Palestinians to seek full UN membership Sept. 23

[Boiler 44,929]

I wonder if it will be removed from I Tunes, there is a precedent.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I wonder if it will be removed from I Tunes, there is a precedent.

It would be par for the course. Crayons, children's pictures, songs... I mean what isn't a threat to Israel ?

[MyLittlePony 340]

Israel can do whatever they please how will it effect everyone else including USA?

[Boiler 44,929]

Obama addresses UN as Palestinian bid prompts rallies

COMMENTS (495)

President Obama says there can be "no short cut" to a lasting peaceContinue reading the main story

Palestinian statehood bid

UK dilemma

Q&A: Palestinian bid

Palestinian views

In quotes: Bid reaction

Barack Obama has told the UN General Assembly the Palestinians deserve their own state, but that this would only be achieved through talks with Israel.

The US president's speech came as diplomatic efforts for Palestinian UN membership intensified, while thousands rallied in the West Bank.

He added there could be no "short cut" to peace, and is expected to urge the Palestinians to give up the initiative.

A Palestinian official said the UN would be given time to study the bid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14997936

[Dan and Judy 614]

Obama addresses UN as Palestinian bid prompts rallies

COMMENTS (495)

President Obama says there can be "no short cut" to a lasting peaceContinue reading the main story

Palestinian statehood bid

UK dilemma

Q&A: Palestinian bid

Palestinian views

In quotes: Bid reaction

Barack Obama has told the UN General Assembly the Palestinians deserve their own state, but that this would only be achieved through talks with Israel.

The US president's speech came as diplomatic efforts for Palestinian UN membership intensified, while thousands rallied in the West Bank.

He added there could be no "short cut" to peace, and is expected to urge the Palestinians to give up the initiative.

A Palestinian official said the UN would be given time to study the bid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...e-east-14997936

I think Obama is going to wind up with the Nobel Peace Prize

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Obama addresses UN as Palestinian bid prompts rallies

COMMENTS (495)

President Obama says there can be "no short cut" to a lasting peaceContinue reading the main story

Palestinian statehood bid

UK dilemma

Q&A: Palestinian bid

Palestinian views

In quotes: Bid reaction

Barack Obama has told the UN General Assembly the Palestinians deserve their own state, but that this would only be achieved through talks with Israel.

The US president's speech came as diplomatic efforts for Palestinian UN membership intensified, while thousands rallied in the West Bank.

He added there could be no "short cut" to peace, and is expected to urge the Palestinians to give up the initiative.

A Palestinian official said the UN would be given time to study the bid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14997936

The Palestinian proposal specifically mentions a negotiated agreement with Israel. But anyway, no surprises from Obama.

Meanwhile, today in occupied Palestine:

Bethlehem

Hebron

Nablus

Edited September 22, 2011 by wife_of_mahmoud

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Ramallah

Tubas

Damascus Gate, East Jerusalem

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I think Obama is going to wind up with the Nobel Peace Prize

He can use them for book ends

[Boiler 44,929]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15014037

Barack Obama has told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he will veto his bid for UN membership, as he tried to persuade him to drop the plans.

4 More Years

Edited September 22, 2011 by Boiler

[sandinista! 1,816]

It would be par for the course. Crayons, children's pictures, songs... I mean what isn't a threat to Israel ?

meanwhile avigdor lieberman actively pursues arming and aiding pkk terrorists, and basically no one bats an eye. go figure.

[mawilson 2,133]

Barack Obama has told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he will veto his bid for UN membership, as he tried to persuade him to drop the plans.

Well that's disappointing.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Well that's disappointing.

Considering the U.S. has used its veto 43 times for Israel's benefit since 1970, what's one more

....but LOL @ U.S. headlines going where even Walt & Mearsheimer wouldn't go

[웃 910]

ALLAH HAS SPOKEN (9/23 Daily Devotion):

Edited September 23, 2011 by Lord Infamous

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Israel's political tsunami has arrived

Reactions to Abbas and Netanyahu's addresses to the UN are clear illustrations of Abbas' ascent to political rock star status and Netanyahu's increasing international isolation.

By Barak Ravid

Half an hour before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas went up to the podium at the UN General Assembly, Salva Kiir, president of the world's youngest country, South Sudan, was giving his own speech. As he went on, a slow buzz began to spread throughout the hall.

World leaders, foreign ministers and ambassadors came in one after the other and filled the empty spots in the auditorium. The seats reserved for guests and journalists were also quickly taken. When Kiir finished his speech, everyone expected Abbas to speak next, but due to a change in the schedule the president of Armenia ascended the stage. The large crowd of people impatiently anticipating the day's main event heaved a communal grunt of dissatisfaction over the unexpected warm-up show.

Had a stranger stumbled into the General Assembly on Friday, they might have thought Lady Gaga – or at least Madonna – was about to perform, and not the somber Abbas. Dozens of people who couldn't find a seat stood along the walls of the hall, while others sat down on the stairs. When Abbas' name was announced, the crowd rose to its feet and received him with applause befitting nothing less than a rock star.

Abbas' speech was unrelenting. A few of the things he said would even make Yossi Beilin or Shimon Peres cringe. When he talked about Palestine as a land holy to several religions, he mentioned Muslims and Christians, but failed to mention the Jews. He spoke of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and said that the IDF and settlers abuse farmers and sick people on their way to the hospital.

Yet all of this did not prevent the majority of the representatives in the hall to applaud Abbas, and even give him a standing ovation when he waved a copy of the letter he submitted earlier to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requesting membership to the UN. When Abbas yelled over the podium "enough, enough, enough," the representatives of the world's nations believed him.

Israel's handling of the Palestinian bid reached an especially embarrassing peak during Abbas' speech. Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who entered the hall a few minutes before the speech began, decided once again to use an international diplomatic event for a little bit of internal politics.

When the Palestinian president began speaking, Lieberman stood up and left the room, as if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself was standing on stage. He later explained that he left in protest of Abbas' "campaign" against Israel. Minister Yuli Edelstein left two minutes after him. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor followed the two, leaving his deputy behind.

Netanyahu came to New York in a combative mood. A series of articles in the American press, that held him responsible for the deadlock in the peace process, disturbed him deeply. He was angry over what he coined "the New York discourse."

The Israeli press became the "little devil", in his eyes and Thomas Friedman became the "big devil." On the one hand Netanyahu mocks anyone who attributes any real credence to Friedman, yet on the other hand he makes sure to read and get annoyed over every article he writes.

Netanyahu even mentioned this in his speech, when he said "better a bad press than a good eulogy, and better still would be a fair press whose sense of history extends beyond breakfast, and which recognizes Israel's legitimate security concerns.”

The criticism Netanyahu received from former President Bill Clinton that evening made Netanyahu so mad that he asked his aides to request that the White House issue a statement distancing itself from Clinton's statements.

When Netanyahu got up on stage there were already empty pockets in the hall. Many representatives, especially those from Arab countries, left after Abbas' speech. The silence in the hall was also noticeable. The applause that interrupted Abbas' speech several times was not extended to Netanyahu; the only applause he received was from his advisers and a small group of Jewish activists.

Netanyahu came to the UN to defend himself from international criticism of his government's policies, and of him. His speech was aggressive and combative, but it was aimed more at Israeli public opinion than at those sitting in the General Assembly. Netanyahu focused on the basic fears and anxieties of every Israeli – from the Warsaw Ghetto to Hamas and Hezbollah rockets to the Iranian nuclear program.

Like Muammar Gadhafi, who stood at that podium a year earlier and called for the dismantling of the UN, Netanyahu also launched an attack on the organization that contributed significantly to the creation of the state of Israel. “A theater of the absurd” and “a house of lies and of darkness” were only some of the compliments Netanyahu bestowed upon the UN institutions.

Instead of a new political message or a groundbreaking initiative that would try to restart the peace process and put an end to Israeli's diplomatic troubles, Netanyahu chose to give the audience a lesson in the Jewish people's history, from King Hezekiah to the Pogroms to the present.

Netanyahu believes that there is nothing he can do to change the narrative that paints him as the one saying no to peace and the Palestinians as the side who desires it. Therefore, in his mind, "we must tell the truth until the world understands." Some of his sentiments are justified. Even extremely justified. But Netanyahu is not asking himself how he got to a situation where no one in the world believes a word he says in the first place.

Although the Palestinian state was not created at the UN over the weekend – and will probably not be created in the foreseeable future – this was without a doubt a historic event. The cold welcome Netanyahu received stood in stark contrast with the massive support Abbas received from the international community. If anyone still had any doubts – this what a political tsunami looks like, and this is what international isolation feels like.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-political-tsunami-has-arrived-1.386487

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

These are the Bill Clinton remarks (referenced in the article above):

Bill Clinton: Netanyahu isn't interested in Mideast peace deal

Former U.S. President says a cynical perspective of Prime Minister's calls for negotiations 'means that he's just not going to give up the West Bank'.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for the inability to reach a peace deal that would end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, the former U.S. president was quoted by Foreign Policy magazine as claiming that Netanyahu lost interest in the peace process as soon as two basic Israelis demands seemed to come into reach: a viable Palestinian leadership and the possibility of normalizing ties with the Arab world.

"The Israelis always wanted two things that once it turned out they had, it didn't seem so appealing to Mr. Netanyahu," Clinton said, adding that Israel wanted "to believe they had a partner for peace in a Palestinian government, and there's no question -- and the Netanyahu government has said -- that this is the finest Palestinian government they've ever had in the West Bank."

Furthermore, the former U.S. president is quoted by Foreign Policy as saying that Israel was also on the verge of being recognized by Arab nations adding that the "king of Saudi Arabia started lining up all the Arab countries to say to the Israelis, ‘if you work it out with the Palestinians ... we will give you immediately not only recognition but a political, economic, and security partnership."

"This is huge.... It's a heck of a deal," Clinton said, adding: "That's what happened. Every American needs to know this. That's how we got to where we are."

"The real cynics believe that the Netanyahu's government's continued call for negotiations over borders and such means that he's just not going to give up the West Bank," he added.

...

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/bill-clinton-netanyahu-isn-t-interested-in-mideast-peace-deal-1.386222