The Delusional Lobby
I guess this is what happens to people who never hear the word "no."
In an op-ed published today by JTA, the two most powerful and influential leaders of the pro-Israel lobby assert, as proclaimed in the article's title, that "Only Israel [is] making the effort toward peace."
The op-ed is written by Lee Rosenberg, president of AIPAC, and Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. (Rosenberg and Solow are not well-known because they are the two organizations' titular leaders, but their words reflect lobby policy.)
Their argument is simple: the Netanyahu government is doing everything in its power to achieve peace with the Palestinians.
Yes, you read it right. Contrary to what pretty much the entire world (including, probably, most of Israel) believes, the Netanyahu government is energetically pursuing an agreement with the Palestinians.
Since assuming office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pursued peace with Israel's neighbors. [...]
Underscoring Israel's sincerity and willingness to make the most difficult choices in the pursuit of peace, a few months after his speech Netanyahu took another bold step, declaring a 10-month moratorium on all Israeli construction in the West Bank. [...]
Alongside political gestures, Israel also has taken significant steps to ensure that life improves for Palestinians in the West Bank. [...]
While the current Israeli government, like its predecessors, has proven its desire for peace, the leader of the Palestinian Authority refuses to meet or even speak on the phone with his Israeli counterpart.
Well, okay, but....
One, the West Bank remains fully occupied. The Palestinians have limited authority in certain areas but have sovereignty nowhere. The Palestinians do not control a single inch. The Israeli army can (and does) come and go whenever and wherever it chooses. Despite the propagation of the myth that Israel has yielded "land for peace," Israel controls precisely as much of the West Bank as it did back in June 1967 when the occupation began: 100%.
Two, Gaza remains under Israeli blockade. Although Israel has promised to ease the blockade of Gaza and the economic strangulation of its people, Gaza remains occupied. There are no Israeli soldiers stationed there but its air, sea and land borders are fully controlled and patrolled. That is occupation. This is despite the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu himself admits that the blockade is not necessary to Israel's security but is, as Sen. Schumer has said, designed to punish the people of Gaza.
Three, Israel continues to expel Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem to make way for settlers. The lobbyists say that there is a ten-month freeze on construction in the West Bank. Ridiculous. The "freeze" does not include the environs of Jerusalem, which is where most of the settlement expansion takes place. As this excellent report from Americans For Peace Now demonstrates, the "freeze" is as real as the freezing weather here in Washington, DC today.
Israel can, and does, build wherever it wants to, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while Palestinians can, and do, see their homes or olive trees disappear whenever Israel feels like building a road, a settlement or a "security wall" on the spot.
It is hard to believe that the authors actually believe the words they put on the page. Just today, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (whose views on Arabs are unabashedly racist) declared that there would be no Palestinian state until 2012 at the earliest, thereby doing his best to kill Israeli-Palestinian negotiations before they even start. A few days ago, Israeli authorities announced plans to expel 22 more Palestinian families from their homes in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem to make way for Israeli-owned businesses. And just hours ago, bulldozers appeared in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem to start building a housing project for ultra-Orthodox Jews in a previously all-Palestinian neighborhood. Such is the occupation 45 years after it began. 45 years.
I'll stop there. Why rebut an article so utterly opposed to reality? I mean, nobody believes this kind of propaganda.
Wait, I forgot.
Congress buys it hook, line and sinker. No, actually it doesn't but it pretends it does to please the organizations headed by Solow and Rosenberg and the others that constitute the lobby.
In fact, no claim made by the lobby is ever rejected by Congress, especially in an election year. Just this week 338 House members and 87 Senators signed on to AIPAC-drafted letters supporting Israeli actions relating to the Gaza flotilla and the blockade itself. Do these legislators believe this nonsense? Of course not. But they sign the letters anyway, usually without reading them.
That is why it is worth reading the Solow/Rosenberg opinion piece. As ridiculous as its arguments are, they are important. You know the phrase "from your mouth to God's ear." In this case it is "from the lobby's mouth to your Congressman's ear."
I will repeat what I have said before (and will again). The lobby is doing Israel no favors when it knowingly distorts the facts in order to help Israel sustain the occupation. The occupation is destroying Israel, with the help of the lobby and these self-proclaimed friends in Congress. Fortunately, there is J Street which is, in fact, what AIPAC calls itself: "America's Pro-Israel Lobby." (It is also pro-American.)
Rosenberg and Solow should be ashamed. Rest assured, they aren't.
Note: the lobby's next big move will come when it starts telling the US government that Iran sanctions have failed and it's time to allow Israel to attack. And, as Yogi Berra famously said, it'll be déjà vu all over again.
