Likud Charter Does Not Recognize PalestineBy Frank Barat - London
In a few weeks, on February the 10th, Israel will elect its new leaders during legislative elections. The three main contenders are Tzipi Livni from the Kadima party (Ariel Sharon’s party), Ehud Barak from the Labour party and Benyamin Netanyahu from the Likud party.
Before the Gaza "war", it was a two-horse race: Livni against Netanyahu, with Netanyahu leading by a good margin in all the polls. The race became a three-horse one thanks to the Gaza “war” launched by Livni and Barak. Barak saw his ratings surge and is now back in the race. Even if he does not get elected, his party will get quite a few more seats than it had planned a few months ago.
But the frontrunner has always been Benyamin Netanyahu and he remains, in the eyes of the majority of Israel’s journalists (Gideon Levy from Haaretz) or activists (Jeff Halper from ICAHD), the more than probable future PM.
The world hopes that this election will be as “clean and democratic” (Jimmy Carter and most international observers said so) as the last Palestinian election which took place in 2006 and saw Hamas win by a large majority.
We know what happened next. To make a long story short, Israel and most of the international community refused to recognize Hamas as a legitimate party and then refused to recognize the newly-formed Palestinian unity government (formed in March 2007).
Abbas, whose goal has always been to be recognized by the US and Israel, kicked Hamas out of the government and formed a new one with Salam Fayyad, a politician and economist made in the US, as PM. A violent pre-emptive war was launched by Hamas against Fatah and Israel/US-backed militias (led by Mohammed Dahlan) and Hamas “took over” the Gaza Strip.
Even if they reacted with surprise and strongly condemned this move, the US and Israel had reached one of their long-term objectives in Palestine. “Divide and Rule” (a strategy used with great success by the US in the course of its history) was back on again with the West Bank becoming the respectable (read: cooperative) Palestinian Authority territory and Gaza turning into the Islamic and evil Hamastan.
An internationally-supported Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip followed and once more, to cut a long story short, the Gaza “war” was launched in December 2008 by Israel. We are here today, more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and 5,000 injured later.
But why did all this happen? What was the official reason given by the Israel and the International community for not recognizing Hamas?
The reason they gave was that Hamas refused to recognize Israel and had a Charter calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Everyone (politicians and corporate media leaders) accepted this without asking a few important questions. Which Israel should Hamas recognize? Israel has not yet stated what its international borders are. Should Hamas recognize the Israel of 1948? The Israel of 1967? The Israel of 2009 with its apartheid wall, settlements (settlements building raised by 60 percent in 2008, the year of the Annapolis “Peace Process”, according to a Peace Now report), second class Arab citizens and with East Jerusalem annexed?'
Before the Gaza "war", it was a two-horse race: Livni against Netanyahu, with Netanyahu leading by a good margin in all the polls. The race became a three-horse one thanks to the Gaza “war” launched by Livni and Barak. Barak saw his ratings surge and is now back in the race. Even if he does not get elected, his party will get quite a few more seats than it had planned a few months ago.
But the frontrunner has always been Benyamin Netanyahu and he remains, in the eyes of the majority of Israel’s journalists (Gideon Levy from Haaretz) or activists (Jeff Halper from ICAHD), the more than probable future PM.
The world hopes that this election will be as “clean and democratic” (Jimmy Carter and most international observers said so) as the last Palestinian election which took place in 2006 and saw Hamas win by a large majority.
We know what happened next. To make a long story short, Israel and most of the international community refused to recognize Hamas as a legitimate party and then refused to recognize the newly-formed Palestinian unity government (formed in March 2007).
Abbas, whose goal has always been to be recognized by the US and Israel, kicked Hamas out of the government and formed a new one with Salam Fayyad, a politician and economist made in the US, as PM. A violent pre-emptive war was launched by Hamas against Fatah and Israel/US-backed militias (led by Mohammed Dahlan) and Hamas “took over” the Gaza Strip.
Even if they reacted with surprise and strongly condemned this move, the US and Israel had reached one of their long-term objectives in Palestine. “Divide and Rule” (a strategy used with great success by the US in the course of its history) was back on again with the West Bank becoming the respectable (read: cooperative) Palestinian Authority territory and Gaza turning into the Islamic and evil Hamastan.
An internationally-supported Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip followed and once more, to cut a long story short, the Gaza “war” was launched in December 2008 by Israel. We are here today, more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and 5,000 injured later.
But why did all this happen? What was the official reason given by the Israel and the International community for not recognizing Hamas?
The reason they gave was that Hamas refused to recognize Israel and had a Charter calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Everyone (politicians and corporate media leaders) accepted this without asking a few important questions. Which Israel should Hamas recognize? Israel has not yet stated what its international borders are. Should Hamas recognize the Israel of 1948? The Israel of 1967? The Israel of 2009 with its apartheid wall, settlements (settlements building raised by 60 percent in 2008, the year of the Annapolis “Peace Process”, according to a Peace Now report), second class Arab citizens and with East Jerusalem annexed?'
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