Thin Red Line: Bush Blocking Report Critical of Israel's West Bank Policies
The former Marine Commandant and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO's assignment: Pick up where Annapolis left off, shepherd what there is to shepherd regarding America's role in mediating a Palestinian-Israeli peace, and report back on the situation on the ground.
Jones is done with his report. The smiles have been wiped off the faces of the Bush administration. According to Haaretz, the Israeli daily, Jones' "conclusions about Israel are scathing," especially on two issues: How Israel defines its security interests in the West Bank too broadly, and how it deals with the Palestinian Authority.
Translation: Israel's so-called "security fence," being built well inside the West Bank rather than along the 1967 borders delineating the West Bank from Israel, is less a security measure than a way to encroach and annex some 20 percent of the West Bank's land. The fence thus seeds more animosity than it creates a climate for peace. And Israeli authorities' continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank further dooms aims of a two-state solution. As for the Palestinian Authority, Israel continues to deny or undermine its authority in the West Bank, making it impossible for the PA to assume control of the region, while Washington hasn't followed through on its own pledge to train and upgrade the PA's security services, making it easy for Israel to paint the security services as corrupt and unreliable. Catch-22.
Those are my conclusions, to be sure--not Jones'. But let's be realistic. It's not as if a report critical of Israeli policies in the West Bank can scrape up new and original findings. These are the recurring issues. They just haven't been dealt as such in the Bush administration, which has acted more as an adjunct of Israeli policy than as an honest, independent peace broker.
"The harsh criticisms contained in the executive summary are reportedly upsetting the Bush administration." Haaretz notes. "Some senior U.S. officials are demanding that the full report not be published, so as not to create a storm in advance of the presidential elections in November. Jones, however, is apparently insisting that his full report be published, just as the report he issued last year on the Iraqi security forceswas."
That's assuming the American press will want to pay attention either to Jones' demands or to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the middle of the McCain-Obama conflict. But Jones seems to know when and how the media's clocks whir. It's late July, early August, the month of traditional slumber in newsy matters, even on the campaign trail. This would be the time for Jones to make some noise.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to be up to its inflaming tricks, as the Times reports today: "An Israeli defense committee has approved the construction of 22 homes in a barely populated West Bank settlement, Defense Ministry officials said Thursday. The move appeared to catch some Israeli officials off guard, angered Palestinians and was likely to prompt criticism from the international community as it tried to push forward a long-faltering peace process."
It is nevertheless encouraging that even within the Israeli military, voices are rising against settler violence directed at Palestinians.
Comments
Negative reports relative to Israel’s behavior in the region are certainly nothing new. Even the more moderate voices within Israel decry their governments actions. The real tragedy here is the continued silence of the MSM on these issues, and the complicity of the US government, both at the behest of AIPAC. I find it alarming that, in an increasingly xenophobic America plastered from sea to shining sea with the faux patriotism of magnetic ribbons, 3% of the population should hold such sway with policymakers and policy, to the exclusion of the plight of millions. In a sane world these would be seen and received for exactly what they are - criminal acts.
Has the USS Liberty failed to teach us anything?