Allahpundit
HotAir.com
2/18/2011
Remember, Obama actually offered to sign onto this if the Palestinian Authority agreed to downgrade the measure from a formal resolution to a nonbinding “statement.” In the fine quasi-national tradition of never failing to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, Mahmoud Abbas refused. So the Security Council took up the resolution and The One’s hand was forced: 14-1, with even the British rising to speak in support of the resolution after the U.S. had cast its veto.
But don’t you fret, Israel critics. There was plenty of sugar for you from Susan Rice after the roll was taken. Think of this as the next best thing to voting “present”:
Our opposition to the resolution before this Council today should therefore not be misunderstood to mean we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. For more than four decades, Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 has undermined Israel’s security and corroded hopes for peace and stability in the region. Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace…
It is the Israelis’ and Palestinians’ conflict, and even the best-intentioned outsiders cannot resolve it for them. Therefore every potential action must be measured against one overriding standard: will it move the parties closer to negotiations and an agreement? Unfortunately, this draft resolution risks hardening the positions of both sides. It could encourage the parties to stay out of negotiations and, if and when they did resume, to return to the Security Council whenever they reach an impasse…
While we agree with our fellow Council members—and indeed, with the wider world—about the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, we think it unwise for this Council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians. We therefore regrettably have opposed this draft resolution.
…here’s a snippet of Qaradawi’s “sermon” today in Cairo. Think he’ll start praying for something else when Israel and the Palestinians finally make peace?
In a special mention of the Palestinian issue, Al-Qaradhawi asked the Egyptian army to open wide the Rafah crossing and to pray for the re-conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims, so that he and the Muslims could pray in security at Al-Aqsa Mosque. This part of his sermon was cheered and applauded by the crowd.[3]
He also said that he wants to give the Friday prayer sermon at Al-Aqsa mosque.[4]
Read the rest at HotAir.com
Related: Hillary Clinton: Israeli Settlements ‘Illegitimate’; Secretary of State Calls Working Toward Mideast Peace Her ‘Highest Priority’
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israeli settlements “illegitimate” shortly before the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning continued Israeli settlement expansion as illegal…
