Exclusive: In Speech, Hillary Will Push Arabs To Do More Towards Peace
In a major foreign policy speech this afternoon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will take direct aim at Arab states for not doing their part towards securing Mideast peace, demanding that “all sides” do more to crack down on the “cultures of hate, intolerance and disrespect that perpetuate conflict,” according to an advance excerpt I’ve obtained.
Clinton’s muscular tone towards Arab states could blunt criticism from conservatives who say that the Obama administration has disproportionately pressured Israel by demanding a complete halt to settlement activity. Hillary’s speech seems designed to publicly reinforce the message that Obama delivered privately the other night to concerned Jewish leaders: That he’s serious about demanding action from Arab states as well as from Israel.
“We know that progress toward peace cannot be the responsibility of the United States –- or Israel -– alone,” Clinton will say. “Ending the conflict requires action on all sides. Arab states have a responsibility to support the Palestinian Authority with words and deeds, to take steps to improve relations with Israel, and to prepare their publics to embrace peace and accept Israel’s place in the region.”
Clinton will criticize Arab states for sitting on their hands while awaiting a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the wake of the 2002 Saudi peace proposal, which offered Israel recognition in exchange for withdrawal from occupied territories. She’ll insist Mideast peace can’t be achieved by viewing the problem as exclusively an Israeli-Palestinian one.
“The Saudi peace proposal, supported by more than twenty nations, was a positive step,” she will say. “But so far, those who embrace it seem unwilling to do anything until the Israelis and Palestinians reach an agreement. This may be understandable, but it is not helpful.”
“So I say to all sides: You can’t claim to be sending messages of peace until you also act against the cultures of hate, intolerance and disrespect that perpetuate conflict.”
Clinton’s insistence on action from “all sides,” Israel included, will likely spark more criticism from the right. But the above remarks suggest the administration is serious about insisting on real action towards peace from all the parties at the table.
According to a separate excerpt obtained by the Associated Press, Clinton will also warn Iran that time is running out on accepting the Obama administration’s offer of engagement and could face penalties for continued pursuit for a nuke program.
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Ah the old good cop-bad cop routine. Obama is the good cop, Hillary, the bad one. Clever.
What was the basis for the stories that were around a few days ago, that claimed Hillary felt left out of things and resentful? I’m so tired of these trumped up “controversies.”
I think the Obama foreign relations team, especially the president himself, is the best thing that has happened to foreign relations for America in a very very very long time.
Cue the PUMAS calling for Hillary Clinton to run for Pres in 2012 after this one. You think I am joking but just wait and see.
So, who is the real PA? Hamas has an electoral claim to Palestinian representation. And Abbas and Fatah: how legitimately broad is their claim?
I.e., how are Arab states expected to structure their support?
jzap
For ridiculous reasons I believe the official US policy is that Arab states are supposed to support Abbas and Fatah only with no support to Hamas which is bullsh*t and counterproductive. If we can negotiate with Iran then we need to be negotiating with Hamas as well to get this done otherwise it won’t be seen as legitimate
By the way, for those not watching, Senator Coburn was questioning Judge Sotomayor and decided to try to make a funny. He responded to something she said and said “You’d have some ’splainin to do”
Yes I am serious.
I am sure we will hear more about this as the day goes on.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jpNLKONNuPqClwvXJhUecaFTfY4A
Israel committed GROTESQUE war crimes on Gaza? Really? No kidding.. you don’t say.
And Israel is doing something for peace? Israel, who won’t even agree to stopping settlements on territory that is not theirs, is doing something for peace?
Get real Clinton.
All sides need to give, but to claim that Israel is doing something for peace is bizarre, incorrect, and more of the disgusting same.
“I believe the official US policy is that Arab states are supposed to support Abbas and Fatah only with no support to Hamas which is bullsh*t and counterproductive.”
Reminds me of the IRA every time this comes up. There were always two wings of the IRA – the militant wing and the legitimate political wing. Same with HAMAS and as you say, it’s counterproductive to pretend otherwise and try to cut HAMAS out of negotiations.
Never worked in Ireland. Why should it work anywhere else? I mean, the Bush Administration kept acting like they didn’t expect terrorists to act like terrorists, but to recognize sanction, declarations of war, and other remedies that are applied to states. Then they turned around and treated legitimate political orgs like terrorists and kept expecting them to act like terrorists.
“All sides need to give, but to claim that Israel is doing something for peace is bizarre, incorrect, and more of the disgusting same”.
You have conveniently forgotten the following:
Israel has given up territory in the north and Gaza. result? Arab Terrorism(thousands of missiles aimed at civilians)
Israel has given up territory on the west bank. result: Suicide bombers targeting civilians.
Those Arabs that live within Israel have a better life economically, and way more freedom than any and all of the Arab dictatorships.
Fill in the blanks on Arab activities that promote peace. They remain blank.
OK, one more time for the cheap seats:
There will NEVER be peace between Islam and Judaism, because their two distinctly separate gods are at odds; the jewish god tells them only jews are worthy and everyone else is cattle…
the muslim god tells them all jews must be killed, along with all other non-muslims.
Such racial hatred is not of god, and will not tolerate peace.
How did you get such deep knowledge about what God tells us?
No comment piece is only posible if u want it
Let us not forget that these so called “OCCUPIED” territories are a result of ARAB aggression (war) and claimed by The State of Israel as spoils of the war. Why do the Jews still get a bad rap after all these years when all Arab/Israeli wars are started by the Arabs. Sorry, to the victor goes the spoils of war!!
Who are the “PUMAS” you refer to? I don’t understand the term.
As for the Coburn comment, who cares? She’s not Cuban. And really – are you saying a person can’t make a common TV allusion to her because she’s Hispanic? That’s taking “PC” a little too far, don’t you think?
1) This speech will not result in any policy changes. We see this rhetoric all the time from the US. Moreover, calling on all sides to work for peace is basically meaningless – it doesn’t put specific pressure anywhere. Clumping up a bunch of countries as “Arab states” further dilutes the point.
2) Saying that the occupied territories are a result of ARAB aggression is a bit disingenuous. They are not the result of Palestinian aggression, nor is there any security reason to hold them now.
3) To say that Israel gave up land in the West Bank is openly dishonest. Giving up land you occupied is not a gesture of peace.
4) The old canard “Oh they hate each other it doesn’t matter” is a nice way of saying “I give up.” It’s not true, first of all, and giving up isn’t going to help.
I cannot claim to know Judaism deeply, but Muslims believe that the “Jewish God” is the same as the God in Islam. Jews, Christians & Muslims are referred to in the Qur’an as the “people of the book”.
As a Muslim, I believe in each human being will be judged by God on our actions: “each ounce of good deed will be rewarded and each ounce of deed will be punished”; justice for all in the afterlife.
-Sohel
Sohel – perhaps the issue is not Islam vs. Judaism but Arabs vs Jews. All non-Arab ethnic groups (Jews, Kurds, Azeris, Copts, Fur, etc.) have suffered under Arab hegemony regardless of their religion. Many in the West confuse Arab nationalism with Islamic fundamentalism because many Arab nationalist groups use religious fundamentalism to their advantage (e.g. The Hamas which explicitly seeks the murder of all Jews…it is in their charter).
I think Clinton’s proposal confronts one of the core Middle East issues: Arab states must confront their broad cultural intolerance and specific hatred of Jews before any peace can be achieved. If the Arab states can start this process of introspection, it might help resolve other ME conflicts as well.
Blargh –
1) Good point – it is a shame that in addition to Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, the US won’t target specific Arab states and get them to stop their incitement. States like Saudi Arabia and Syria cynically exploit the suffering of the Jews and Palestinian Arabs for political reasons.
2) Gaza is not occupied (I’m not sure if you were including them in the occupied territories), Israel has simply sealed their border with Gaza. It seems pretty reasonable for the Israelis to close their border to a group that explicitly wants to kill every Jew. Since they democratically elected genocidal leadership, I find it hard to have sympathy for the Gazans.
The West Bank is more complicated…settlement building is provocative and should stop…OTOH, Fatah has done little to encourage the Israelis towards peace…they continue to raise their children in a culture of hatred and destruction that offers the Israelis little hope that any peace offerings will be reciprocated.
3) c’mon, giving back land that you occupy in the interest of peace is a positive gesture and a good thing. If Arabs gave back any of the Kurdish or Fur land that they currently occupy by force, it would be viewed very positively by the Kurds and Fur.
4) You’re right, giving up won’t help…what do you suggest?
x – and the Arabs are doing what exactly to advance the cause of peace?
Maybe it is time for Hilary Clinton to refuse money from AIPAC and think America first !!! I mean we heard that story over and over, a story which doesn’t address the real problem; the constant annection of land by Israel and its unacceptable racist and faschist policy. Now, you can complain about this post but the facts are facts.
Maybe it is time for Hilary Clinton to refuse money from AIPAC and think America first !!! I mean we heard that story over and over, a story which doesn’t address the real problem; the constant annection of land by Israel and its unacceptable racist and faschist policy. Now, you can complain about this post but the facts are facts. Why I am censored?
Israel should leave all settlements in the West Bank, remove all road barriers outside of Israel proper and stop seizure of Christian and Moslem lands in East Jerusalem.
American Middle East policy is still run by American Jewish interests, which is why every political person must kao tao to the Jewish lobby or suddenly find themselves being labled anti-jewish.
Stop the madness.
The dems are done. Hillary is done. Nothing to see here. Keep on moving. Better yet, go read the stimulous bill and find out where the 2 trillion missing dollars went to. You will scream when you find out it (billions each) went back into the pockets of all the congressional leaders. Read it! Billions are being stolen from us. My high tax rate is killing me. I get a nice paycheck. With the high taxes taken out there are scraps left for me.I can’t live on scraps. Kick the bums out. Recall all of them. Read the bill now!
Is anybody on our side? Oh yeah, that’s right Palin is. dum dee dum. Just wait until we kick them all out. Evil has no power. Only those with ethics and ‘under God’ as this country is supposed to be, have real sustainable power. Read the porkulous bill. Get out your calculator and see it was for congress members pocketbooks that’s all…..you have been bamboozled. I’m ashamed of Hillary. How can you do this to us? I will not vote for you ever again. Stop towing the Islamo/fascist meme for this creepy administration. You are embarassing us. We thought you were better than that before you sold us out to China in your eminent domain pact with them. You are securitizing our properties with borrowing money for a stimulous bill that lines congress and their cronies ersonal pockets with billions each… Never again. You are all done. Go retire on Martha’s Vineyard. You are embarassing yourself by speaking for the rookie thug uspurper bracko bama. You are doing no one any favors. The world respects you but not for long. You better go ballisic over what’s going on or resign.
And further more, speaking of a ‘coup de tate’…we already had one here in the US of A. Remember when they gave Hillary’s delegates to brako bama to make it look like he won? That’s an American ‘coup de tate’. Americans are not as dumb as you think we are. Wise up! We will not forget.
ONLY 15% ARE REAL SUPPORTERS OF BARKO BAMA. That’s the facts but the radical left likes to over poll to put it mildly and to make it look like he has way more support than he actually does. If a person of the 15% votes 4 times in 4 different precincts, it will make it look like barryo has more than 15%..BUT HE DOESN’T. ARMED WITH THIS FACT, YOU KNOW NOW WHAT TO DO.
Oh 15% of the voters voting 4 times each makes it look like 60% of the voters are on his side-and that doesn’t include dead voters….bite it! SHOW AN ID OR YOU DON”T GET TO VOTE..PERIOD. THAT SHOULD BE THE law!