Legitimizing Terror

That Jimmy Carter issue continues. Should we talk to our enemies? I think so. Christ thought so. Mohamed thought so. But not the US government, not the Government of the State of Israel, not the Governments of the Arab World. Farid Ghadry is of thier opinion. Perhaps they all know best.

Washington DC April 19, 2008//RPS Opinion - Farid Ghadry// -- The direct and indirect effect of president Jimmy Carter visit to Gaza, Egypt, and Damascus to meet with members of Hamas sends chills down the spine of every Arab and Muslim working for reforms in the Middle East because it legitimizes terror and violence and dilutes all the efforts that peaceful Arab reformers have committed themselves to. One such reformer told me: "Why are we working so hard for peace if the Americans prefer to deal with terror?." I could not utter but words of encouragement knowing deep inside that he is right.
It is simply fascinating to watch how the foreign policy of one like president Carter impacts negatively the in-roads of moderate Arabs. Under the auspices of "seeking peace", president Carter is reversing years of hard work by many Palestinians and Israelis who see the road to co-existence paved by true peaceful acts. For president Carter to meet with individuals with blood on their hands not only legitimizes terror but it also encourages it in two ways: It sends the signal to Hamas that its violence pays off but also inspires those who vacillate between violence and peace to surrender to violence.

Obama slams Carter for meeting Hamas

This comes in from ATFP. So it seems that putative President Obama's we'll talk to anyone dictum is qualified with a "Not if they believe in the obliteration of Israel" rider. Has anyone told him that though Hamas' devotion to a one state solution is qualified, the great rejectionists are the Iranians these days. Is he not going to talk to them after all? If so he might as well have kept his mouth shut in the first place. But I don't mean to be harsh on the boy. He has a difficult row to hoe.

PHILADELPHIA - U.S. Senator Barack Obama on Wednesday criticized former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for meeting with leaders of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas as he tried to reassure Jewish voters that his presidential candidacy is not a threat to them or U.S. support for Israel. The Democratic presidential candidate's comments, made to a group of Jewish leaders in Philadelphia, were his first on Carter's controversial meeting scheduled this week in Egypt.

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Qatar will complain about Gaza

Qatar is brave when it comes to Israel - or foolish perhaps. But will Israel ever respond to pressure from Qatar?

Qatar's prime minister insisted on Sunday that he would raise Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as she made a controversial visit to the Gulf emirate . . .

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Tiny Party Shows Large Clout on Settlements

If the USA is going to role over like some timid mouse - the Middle East Peace Process is doomed before it's begun. See this story sent through by Dajani at ATFP:

By Griff WitteWashington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, April 2, 2008; Page A09
JERUSALEM, April 1 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Israel on Monday having failed to persuade leaders here to halt settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land. But the setback for Rice was a victory for Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
Within hours of Rice's departure, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was on the phone with Yossef to tell him that plans for building 800 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit had been approved, according to two Shas officials, just as Shas had requested.

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