http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-hearst/the-brake-come-off-in-the_b_5984930.html
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/mee-media-roundup-uk-parliament-vote-palestine-200879001
On Monday, the UK parliament went through a sort of test. They held a vote on the recognition of the Palestinian nation albeit, one without legislative value. Nothing changed officially except that those in Israel that think they can press on with their not-so-secret agenda to wait out or outlast the Palestinian cause now know better.Of course, being non-binding, the vote has gotten a few yeahs that would not have past otherwise. But it is interesting nonetheless to see that past the party lines and diplomacy, when left to decide in their hearts if the situation was fair, the British MPs came to the same conclusion most of the world does : it is not.
In Israel, the exercise was not popular and raised a storm. Never mind that what prompted it was the East Jerusalem and Bethlehem announcements of the last weeks, the former buying houses from the Palestinians and multiplying the religio-historica institutions in it ( Seminary, synagogue etc ) and the latter seizing land by the thousand acres to add settlements in Bethlehem. A hundred years after the Balfour Declaration recognized their right to a state on equal footing with the Jews, the zionist leaning government of Netanyahu has back tracked from all recent advances in negotiation : “1967 borders” heard last year has become “impossible to relinquish security of [ Cisjordania ] … west of the Jordan” and two-state solution became “no peace if Palestine gets recognition”. All the stops have been pulled since the “victory” in Gaza!
Paris answered in kind today and the Israeli media will make for a fun read tomorrow :
They’re calling the bluff by turning things around. What the Israeli PM really says for someone with judgement is that – since to evade the dreadful possibility of ending up negotiating honestly as equals with the Palestinians Israel cannot accept their recognition, they won’t chance peace at all. Fine said Laurent Fabius ( Foreign Affairs Minister ), then if you stop negotiating, you won’t mind if we recognize them.
I don’t believe it is malice by France but just logic. It could help the Peace process to let go of the ideological untruths that are blocking its arteries. And the world is unhappy with the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge. While Jerusalem reaps the spoils of war ( news moves mentioned above ) without having earned them by accomplishing its objective of eradicating Hamas, the world learns about the destruction and wonders : http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.620698 Was it worth it?
The numbers of the UK vote might come in handy right now 247 to 12 in favor of recognizing Palestine. Tens of thousands of e-mails and petition signatures were also collected. This sympathy count will be a different one if others do the same. it may help Israel immensely to learn that most people around the world find its actions uncouth at best. It may stop it from running its chain out until the huge American wall that protects it and in which the last link is fixed either strangles out its course or simply crumbles under the repeated yanks ( pun intended ).
And inspired by Laurent Fabius, I had this idea that I too could formulate a “mechanical opposition” containing statement for Israel. It need not be complicated.
I, ____________, fully recognize the right to existence of the State of Israel conditional to that of Palestine. If the Palestinian people disappears or survives in deportation, relocation or incorporation only because Israel refused to negotiate Peace, I will find it culprit of crime against humanity and retrieve all my support to it.
See? Easy! If the founding act of a new nation is genocide, cultural, real or otherwise, no matter how long it might have endured prior, it is not an acceptable participant in the global adventure of humanity. And as I put it, it is not a declaration but a questioning & a safeguard. Israel has the time, and means to negotiate peace, it only lacks the will. I have always thought that the Jews and their descendants needed a land and I am still convinced of that but it cannot be at the expanse of another nation or their long history might as well repeat itself, worse chapters intended. By linking my support to this condition, I am only humbly forcing the Israelis ( many of which are not represented by their parliament nearly as well as the british subjects BTW ) to take notice of the incongruity before it’s too late for all those involved.
And good luck with that, Tay.
Definitive Lapse of Reason 