Wolfowitz support for new petition could give key push to grass-roots peac

[Herschel]

A grass-roots petition for Israeli-Palestinian peace, chugging along slowly for months, took off last week when a powerful and surprising name was attached to it.
Paul Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy secretary of defense who is a close adviser to President Bush, voiced strong support for a plan formulated by former Israeli Shin Bet security chief Ami Ayalon and Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh.

"There are thousands of Israelis and Palestinians who feel the same way" that President Bush does, Wolfowitz told a Georgetown University audience, referring to Bush´s support for side-by-side Israeli and Palestinian states under the "road map" peace plan.

"How do I know?" he said. "Well, right now there is a significant grassroots movement that has already gotten some 90,000 Israeli signatures and some 60,000 Palestinian signatures in support of principles that look very much like the road map favoring a two-state solution."

Wolfowitz´s comments, buried in a lengthy prepared speech, surprised Israeli, American Jewish and Palestinian officials.

cut

http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=13399&intcategoryid=3

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This could be encouraging news, so long as Israel's interests are not undermined.

[denverbill]

1. Bwahahahahaha. Sorry, but Sharon ain't going to do it.

Sharon will never make peace with the Palestinians. He wants all of Palestine for Israel, and won't accept anything less.

[ant]

2. by the by - about Wolfowitz

I saw him lecture at my school last week. The lecture itself was pretty bland and unoriginal, but I was very surprised with his responses during the Q&A bit. He basically responded to everyone by saying "you must love Saddam/hate America." It was really bizarre and frightening to see a high-ranking government official up close like that resort to bumper sticker, right-wing cliches. On the plus side, though, it turns out he does NOT, in fact, have horns and a tail. (Maybe methaphorical ones, but nothing clearly visible.)

The first question asked was on the I/P conflict, though, and that one I thought he handled pretty well. He talked about Israel's behavior and how it wasn't helping, etc., and then ended along the lines of "the Palestinians have to go first and end the terrorism." He commented that they should adopt the ways of Ghandi, which got some snickers from the audience.

Personally I kind of agree with that. I think both sides in this conflict are equally responsible for the current state of affairs, and there's no doubt in my mind that if the Palestinians were to all of a sudden just all go on a hunger strike or something it would do a great deal of good for the way the US public, at least, views the conflict. I know some will object to that as a matter of principle, and I can't say I disagree, but in terms of practical steps that can be taken I think it would be incredibly effective.

[judy]

4. Interesting post, ant!

"He commented that they should adopt the ways of Ghandi, which got some snickers from the audience"

Never in a million years would I have ever thought that I would agree with Wolfowitz!
I do think the Palestinian crisis is one that lends itself perfectly to Gandhi's methods. I am not sure that Wolfowitz knows what they are and what they do, though...

First of all, stop the suicide bombings. Each suicide bombing is one more excuse for Israeli violence. Second refuse absolutely to cooperate with the Israelis (i.e refuse to build the condos in the settlements), third get a whole crowd of people together and cross the checkpoints, even at cost of life etc. I'm not enough of an expert of Palestine to know what the key issues of a nonviolent campaign should be, but if they did bring a message of Peace instead of killing people, they would put their current suffering to better use.

[paradisiac]

11. there's a transcript

of Wolfowitz doing that routine at Georgetown University,
http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20031030-depsecdef0833.html

Q: Hi, Mr. Wolfowitz. My name is Ruthy Coffman. I think I speak for many of us here when I say that your policies are deplorable. They're responsible for the deaths of innocents and the disintegration of American civil liberties.

We are tired, Secretary Wolfowitz, of being feared and hated by the world. We are tired of watching Americans and Iraqis die, and international institutions cry out in anger against us. We are simply tired of your policies. We hate them, and we will never stop opposing them. We will never tire or falter in our search for justice. And in the name of this ideal and the ideal of freedom, we assembled a message for you that was taken away from us and that message says that the killing of innocents is not the solution, but rather the problem. Thank you.

Wolfowitz: I have to infer from that that you would be happier if Saddam Hussein were still in power.

(cut text)

Q: I'd just like to say that people like Ruthy and myself have always opposed Saddam Hussein, especially when Saddam Hussein was being funded by the United States throughout the '80s. And -- And after the killings of the Kurds when the United States increased aid to Iraq. We were there opposing him as well. People like us were there. We are for democracy. And I have a question.

What do you plan to do when Bush is defeated in 2004 and you will no longer have the power to push forward the project for New American Century's policy of American military and economic dominance over the people of the world?

Wolfowitz: I don't know if it was just Freudian or you intended to say it that way, but you said you opposed Saddam Hussein especially when the United States supported him.

It seems to me that the north star of your comment is that you dislike this country and its policies. And it seems to me a time to have supported the United States and to push the United States harder was in 1991 when Saddam Hussein was slaughtering those innocents so viciously.

[ant]

13. that's it

That's the lecture I attended. Thanks for the transcript.

[DemoVet]

12. I have long been of the opinion

that if the Palestinians had a Ghandi or a Martin Luther King leading them instead of Yasser Arafat that they would have had their state long ago. Their so-called leadership has led them to poverty and ruin so many times in pursuit of it's own selfish ends that I wonder if they're capable of forming a viable state of their own. The true mark of insanity is doing the wrong thing over and over and hoping that just once it will come out right, and Arafat et al have been doing just that for the past 40 years or more. And now, to make things even worse, the Israelis are copying them under Ariel Sharon.

[Darranar]

3. Talk one way, act another...

when they start reducing aid and stop vetoing UN resolutions, maybe I'll beleive them a bit more.

[peacetalksforall]

5. I won't, I can't trust him.

Evil personified. If he say white, look for black. Even if he were kissing his parents, children, and wife - I would not trust him.

Evil with an agenda.

[sungkathak]

6. Put on a Haluween mask

Do you think a wolf will eat vegetable? Probably he plans to take over the chair of Rumsfeld so he needs a peaceful face.

[AntiCoup2K4]

7. Associating "Peace" with Wolfoshit and Sharon is like...

.....associating fuel economy with SUV's.

.....associating "painless" with "dentist"

.....associating "diversity" with the KKK

[hang a left]

8. Words are just that, words. They mean nothing unless

backed up with action.

[goforit]

9. Surprised????..................Nice try!

Sharon supporters are taking huge risks............Thats why!!!

[kainah]

10. Don't trust him

At that same speech, he also said the Palestinians should adopt the principles of Gandhi and that, absolutely, he believes large numbers of people in the streets can make enormous change.

And we saw exactly how much he followed through on THAT belief last winter when there were MILLIONS in the streets worldwide saying "No Iraq War."

He was sucking up to the crowd at Georgetown, trying to appear quite the moderate. During the questioning, however, when the students asked several very pointed & very direct (& very informed) questions, he showed his true colors by telling one girl, "I can only infer from that that you would prefer it if Saddam Hussein was still in power." Of course, she had said NOTHING like that.

This talk was a farce. I'm glad it has boosted signatures for the petition but, don't ever believe Wolfowitz.