Photo credited to AFPWhither Israel in the light of events in the Middle East? - and what is happening on the ground?
From Inter Press Service [as reproduced on CommonDreams] in "US Calls Same Plays for Israel, But Has Game Changed? Dead Peace Process Could be "National Suicide" for Israel" relevant views of John Mearsheimer, co-author of the best-selling seminal book The Israel Lobby.
"Surrounded by a host of increasingly hostile neighbours, Israel is now more vulnerable than ever before, having lost the bulwark of Turkey last year and more recently its right- hand man, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo.
Without the lavish aid package it receives from the U.S. - three billion dollars annually - Israel could not hope to hold its head above the tempestuous waters in which it navigates.
"It's been the clearly stated policy of the Obama administration, since coming to office in January 2009, that the Israelis should stop building settlements and sit down with the Palestinians to negotiate a two-state settlement," Dr. John Mearsheimer, co-director of the Programme on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, told a press briefing Wednesday.
"The only reason it won't happen is because the Israel lobby will insist that Obama veto the resolution. This brings up the question of where we are headed," he said.
"A conversation about the two-state solution is meaningless, there's not going to be one," Mearsheimer noted. "The Palestinians are never going to their own state. Instead there is going to be a Greater Israel."
This Greater Israel, which will consume both Gaza and the West Bank and therefore include all the Palestinians therein, presents a unique opportunity for democracy, though it is still a far cry away from justice in Palestine.
"Whether Greater Israel comes in 20 years or 30, it is going to be dominated by the Palestinians and not by the Jews because Palestinian citizens will largely outnumber Jewish ones," Mearsheimer told the press. "In a democratic Greater Israel, Palestinians will have the power of the majority."
"By allowing this to happen, the U.S. is basically helping the state of Israel to commit national suicide," he concluded.
Harking back to the words of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mearsheimer argued that unless it achieved a two-state solution, Israel was fated to become the apartheid South Africa of the 21st century.
"This has already happened," he said, "and it's about time Palestinians shut down the PA, take advantage of what's going on in the Arab world and capitalise on the fact that democracy is a cherished value, particularly in the United States."
"After Tunisia and Egypt, it's the perfect time to argue against apartheid and in favour of democracy," Mearsheimer concluded."
From Inter Press Service [as reproduced on CommonDreams] in "US Calls Same Plays for Israel, But Has Game Changed? Dead Peace Process Could be "National Suicide" for Israel" relevant views of John Mearsheimer, co-author of the best-selling seminal book The Israel Lobby.
"Surrounded by a host of increasingly hostile neighbours, Israel is now more vulnerable than ever before, having lost the bulwark of Turkey last year and more recently its right- hand man, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo.
Without the lavish aid package it receives from the U.S. - three billion dollars annually - Israel could not hope to hold its head above the tempestuous waters in which it navigates.
"It's been the clearly stated policy of the Obama administration, since coming to office in January 2009, that the Israelis should stop building settlements and sit down with the Palestinians to negotiate a two-state settlement," Dr. John Mearsheimer, co-director of the Programme on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, told a press briefing Wednesday.
"The only reason it won't happen is because the Israel lobby will insist that Obama veto the resolution. This brings up the question of where we are headed," he said.
"A conversation about the two-state solution is meaningless, there's not going to be one," Mearsheimer noted. "The Palestinians are never going to their own state. Instead there is going to be a Greater Israel."
This Greater Israel, which will consume both Gaza and the West Bank and therefore include all the Palestinians therein, presents a unique opportunity for democracy, though it is still a far cry away from justice in Palestine.
"Whether Greater Israel comes in 20 years or 30, it is going to be dominated by the Palestinians and not by the Jews because Palestinian citizens will largely outnumber Jewish ones," Mearsheimer told the press. "In a democratic Greater Israel, Palestinians will have the power of the majority."
"By allowing this to happen, the U.S. is basically helping the state of Israel to commit national suicide," he concluded.
Harking back to the words of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mearsheimer argued that unless it achieved a two-state solution, Israel was fated to become the apartheid South Africa of the 21st century.
"This has already happened," he said, "and it's about time Palestinians shut down the PA, take advantage of what's going on in the Arab world and capitalise on the fact that democracy is a cherished value, particularly in the United States."
"After Tunisia and Egypt, it's the perfect time to argue against apartheid and in favour of democracy," Mearsheimer concluded."
Comments