March 6, 2018
Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher,
101 Main
Street #380
Huntington
Beach, CA 92648
Dear
Congressman,
Re: Off
the table?
Did I
hear this wrong? I thought to hear your Trump claim, in a press session with
Netanyahu, that by sanctioning the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, he had
take Jerusalem “off the table” in the interminable peace talks between Israel
and the Palestinians. I searched for the exact quotation in vain in the New
York Times and elsewhere. Perhaps I did mis-hear.
Even so,
that reckless announcement some months ago could hardly have been better
calculated to throw a wrench in an already badly mishandled situation.
Mishandled, it must be said, on all sides. Years ago, at the time of the Oslo
accord, there seemed to be some glimmer of hope. Since then, good faith seems
to have been abandoned. On the Palestinian side, the persistence of violence
and threats of violence have been helpful only to extremist Israeli arguments;
on the Israeli side, the provocation of the settlements and the intransigence
of the religious right has been abetted by the hawkish Netanyahu.
Now, with
the thumb of the bellicose Trump firmly placed on the Israeli side of the scale
and the assignment of American policy to a hardly neutral, naïve, and wholly
inexperienced son-in-law, the prospect of peace is further than it ever was.
Trust, the indispensible ingredient, is understandably shattered by an American
president who is not only a transparent liar and reckless opportunist, but also
a man of unabashedly declared favoritism.
May we
know where you stand on this issue, Congressman? Do you support peace talks,
conducted in good faith on either side? Or do align yourself with those who
support Israel at any cost?
Respectfully,
Peter
Clothier, Ph.D.
No comments:
Post a Comment