Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Annapolis: nothing from nothing leaves nothing

“As yet another attempt to get a final settlement gets underway, it is fair to ask if this is really more about giving the appearance of progress than making progress.”
Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent, BBC News
David Seaton's News Links

The legendary cafeteria of the Israeli parliament, where all the deals are done, where the fate of the Middle East and beyond is often settled in an incongruent corner deli atmosphere of chatty intimacy: a place that is usually a hotbed of rumors and activity, is strangely quiet.

Reading the article below from the Jerusalem Post tells the whole story. about Annapolis

In very complex situations, like this one where there is little real information, look for the significant detail: stories like this often tell you more than pages and pages of official drivel. DS


Why Annapolis draws yawns in Knesset corridors - Jerusalem Post
Abstract: To understand the difference between the upcoming Annapolis peace summit and previous peace efforts, politicians said they need only peer into the Knesset's unofficial conference room - the Knesset cafeteria. "In the weeks before Oslo, and before Camp David, the Knesset was so full the cafeteria ran out of food," said one Kadima MK, who was the only coalition member in the nearly-empty cafeteria Monday. "The excitement was tangible. Things were bustling. You couldn't find a table, and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife... That is, if you even got a knife. Look at it now." Barely two weeks before the Annapolis peace summit, and the Knesset cafeteria remained largely empty of MKs despite three no-confidence motions and faction meetings on the day's agenda.(....) "This is not a serious effort at peace talks. It is barely a diplomatic step, let alone a historic step," said MK Ran Cohen (Meretz). "There is nothing new in these talks to garner excitement... I have been an MK many years and I don't see anyone here, in the Knesset, that really believes that a peace treaty [can be] reached at Annapolis."(...) On Monday, MK Arye Eldad (NU-NRP) sent a letter to the US administration asking that they postpone Annapolis to a future date "where the Israeli people and the political climate will be more receptive of peace talks." The move has been the most drastic step taken by the right-wing parties, said MK Yitzhak Levy (NU-NRP). "In past years there were serious protests and serious efforts being made by the right-wing lobby to make our concerns known ahead of peace negotiations. This time around, there is some talk, but no one is really taking it seriously," said Levy. "There is a general consensus that this whole process is more declarative than serious." READ IT ALL

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Can anyone shout 'SUPPORT FATAH AS THE ONLY LEGITIMATE PALI REPRESENTITIVES'?
I know thats what Bush is shouting.

Hamas with its socialist credentials, its street credentials, its electoral victory, its islamist sympathies, its lack of fear of zionism etc all makes Hamas not Fatah the future of Pali leadership and THE party to confront the collapse of neo-conservatism.
They are a bigger danger than al qaeda to neo-con jacobinism who cannot tolerate a strong Pali moral centre. They must have weak Pali leadership, to corrupt them and sideline them, and boss them around.

So they put on a show, network Fatah and Saudi money, 'get the Arabs on side' with Fatah.
Then we can murder as many Gazans as we like while the Arabs shrug shoulders and hand-wring and cry just how 'unfortuneate' it all is.
I would say that Arafat is turning in his grave, only he is Abu Mazens example of the 'heights' that a corrupt man can reach in Palestine, if you tow the line.

Annapolis is going to be one big cat-walk for Fatah.