Sunday, January 12, 2014 1:31:17 AM
In tributes to Sharon, a not-so-subtle message for Netanyahu
Steph..., your Ben Birnbaum first was brilliant for me .. damn, it was so GOOD to read GOOD stuff about Sharon, 'specially now .. so much depth in it .. things i can't recall ever hitting before, like his fence-building 'signaling to most Israelis the end of Greater Israel' .. ever never thought it that way, don't recall it, anyway, so it felt totally new .. wow! .. gotta work to resist optimism overkill .. lol .. loved it! .. thank you .. ps: bottom song edited in .. :)
John Kerry extols late leader for making ‘tough decisions’ and realizing that ‘peace will make Israel stronger’ — intended as a clear lesson for the current prime minister
By Raphael Ahren January 12, 2014, 1:47 am 6
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State John Kerry arrive at a joint
press conference in Jerusalem, December 5, 2013. (photo credit: Emil Salman/POOL/FLASH90)
Related Topics
Ariel Sharon - http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/ariel-sharon/
John Kerry - http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/john-kerry/
Benjamin Netanyahu - http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/benjamin-netanyahu/
Former prime minister Ariel Sharon had been comatose for eight years before he died Saturday, but world leaders seized the opportunity to eulogize the late leader to send a not-so-subtle message to current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Just as Arik, the “father of the settlement movement,” turned a new leaf and withdrew from Jewish settlements, so can you — or so you must, they seemed to say.
A person reading through the various statements made by presidents and prime ministers could get the impression that Sharon, in his 32 years in the Knesset and two terms as prime minister, didn’t do anything but remove settlers from Palestinian territories in the pursuit of peace. Only statements coming from the Arab world .. http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-mark-death-of-sharon-the-butcher/ — and Iran .. http://www.timesofisrael.com/khamenei-takes-to-twitter-for-final-criticism-of-sharon/ — focused on Sharon’s earlier days, when he was not yet the champion of the two-state solution, but rather a tough military man and later a political hawk.
(And that of Human Rights Watch, which lamented that he “died without facing justice” for the 1982 “massacres” in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon and the “war crime” of expanding Israeli settlements.)
But Western politicians, with almost no exception, looked only at Sharon’s life after he broke away from Likud and created the centrist Kadima party.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for instance, focused his statement .. http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=7394 .. on the one action that the world appears to want to remember about Ariel Sharon: the “painful and historic decision to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip” in 2005. Sharon’s successor, Ban continued, without naming any names, now “faces the difficult challenge of realizing the aspirations of peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people. The Secretary-General calls on Israel to build on the late Prime Minister’s legacy of pragmatism to work towards the long overdue achievement of an independent and viable Palestinian state, next to a secure Israel.”
A statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry also came off as less an honest tribute to Ariel Sharon and more like a plea addressed to Netanyahu, imploring him to muster the courage to make the concessions necessary for the peace process to advance.
Kerry called Sharon a “big bear of a man,” who, after he became prime minister, “sought to bend the course of history toward peace, even as it meant testing the patience of his own longtime supporters and the limits of his own, lifelong convictions in the process.”
Late former prime minister Ariel Sharon. (photo credit: Flash90)
“He was prepared to make tough decisions because he knew that his responsibility to his people was both to ensure their security and to give every chance to the hope that they could live in peace,” Kerry said of Sharon.
Tough decisions and difficult choices — that’s exactly what Kerry is asking of Netanyahu (and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas). “We are now at a point where the choices narrow down and the choices are obviously real and difficult,” Kerry said on January 5, during his last visit in Jerusalem. As he prepared to present the two sides with a “framework agreement,” a position paper trying to help the two sides find some common ground, it was becoming “much more apparent to everybody what the remaining tough choices are and what the options are with respect to those choices.”
Kerry’s message to Netanyahu could not have been clearer. Sharon “surprised many in his pursuit of peace,” Kerry stated, “and today, we all recognize, as he did, that Israel must be strong to make peace, and that peace will also make Israel stronger.”
Exactly 10 days ago, speaking at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, Kerry had said: “We know that Israel has to be strong to make peace. And we also know that peace will make Israel stronger not just with its near neighbors, but throughout the world.”
Other world leaders also used the opportunity to talk about Sharon to talk about Netanyahu — or rather, to talk to Netanyahu.
In a rather formulaic statement, US President Barack Obama paid tribute to leader “who dedicated his life to the State of Israel,” and then went on to reaffirm America’s unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. “We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security.”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s message to Israel’s current prime minister was yet more blunt, as he praised Sharon as a leader who “took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, through a spokesman, applauded Sharon’s “courageous decision” to withdraw settlers from the Gaza Strip, during the Disengagement, a “historic step on the path to a deal with the Palestinians and a two-state solution.”
Netanyahu is 21 years younger than Sharon and in good health .. http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-hands-power-to-liberman-during-medical-checkup/ . But as world leaders extolled a former Likud hawk who turned into a champion of the two-state solution, willing to take on the settlers, they were hoping his successor, too, will want to be remembered this way.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-tributes-to-sharon-a-not-so-subtle-message-for-netanyahu/
Mr. Netanyahu, it's wonderful that you see yourself in "historical terms", that's good .. and gee, seriously .. memory of a guy directly associated with one huge step toward ME peace would be a much better legacy than one of just another guy who fought war with an attack on Iran .. any/some more semblance of a more just, so more likelihood of lasting, peace is a much better memory for others to carry of you after you have finished leading Israel.. you know it is, too .. go for it, Mr Netanyahu .. IMAGINE! ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1NIXgjNXDk
See also:
Israeli forces manhandle EU diplomats, seize West Bank aid
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92244196
Analysis: Can Israel annex the Jordan Valley under international law? .. By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Here's What John Kerry's Peace Settlement Will Look Like (Probably) .. BY BEN BIRNBAUM
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90459017
.. GET IT DONE ..
Steph..., your Ben Birnbaum first was brilliant for me .. damn, it was so GOOD to read GOOD stuff about Sharon, 'specially now .. so much depth in it .. things i can't recall ever hitting before, like his fence-building 'signaling to most Israelis the end of Greater Israel' .. ever never thought it that way, don't recall it, anyway, so it felt totally new .. wow! .. gotta work to resist optimism overkill .. lol .. loved it! .. thank you .. ps: bottom song edited in .. :)
John Kerry extols late leader for making ‘tough decisions’ and realizing that ‘peace will make Israel stronger’ — intended as a clear lesson for the current prime minister
By Raphael Ahren January 12, 2014, 1:47 am 6
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State John Kerry arrive at a joint
press conference in Jerusalem, December 5, 2013. (photo credit: Emil Salman/POOL/FLASH90)
Related Topics
Ariel Sharon - http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/ariel-sharon/
John Kerry - http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/john-kerry/
Benjamin Netanyahu - http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/benjamin-netanyahu/
Former prime minister Ariel Sharon had been comatose for eight years before he died Saturday, but world leaders seized the opportunity to eulogize the late leader to send a not-so-subtle message to current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Just as Arik, the “father of the settlement movement,” turned a new leaf and withdrew from Jewish settlements, so can you — or so you must, they seemed to say.
A person reading through the various statements made by presidents and prime ministers could get the impression that Sharon, in his 32 years in the Knesset and two terms as prime minister, didn’t do anything but remove settlers from Palestinian territories in the pursuit of peace. Only statements coming from the Arab world .. http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-mark-death-of-sharon-the-butcher/ — and Iran .. http://www.timesofisrael.com/khamenei-takes-to-twitter-for-final-criticism-of-sharon/ — focused on Sharon’s earlier days, when he was not yet the champion of the two-state solution, but rather a tough military man and later a political hawk.
(And that of Human Rights Watch, which lamented that he “died without facing justice” for the 1982 “massacres” in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon and the “war crime” of expanding Israeli settlements.)
But Western politicians, with almost no exception, looked only at Sharon’s life after he broke away from Likud and created the centrist Kadima party.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for instance, focused his statement .. http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=7394 .. on the one action that the world appears to want to remember about Ariel Sharon: the “painful and historic decision to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip” in 2005. Sharon’s successor, Ban continued, without naming any names, now “faces the difficult challenge of realizing the aspirations of peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people. The Secretary-General calls on Israel to build on the late Prime Minister’s legacy of pragmatism to work towards the long overdue achievement of an independent and viable Palestinian state, next to a secure Israel.”
A statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry also came off as less an honest tribute to Ariel Sharon and more like a plea addressed to Netanyahu, imploring him to muster the courage to make the concessions necessary for the peace process to advance.
Kerry called Sharon a “big bear of a man,” who, after he became prime minister, “sought to bend the course of history toward peace, even as it meant testing the patience of his own longtime supporters and the limits of his own, lifelong convictions in the process.”
Late former prime minister Ariel Sharon. (photo credit: Flash90)
“He was prepared to make tough decisions because he knew that his responsibility to his people was both to ensure their security and to give every chance to the hope that they could live in peace,” Kerry said of Sharon.
Tough decisions and difficult choices — that’s exactly what Kerry is asking of Netanyahu (and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas). “We are now at a point where the choices narrow down and the choices are obviously real and difficult,” Kerry said on January 5, during his last visit in Jerusalem. As he prepared to present the two sides with a “framework agreement,” a position paper trying to help the two sides find some common ground, it was becoming “much more apparent to everybody what the remaining tough choices are and what the options are with respect to those choices.”
Kerry’s message to Netanyahu could not have been clearer. Sharon “surprised many in his pursuit of peace,” Kerry stated, “and today, we all recognize, as he did, that Israel must be strong to make peace, and that peace will also make Israel stronger.”
Exactly 10 days ago, speaking at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, Kerry had said: “We know that Israel has to be strong to make peace. And we also know that peace will make Israel stronger not just with its near neighbors, but throughout the world.”
Other world leaders also used the opportunity to talk about Sharon to talk about Netanyahu — or rather, to talk to Netanyahu.
In a rather formulaic statement, US President Barack Obama paid tribute to leader “who dedicated his life to the State of Israel,” and then went on to reaffirm America’s unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. “We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security.”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s message to Israel’s current prime minister was yet more blunt, as he praised Sharon as a leader who “took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, through a spokesman, applauded Sharon’s “courageous decision” to withdraw settlers from the Gaza Strip, during the Disengagement, a “historic step on the path to a deal with the Palestinians and a two-state solution.”
Netanyahu is 21 years younger than Sharon and in good health .. http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-hands-power-to-liberman-during-medical-checkup/ . But as world leaders extolled a former Likud hawk who turned into a champion of the two-state solution, willing to take on the settlers, they were hoping his successor, too, will want to be remembered this way.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-tributes-to-sharon-a-not-so-subtle-message-for-netanyahu/
Mr. Netanyahu, it's wonderful that you see yourself in "historical terms", that's good .. and gee, seriously .. memory of a guy directly associated with one huge step toward ME peace would be a much better legacy than one of just another guy who fought war with an attack on Iran .. any/some more semblance of a more just, so more likelihood of lasting, peace is a much better memory for others to carry of you after you have finished leading Israel.. you know it is, too .. go for it, Mr Netanyahu .. IMAGINE! ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1NIXgjNXDk
See also:
Israeli forces manhandle EU diplomats, seize West Bank aid
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92244196
Analysis: Can Israel annex the Jordan Valley under international law? .. By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Here's What John Kerry's Peace Settlement Will Look Like (Probably) .. BY BEN BIRNBAUM
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90459017
.. GET IT DONE ..
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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