When the gap between what is happening and what should be happening is wide, this makes life difficult. It gets worse when what is happening is the opposite of what should be happening. If a country refuses to implement UN Resolutions and abide by International law, it is expected that country would be subjected to sanctions (as in Iran) or even military force (as in Iraq).
However, when it comes to Israel, the situation is different. Israel never implemented UN Resolutions 242, approved after the 1967 war (11/67) or 338, approved during the 1973 war (10/73). Both called for withdrawal from territories occupied in the 1967 war -- Palestinian land, namely Gaza; the West Bank and East Jerusalem -- for termination of belligerency, and a just settlement of the refugee problem.The latter Resolution called upon both sides to begin negotiations with the aim of achieving a just and durable peace.Instead of pulling out of these Palestinian territories, Israel continued -- still continues -- to build settlements despite nonstop calls from all peace advocates to stop building settlements in occupied territories. The United States, instead of demanding that peace negotiations depend on Israel ceasing to build new settlements, dismantle existing settlements and return to the internationally recognized borders of 1967, is asking only that Israel put about a three-month temporary freeze on settlement building. In other words, the U.S. is sending a message that building settlements in occupied territories is okay -- just not for the time being.
This is not the language of peace and fairness. This is not the language of human rights and logic. This is the language of military force and muscle. In the Iraq case, the entire country was destroyed because it refused to implement UN Resolutions for four years. But for Israel, who has been refusing to implement UN Resolutions for 40 years, the "penalty" is an additional $3 billion worth of weapons and condemnation in a vague language that encourages it to continue occupation and settlement building.
This is indeed the mother of all appeasements on the U.S. side, and the father of all extortions on the Israeli side. What has happened to American morality and fairness? Aren't the Palestinians human beings too? Why does the world behavior and logic tip upside down when it comes to Israel? One can understand America's sympathy and support for Israel, but one cannot understand America's loss of fairness and logic when it comes to the Palestinian people.There are 1.5-billion Arab and Muslim people living in 56 countries who demand no less than the internationally recognized 1967 borders, and there a few thousand Israeli fanatics who are refusing such legitimate demand. How long will the U.S. . Congress continue to appease those fanatics and jeopardize world peace and U.S. interests?
