The Middle East Peace Talks and Settlements

written by: Sheila Quinn

The leaders of The U.S. and Europe are obviously pro-Israeli. The mind games that they are playing with the Arabs and the public in general is scandalous. They give lip service to The Arab Peace Initiative while giving the green light to The Israeli State to proceed as it wishes.
What is being accomplished is that they are allowing facts to be changed on the ground for all of Palestine to be stolen by The Israeli State while allowing the Israelis to insist that Jordan doesn't exist at all. Jordan is not Jordan but Palestine.
Settlements are being built;forty percent of the West Bank has been stolen through the building of the settlements. Action is being taken by The Israeli State to evict all Palestinians who live in The Jordan Valley. What does this accomplish? It not only is stealing land from The Palestinians, but it is causing a direct threat to the security of Jordan. The land that many settlements are on is on the border with Jordan. If The Israeli State wanted to invade Jordan at any time in the future such an effort would be very easy.
What is the government of Jordan doing about it? Well, it is insisting on The Two State Solution on one hand and preparing for war on the other hand. It is insisting on the unity of Jordan while intimidating Jordanians who are critical of the government.
When King Abdullah the second of Jordan first became king I was very excited. I sensed that positive significant changes would occur for Jordan under his leadership. But I am starting to become disillusioned with him. He has put trust in those that he shouldn't trust. He has put trust in the leadership of the U.S. and Europe. In putting trust in them he is allowing the Jordanian government to commit acts of tyranny against Jordanian citizens.
The issue of the settlements is clear, they are illegal. Yet, they are allowed to continue in-spite of their illegality. Both The U.S. and Europe has -by all practicality- refused to pressure The Israeli State into stopping them. Yet, Jordan continues to act as a loyal ally to both The U.S. and Europe. What sense does this make? What does this say about Jordan and its effectiveness as an advocate?

Where will the peace talks go from here? Will the Arab leaders cave in and compromise more than they have already? Or will a war break out between the Israeli State and its Arab neighbors? How long will we have to wait for the answer to these questions?


Some references:
"EU ministers resigned to Israeli settlement building" from EarthTimes Link:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358003,resigned-israeli-settlement-building.html.

"Israel welcomes US decision to focus on core issues" from EarthTimes Link:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357997,decision-focus-core-issues.html.

"The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks" from Truthout Link:http://www.truth-out.org/the-charade-israeli-palestinian-talks65701.