I can't believe the "Israel Lobby" sat still for this - from Condoleezza Rice:
"... the ideology of violent extremism is not something that a majority in the Middle East will actually support."
Doesn't she read the New York Times? March 19, page A-10:
Poll Shows Most Palestinians Favor Violence Over Talks
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians support the attack this month on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight young men, most of them teenagers, an indication of the alarming level of Israeli-Palestinian tension in recent weeks.According to the poll, of 1,270 Palestinians in face-to-face interviews, 84 percent supported the March 6 attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, one of Israel’s most prominent centers of religious Zionism and ideological wellspring of the settler movement in the West Bank. [The Palestinian pollster] said that result was the single highest support for an act of violence in his 15 years of polling here.
The survey also shows unprecedented support for the shooting of rockets on Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip and for the end of the peace negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
And this next bit is no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Condi's blind love and devotion to the palestinian "cause," but still, I am amazed she had the chutzpah to press the "urgency" of a palestinian state to this particular audience. I find it devastating that the Jews just sat there and took it. This is the all powerful Israel Lobby? This audience wouldn't say boo to a goose.
More Condi:
".... The expansion of violent extremism in the Middle East makes the creation of a peaceful, effective Palestinian state more urgent, not less. A responsible Palestinian state, just like a responsible Iraqi state or a Lebanese state, could anchor our common values in the region, therefore blunting the advance of our enemies. The present opportunity is not perfect by any means, but it is better than any other in several years, and we need to seize it. We need to take this chance to advance the historic and long-held aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis have waited too long for the security they desire and deserve. And Palestinians have waited too long, amid daily humiliations, for the dignity of an independent state..... We still believe that we have a chance to reach an agreement on the basic contours of a peaceful Palestinian state. I know that this is ambitious, but if we can pursue this goal by the end of the year, it will be an historic breakthrough for people who believe in peace. The goal itself, though, will endure beyond the current U.S. leadership. I believe that the Administration’s approach to this will and must endure. This means the need to support responsible Palestinians in building a democratic state from the ground up that has both the will and the means to fight terrorism.
Ending this conflict will require difficult and painful sacrifices on both sides. But these are choices that Israelis can and should make confidently."
Oh, and PM Olmert also spoke to AIPAC yesterday:
"Ladies and gentlemen,As you know all too well, the situation between Israel and its neighbors, the Palestinians and the other Arab states, is sensitive and complex. My responsibility as Prime Minister, and that of every government in Israel, is first and foremost for the security of its citizens, and we will never compromise on this principle."
So how come there are so many maimed and murdered Jews?
Posted by: ShelbSpeaks | Wednesday, 04 June 2008 at 10:22 AM