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A whole speech about Islam, and President Obama didn’t use the word “terrorists” even once?
Obama’s conservative critics, along with some media observers, are up in arms — which is a real testament to how effectively the Bush administration linked the one word to the other.
Daniel Levy writes for TPM Cafe:
“Gone was the arrogance and lecturing….Out too was the purple finger version of democratization and even the traditional American condescension toward the Palestinian narrative.”
Robert Dreyfuss blogs for the Nation:
“Interesting, isn’t it, that…the only criticism of the Cairo speech is coming from (1) the neocons and their allies, and (2) Osama bin Laden, who is clearly panicking about Obama’s play for mainstream and conservative Muslim opinion. Strange bedfellows, indeed.”
Cartoon Watch and Obama’s weapon of mass appeal.
(Haaretz) – Time has passed and many heirs to Kahane have arisen – not only among a greedy and savage multitude but also among “the public’s chosen representatives” in the Knesset and government. The latter are busy preparing blatantly racist laws and sending armed police to thwart Palestinian-initiated international cultural events because the regime believes the Arabs of the Land of Israel, the native Palestinians, are not worthy of being called human beings. According to the writers of these laws, the Arabs are certainly not entitled to human rights, not to mention a cultural and intellectual life, and never mind property, land and a home, because thousands of years ago God promised this land to Abraham and his seed.
… we never imagined that those who call themselves disciples of Ze’ev Jabotinsky would impose terror and fear here using deranged racist legislation. We never imagined that they would use the destruction of the court system to try to prevent any possibility of achieving social justice and a humane attitude. This is something essential in every democratic society toward every man, woman and child, irrespective of origin, race, religion and sex.
For 42 years we have been occupying, oppressing and stealing lands that are not ours. To be free in our land do we need to become thieving Cossacks, uprooters of trees, burners of fields and harassers of women, the elderly and the very young? “We have this land, we have it,” goes the song, but what should have been said is “We have the power, we have it, we have the money, we have it, and we are allowed, we are,” to starve an entire population, imprison it and annihilate it using air strikes, cluster bombs and white phosphorous. Because we are the lords of the land and God has chosen us to rule. For the shame of it.
(Haaretz) – Uzi Landau said that a Palestinian state is tantamount to an “Iranian state.” Isaac Herzog appeared even more ridiculous when he said that the problem with the settlements is one of “public relations.” In essence, both were busy with the same problem: How can we manage to pull the new America’s leg as well? Israeli politicians have never before appeared as pathetic, as small as they did recent days, compared to the bearer of promise in Cairo.
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Obama’s visits to Riyadh and Cairo this week, is an attempt to revive the Madrid conference coalition, which president Bush, Sr. formed after the first Gulf War, in October 1991. Incidentally, then too, the Likud, led by Yitzhak Shamir, “leveled harsh criticism”
against the U.S. administration and “expressed disappointment” at its refusal to recognize the natural growth of the settler population. We can assume that Obama has also heard the news that its number (without East Jerusalem) has grown since then, from fewer than 100,000 to almost 300,000. Enviable fertility indeed.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I also hope Obama is told how many Palestinians and activists are maimed or killed every week….or left homeless….and did I mention 10,000 imprisoned with no due process.
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Charles Krauthammer:
“In the 16 years since the Oslo accords turned the West Bank and Gaza over to the Palestinians, their leaders built no roads, no courthouses, no hospitals, none of the fundamental state institutions that would relieve their people’s suffering.”
Despite miles of coastline, businesspeople in the largely Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip must go through Israel for most of their trade. The Palestinians complain that Israeli middlemen nearly double the costs for imported goods, from automobiles to furniture, while Israeli-imposed delays play havoc with Palestinian exports of fruits and vegetables.
After years of testy negotiations, Palestinians finally have the right to build and operate–under some restrictions–their first seaport. Last year’s U.S.-brokered Wye Plantation accord put the Gaza harbor in writing, and another agreement ratified this month at Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, gave the green light for an Oct. 1 construction start date.
More than the Palestinian airport, which opened in Gaza late last year but has no cargo facilities, the harbor will provide a critical boost for a listless economy overly reliant on foreign aid and expensive imports and hamstrung by corruption among Palestinian officials.
Initially, the harbor project is expected to create at least 5,000 jobs …
“Infrastructure in Gaza has been severely affected by lack of funds for upgrades and rehabilitation, in addition to destruction incurred during military operations. From electricity and sewerage networks, to access to roads and clean, running water, basic daily requirements have not been maintained. Particularly over the past five years, municipal buildings and schools have been occupied, damaged or destroyed and roads rendered inoperative.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."