71 Senators to Obama: How About Pressuring the Arabs?

No fewer than 71 US Senators – including only six of the 13 Jewish ones – sent a letter to US President Barack Obama on Monday, asking him to press Arab states to recognize and normalize relations with Israel. The effort, led by Senators Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), was promoted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The 71 signatories included the Senate leaders and whips of both parties, namely, Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

The letter states that Israel’s efforts toward peace are not being met with equal efforts by Arab states. A similar letter was sent by 226 House members of both parties last week to Saudi Arabia, calling on its leaders to deepen their commitment to peace with Israel.

Arab Op-Ed: What More Do You Want? We Allow Israel to Exist!
The Hill – a daily Washington paper that describes itself as a “nonpartisan, non-ideological daily paper for and about Congress” - reported on the letter together with an editorial rebuttal by Dr. Ghassan Michel Rubeiz published in the Dubai-based Khaleej Times. The Hill quotes the editorial as “not[ing] that Arab nations offered a peace plan in 2002 that allowed Israel 78 percent of disputed land” – implying that all of pre-1967 Israel exists on “disputed land” and that the Arab peace plan was magnanimous in “allowing” Israel to exist in these borders.

Responding to the Senators’ call for “dramatic steps” from the Arab countries, Rubeiz writes that the above Arab peace plan in which the Arabs “allow” Israel to exist, was itself a “far reaching and dramatic offer.” The plan also calls for a “just solution” regarding Arab refugees and their millions of descendants, as well as the relinquishing of eastern Jerusalem for the capital of a Palestinian state; in return, the Arab states promise to normalize relations with Israel.

Yeah, right, “allow Israel to exist” - but under the Arab “peace” plan, Israel would have to take all the refugees.

Here’s the roll call. Of my senators, Kerry voted right; Kennedy voted no. Asshole. [Remainder of comments of what should happen to Kennedy deleted]