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The Annapolis folly, continued

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 20, 2007 03:12 PM

annapolis summit
Logo credit: Ellen Horowitz

I’ve been tracking the coming Annapolis summit disaster here and here. The summit hasn’t received much media attention or buzz in the U.S., but Jewish blogs and Israeli news outlets have been paying mighty close attention, and I guarantee you it will be the talk of the Arab world come next Monday. Frank Gaffney weighs in today on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s “staticidal zealotry:”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is behaving like a zealot. In her ever-more-rash pursuit of a Palestinian state, she is exhibiting the syndrome defined by the philosopher George Santana, as one who redoubles her efforts upon losing sight of the objective.

Let’s recall: The objective laid out by President Bush, when he decided in June 2002 to support the creation of a homeland for the Palestinian people, was to provide a stable, secure neighbor for Israel, committed to leaving peaceably with the Jewish State.

Mr. Bush explicitly preconditioned such support on: an end to Palestinian terror; a Palestinian leadership that was not tainted by ties to terrorism; and the elimination of the infrastructure in Palestinian areas that enables such behavior. After the 9/11 attacks, the United States was in the business of eliminating terrorist-sponsoring regimes, not creating them.

Now, however, it is crystal clear that the only outcome from Condi Rice’s idée fixe – namely that she will convene a Middle East peace conference at the U.S. Naval Academy for the purpose of extracting from Israel the territorial concessions needed rapidly to establish a Palestinian state – has nothing to do with the original Bush vision. Under present and foreseeable circumstances, the best that can be hoped for from such a meeting is failure. For success will result in a new safe-haven for terror that is a mortal threat not only for Israel, but for the United States, as well.

Unfortunately, the formal invitations to the doomed summit have now been issued today:

The United States on Tuesday invited Israel and the Palestinians to attend a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, next week that it hopes will launch formal peace talks, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

Dozens of countries will be asked to attend the Nov. 27 talks, including Syria and Saudi Arabia which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel and whose presence might give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas political cover to make compromises.

The meeting is President George W. Bush’s most serious effort to resolve the six-decade conflict but it faces big obstacles, including divisions among the Palestinians and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s political weakness.

While U.S. officials hope the talks will eventually lead to a Palestinian state, officials from the two sides and U.S. diplomats working with them have yet to produce even an agreement on roughly how such negotiations, the first in seven years, are likely to proceed following the conference.

Carl in Jerusalem knows how this meeting will play out: Israel will get the blame.

Fifty countries are to be invited to Annapolis. Unless forty-eight of them are named Micronesia, none of them other than the United States is likely to be a friend of Israel. Israel is going to be overwhelmed with enemies at the ‘conference.’ And with their legacy on the line, Condoleeza Rice and George Bush seem to be ready to abandon friendship in favor of history.

That’s why I believe Annapolis will matter and that’s why I can’t dismiss it as Secretary of State Rice’s ‘pointless fiasco,’ however accurate that description might otherwise be.

Posted in: Israel

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Comments

  1. #1
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:16 pm, PBoilermaker said:

    I will never understand why it is apparently so popular to hate Jews.

  2. #2
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:18 pm, malkin_fan said:

    Here’s a little tidbit for Bush and Conny…..

    ……Give the Palestinians EVERYTHING they ask for and they will STILL be murdering innocent Israeli civilians using suicide bombers. The only thing that will satisfy them is the COMPLETE destruction of Israel and the death of EVERY Jew in it.

  3. #3
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:31 pm, J S Ragman said:

    While U.S. officials hope the talks will eventually lead to a Palestinian state, officials from the two sides and U.S. diplomats working with them have yet to produce even an agreement on roughly how such negotiations, the first in seven years, are likely to proceed following the conference.

    Well, let’s try to look at the bright side. There’s nowhere for this relationship to go but up.

  4. #4
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pm, Alphonse said:

    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:16 pm, PBoilermaker said: I will never understand why it is apparently so popular to hate Jews.

    The neocons made it fashionable with their stereotype behavior.

  5. #5
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pm, wrcnossen said:

    I say give both all of the non-WMD weapons they can handle and let them fight it out. Last country standing keeps it all. Talk will never produce a solution to the problems of this area.

  6. #6
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:42 pm, ajmontana said:

    pb #1 Same here. Never have got that.

  7. #7
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:43 pm, meatpieandtatters said:

    There’s no appeasing the Palestinians! Their’s is not a want for their own land but the expunging of Israelis. Arafat-head had various offers all teed-up and only blew them up (ironically) to continue the murderous madness. Meanwhile, no other so-called Arab leadership (oxymoron) has stepped forward to help broker a peaceful solution.

  8. #8
    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:48 pm, BlameAmericaLast said:

    Meanwhile, no other so-called Arab leadership (oxymoron) has stepped forward to help broker a peaceful solution.

    The only solution in their minds is to get rid of Israel altogether. They won’t come out and say it, but that’s their wish.

  9. #9
    On November 20th, 2007 at 4:05 pm, jferg49 said:

    I’m 58 years old, and I can’t count the number of Palestinian peace summits we’ve had! The only things that happen are that the world (mostly U.S.A.) gives a bunch of tax payer dollars to the Palestinians and everyone makes concessions to them. Everyone goes home…the Palestinians divy the money up between the various factions and terrorists groups…they buy weapons and attack Israel and U.S. interests. Then it starts all over again. The Palestinians were given a state, same as Israel…they just chose a different path….their current state is their own fault…DON’T SPEND ANYMORE OF MY MONEY!!!!

  10. #10
    On November 20th, 2007 at 4:12 pm, abinitioadinfinitum said:

    Something I ran across on a discussion board about Robert Spencer’s new book “Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t”

    “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a
    Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle
    against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality
    today there is no difference between Jordanians,
    Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and
    tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of
    a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand
    that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian
    people’ to oppose Zionism.

    - PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, in a 1977
    interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw.

  11. #11
    On November 20th, 2007 at 4:21 pm, walterc said:

    Since they can’t even agree an the format of the talks, the talks themselves are doomed.

    Even without the added Hamas factor, Abbas isn’t about to give Israel any peace. And with the Hamas factor, no matter what Abbas agrees to, Hamas will undermine. So my suggestion for Ohlmert is to stay home and save the airfare. At least that way he won’t be pressured by Bush/condi to give up more land for less peace than he has now.

    The only solution is for the Judeo/Christian “western” nations and the muslim nations to fight it out. That’s where it’s headed anyway. And at least now, the West has the upper hand militarily.

  12. #12
    On November 20th, 2007 at 4:23 pm, Regulus said:

    And with their legacy on the line, Condoleeza Rice and George Bush seem to be ready to abandon friendship in favor of history.

    This reminds me of a satire I read back in 1973, “Famous unpublished magazine rejection letters.” One of them went:

    “Dear President Nixon:

    We appreciate your submittal of, ‘A Blueprint for Lasting Middle East Peace,’ but unfortunately our quota for political humor is already full.”

    I don’t know what it is about the chimera of “Middle East Peace” that makes it such a holy grail to every American administration since at least Nixon, but there comes a time when our leaders need to start learning from history instead of trying to write themselves in it.

    Build a wall, a trench and a DMZ-style minefield around the Gaza Strip. There’s your “Palestinian State.” I’d dare say this is a more practical and realizable objective than anything that’s going to be discussed at Annapolis.

  13. #13
    On November 20th, 2007 at 4:34 pm, Boomer said:

    On November 20th, 2007 at 4:23 pm, Regulus said:
    Build a wall, a trench and a DMZ-style minefield around the Gaza Strip. There’s your “Palestinian State.” I’d dare say this is a more practical and realizable objective than anything that’s going to be discussed at Annapolis.

    A very reasonable expectation Regulus.

  14. #14
    On November 20th, 2007 at 5:03 pm, Leatherneck said:

    There is no more Western Christian nations. Even the United States has lost it’s moral compass to false gods, and the desire for wealth.

    This doomed summit is only to appease the A-rabs for the flow of oil. Our government has alined itself with a Globalist agenda of power, and money. what we call the New World Order.

    How elce does anyone explain open borders, Islam forming training compounds within the USA, and helping to form a terrorist state next door to Israel?

  15. #15
    On November 20th, 2007 at 5:07 pm, On-my-soap-box said:

    On November 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pm, Alphonse said:

    The neocons made it fashionable with their stereotype behavior.

    Whaaa? If we could vote for the top 10 stupid posts of the year, this would make the top five.

  16. #16
    On November 20th, 2007 at 5:31 pm, rshayne said:

    Actually, I think that would be #1! Just another idiot who blames everything on the Joos.

    Hey Alphonse, buy a history book.

  17. #17
    On November 20th, 2007 at 8:00 pm, Christian Soldier said:

    Is there really any difference in the two parties? There is the evil party and the stupid party and every once in a while they get together and make evil, stupid laws (or policies)!

  18. #18
    On November 20th, 2007 at 9:42 pm, Brian72 said:

    Well. It’s now out for sure. Alphonse says that he believes it’s fashionable to hate jews.

    So, we have a jew hater amongst us, and he just admitted it.

    As far as stupid comments go, there was another gem from another thread about this topic, and I called him out on it. Here it is:

    On November 15th, 2007 at 4:14 pm, Alphonse said:

    Bush should give Iraq to Israel to form Greater Israel. After we have made it safe for the Israelis of course so they don’t have to take any casualties.

    Then I posted this response:

    That’s one of the dumbest comments I’ve seen here. You just made a genius out of Joe Biden. Congratulations.

    Greater Isreal? Are you reciting the Hamas Charter, and if so , why?

    The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given in full below. Following are highlights.

    “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.“

    “The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. “

    “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

    After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

    Is this your source for a “Greater Israel”?

    Why does your attitude toward Israel seem to parallel the Hamas Charter?

    We have here a tinfoil hatter who has a belief that the evil jew-neocons are running the Pentagon for Israel’s benefit, and to America’s detriment.

    I’m so tired of this stupid, insulting, racist nonsense. Bush should give Iraq to Israel. Do you even realize how completely nuts you sound to other people here who know what is going on in the world?

    Israel is a free parliamentary democracy, and a long time security partner of the United States. This will not be changing anytime soon, despite your obvious desire to allow the savages in Hamas to bring about “Holocost II: This time it’s personal“.

    This kind of talk does nothing but expose your sickening disregard for a people, a nation that are inextricably linked with America in the history of freedom.

    When I see the episode of Band of Brothers
    where Easy Company 101st Airborne liberates the first of many Nazi deathcamps in Germany, I’m at once appalled by the suffering of the Jews of Europe in WWII, and very proud that Americans unlocked that gate.

    I thought the world said never again after WWII would this be allowed to happen to fellow human beings. I suppose from your comments, Alphonse, that you do not share that sentiment.

    I stand by that comment now. It was never responded to by our jew hater in residence.

  19. #19
    On November 21st, 2007 at 11:17 am, Larraby said:

    Alphonse is a troll who appears on other sites as well. I guess if you don’t work or can’t hold a job you can post nonsense all day long on dozens of web sites.

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Plus great news from Egypt. Relatively speaking.

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