and apartheid.

They require treating Arabs and Jews equally. Resolving decades of conflict depends on doing the right thing. There's no other way.

"Netanyahu's (E1) zoning approval is hardly a 'fatal blow' as some claim," say Post editors.

"The exaggerated rhetoric (pressures) Abbas to make a 'freeze' (conditional) for peace talks." 

Expect him to drop it altogether. Doing so will add greater betrayal to his resume. Post editors urge it.

"If Security Council members are really interested in progress toward Palestinian statehood, they will press Abbas to stop using settlements as an excuse for intransigence - and cool their own overheated rhetoric."

Post editors reflect the worst of media scoundrels. They support wrong over right. They ignore inviolable international law. Under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, it's US law.

Post editors understand. Why don't they explain? International law is explicit.

Fourth Geneva's Article 49 states, "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."

In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled:

"Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and an obstacle to peace and to economic and social development." 

"They've "been established in breach of international law" on sovereign Palestinian territory.

Home demolitions, land theft, dispossessions, and settlement construction continue unabated. Post editors support what they should condemn.

Israel wants Green Line partitioning ended. Separation Wall land theft will annex 12% of Palestine when completed. 

Jordan Valley territory is vitally important for Palestinians. It has political, cultural, economic, agricultural, and geographic value. It's too valuable to sacrifice. 

Israel also wants it declared a strategic security asset. It's one-fourth of West Bank land. Occupation harshness shrunk areas accessible to Palestinians to 6%. Israel wants it entirely Judaized.

Likud and likeminded hardliners want Area C, East Jerusalem, all settlements, and planned ones annexed.

Likud's platform leaves no ambiguity. Its position on settlements is clear, saying:

"The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (all Occupied Palestine) are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel."

"The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting."

Oslo became cover to steal West Bank land. Israel wants all valued parts. Netanyahu and previous leaders want Palestinians isolated on worthless scrubland.

They want them deprived of all rights. They want them ruthlessly persecuted and exploited. Abbas supports their agenda. Disingenuous rhetoric belies his complicity.

Palestinians are isolated on their own. Governments able to help do nothing. Media scoundrels suppress what's going on. Israel takes full advantage. It's been that way for decades. Hoped for light at the end of the tunnel remains invisible.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

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.

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