re: #22 Destro

1. The United States is not required to be “an honest broker”. It is entitled to pursue its interests, support its allies and promote its world view.

2. Being an “honest broker” does not mean treating the claims of each disputant as equally valid or even valid at all. It means being honest with each of the disputants. As in, telling the Israelis, as our government regularly does, when we disagree with them about their policies, including settlement policies, in the West Bank. As in also telling the Palestinians that they need to actually engage in negotiations if they want the world to believe that they are interested in a negotiated resolution. Being an “honest broker” means that when we say we support a solution involving two states living side by side in peace and security, that we actually mean it. Which leads to point:

3. The phrase “honest broker” when applied to the role of the United States government in connection with the Arab-Israel dispute has not been and is not used to mean the United States acting as a faitful mediator to try and help the parties reach an accomodation consistent with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338 (which incorporated in international law the concept of an Israeli withdrawal from territory it captured in June 1967 in exchange for “secure and recogized” borders. Instead, it has been used, and contniues to be used to mean “The United States should stop cow-towing to the Jews, withdraw/reduce its support for Israel and throw its support behind Israel’s Arab adversaries.”

Finally, and most importantly, if you think that the United States has not acted as an honest broker in connection with the Arab-Israel dispute, you are simply ignoring reality. The United States has gone to great lengths and invested significant treasure and prestige to try to assist the parties to reach a resolution of their conflict. Virtually every candidate for the presidency, and every actual President of the United States, invests his or her personal and political prestige to try and bring about peace — a real peace, not the peace of Saladdin — between Israel and her Arab neighbors, including the Palestinians. Indeed, our current sitting President stated only days ago that his greatest regret is not having succeeded in doing so. There are tomes written on the extensive diplomacy in which the United States government has engaged for decades, both behind the scenes and in front of the cameras, to try to broker a peace.

The absence of peace cannot be blamed on the United States government — or Americans, generally — not being interested in diplomacy or negotiations.

Now, if you are honestly interested in learning more about why no peace has been achieved in the 64 years since Israel won her independence and survival, I suggest you take the portion of your earlier post that I quoted in Post #19 and use it as the basis for some historical research.

If, on the other hand, you are unwilling to challenge through evidence your previously espoused view that Israel and its Jewish supporters have the United States government wrapped around their proverbial fingers and that the United States government pursues their agenda at the expense of the United States’ agenda, there is little I or anyone else can do for you.