The US/Israeli Script.
Ha'aretz are reporting that Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Department of the Treasury, is due to arrive in Israel soon to discuss ways to economically punish Iran and the Palestinian Authority.
It was reported this week that Washington was planning a "financial assault" on Iran that would include targeting Iranian bank accounts in Europe and Iranian-owned financial institutions.Please notice the casual linking of the Palestinian Authority to the Iranians as if both are interchangeable.
Israel and the U.S. are also co-operating in efforts to prevent the transfer of funds to the Hamas government.
Now, I find it very hard to imagine any way that the US and Israel could actually cause any real hardship to the Iranians that wouldn't be met with a swift retaliatory response; so it is best to assume that they are named only to put the proposed intended attack on the Palestinians into some kind of international perspective.
It's no less than the worst kind of guilt by association.
As I reported here yesterday, the US and Israel are ignoring any reality that doesn't fit into their pre-written script that Hamas cannot possibly offer a solution to the current impasse in the Middle East.
They have decided that the Palestinians must be starved for no other reason than they elected a group of people that the US and Israel disapprove of.
They have ignored the fact that Hamas have rejected calls from bin Laden and stated that they desire "good relationships with the West"; ignored Hamas' long ceasefire, and the fact that Hamas has offered Israel a deal of "quiet for quiet".
All of the above is deemed irrelevant.
As further evidence of this pre-written script, and of Israel's demands that we must view all future events through their own fractured prism, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni recently warned Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos:
That Hamas leaders would make seemingly moderate statements to obtain legitimacy and financing.So now their "seeming" moderation is something that can also be used against them and probably, any future act of moderation, should be viewed as a mere attempt to "obtain legitimacy and financing".
So, you see, the script is written.
There is nothing that Hamas can do to step out from their preordained role "as terrorists that cannot be dealt with".
With this mindset, the US and Israel can no longer pretend that they are serious about peace in the region.
The reality is that the US is buying into this script to allow the Kadina Party to unilaterally decide Israel's borders, which - in actuality - means grabbing Palestinian land.
This will do nothing to aid peace in the region and will inevitably escalate tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
When the predictable orgy of violence erupts, both the US and Israel will claim they had no-one to negotiate with.
That's the irony. But then, that's the script.
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2 comments:
There is nothing that Hamas can do to step out from their preordained role "as terrorists that cannot be dealt with".
Hogwash. Hamas can start by acknowledging Israel and amending its charter. The charter that calls for the destruction of Israel.
They can also condemn suicide attacks and all forms of violence.
Simple things like this go a long way to proving that they are interested in peace and not violence.
Hamas have acknowledged Israel and have said that they are willing to discuss a two state solution.
They have also said that they will no longer use suicide bombings as a weapon.
What they would not do, was to condemn a suicide bombing at a time when Israel is dropping two hundred shells a day into the Gaza Strip.
They have also offered a deal of "quiet for quiet". Israel's response was a rocket attack that killed six people.
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