The UN speeches
The speeches at the UN GA meeting were carefully calibrated. First, that of Pres. Obama was balanced to give both sides, the Israelis and the Palestinians, both rewards and criticisms.
For the Palestinians, he once again berated Israel for its "continuous" building in the West Bank. This might be taken as a criticism of all settlements that he labelled as "illegitimate." Israeli spokemen noted that US policy since Pres. Carter has opposed Israeli settlements on the West Bank, so this was nothing new.
For the Israelis, he emphasized the US committment to Israel's security and the need for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a "Jewish State." Obama also called for renewal of negotiations without preconditions, contrary to Pres. Abbas. Overall, the Israelis, including PM Netanyahu, pronounced themselves satisfied by Obama's speech.
Pres. Abbas has already substituted another precondition for an Israeli building freeze before he will negotiate with Netanyahu, namely that Israel must withdraw to the pre-June 1967 borders. This makes no sense, unless he wants to prevent peace negotitions from taking place. Khaled abu Toameh, the Jerusalem Post Palestinian correspondent, has written that the negative reaction from the PA and from Hamas to Abbas meeting with Netanyahu, even under pressure from Obama, has damaged Abbas politically. Maybe his new, even more extreme, precondition is calculated to resuscitate him politically in the Palestinian "street."
The less said about Muammar Kaddafi's speech, the better. It was long, rambling, incoherent and extreme. Not only that, it was buffoonish and irrelevant. Nuf said!
Netanyahu and Ahmedinejad gave complementary speeches. Netanyahu in an excellent speech criticized the moral failure of the UN and called for strong sanctions against Iran for developing nuclear weapons. Ahmedinejad, although muting his customary denial of the Holocaust, nevertheless managed to insult both Israel and the US, and confirmed for those listening the need for Israel and the West to take his threats seriously. Of course, many world leaders were not listening in the UN chamber because they walked out of Ahmedinejad's speech. Now the speaking is over, let's see what actions result.
For the Palestinians, he once again berated Israel for its "continuous" building in the West Bank. This might be taken as a criticism of all settlements that he labelled as "illegitimate." Israeli spokemen noted that US policy since Pres. Carter has opposed Israeli settlements on the West Bank, so this was nothing new.
For the Israelis, he emphasized the US committment to Israel's security and the need for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a "Jewish State." Obama also called for renewal of negotiations without preconditions, contrary to Pres. Abbas. Overall, the Israelis, including PM Netanyahu, pronounced themselves satisfied by Obama's speech.
Pres. Abbas has already substituted another precondition for an Israeli building freeze before he will negotiate with Netanyahu, namely that Israel must withdraw to the pre-June 1967 borders. This makes no sense, unless he wants to prevent peace negotitions from taking place. Khaled abu Toameh, the Jerusalem Post Palestinian correspondent, has written that the negative reaction from the PA and from Hamas to Abbas meeting with Netanyahu, even under pressure from Obama, has damaged Abbas politically. Maybe his new, even more extreme, precondition is calculated to resuscitate him politically in the Palestinian "street."
The less said about Muammar Kaddafi's speech, the better. It was long, rambling, incoherent and extreme. Not only that, it was buffoonish and irrelevant. Nuf said!
Netanyahu and Ahmedinejad gave complementary speeches. Netanyahu in an excellent speech criticized the moral failure of the UN and called for strong sanctions against Iran for developing nuclear weapons. Ahmedinejad, although muting his customary denial of the Holocaust, nevertheless managed to insult both Israel and the US, and confirmed for those listening the need for Israel and the West to take his threats seriously. Of course, many world leaders were not listening in the UN chamber because they walked out of Ahmedinejad's speech. Now the speaking is over, let's see what actions result.
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:32 PM
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