Silence

Over the past two months, President Obama put enormous pressure on Israel to stop the construction of housing units (“settlements”?) in Israel’s own capital of Jerusalem (“disputed territory”?), suggesting that Israeli “intransigence” on this issue was “an impediment to peace.” The President’s cheerleaders in the MSM dutifully reported the President's words. It seems that the President is very concerned about impediments to peace. It's odd, therefore, that he and his media cheerleaders have remained silent on recent developments out of the Middle East.

Robin Shepard reports:

Hard on the heels of a comprehensive opinion survey showing that most Palestinians support a two-state solution only as a stepping stone to a one state solution after Israel has been destroyed, and of a Palestinian Authority report denying any Jewish connection to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, we now have the third emphatic statement of Palestinian rejection of peace and its pre-requisites in under two weeks, this time from the Fatah Revolutionary Council.

Yesterday, the Council stated its implacable opposition to recognising Israel as a Jewish state, as well as to a peace agreement involving land swaps. The first issue is critical; the second important. If Palestinians will not recognise Israel as a Jewish state the conflict cannot come to an end since, as the afore mentioned opinion polls show, Palestinian society will only view any agreement as a temporary measure until the conflict can be resumed on more fabourable terms at a later date. If they reject a priori the possibility of land swaps they are effectively saying there is nothing to talk about on border questions, in which case what is the point of negotiations in the first place?

The Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli government official as saying the following in response to the Fatah announcement: “I would ask the Palestinians the following question: If the Jewish state is fundamentally illegitimate in your eyes, what sort of peace are you offering us? “It is clear that their refusal to recognize the Jewish state’s legitimacy is the true obstacle to peace and reconciliation.”

Like the BBC in the UK (Shepard’s home), our main stream media has remained silent on these events. After all, the fact that Fatah—the “moderate” Palestinians—has stated that it will never recognize Israel as Jewish state might be just a bit more “intransigent” than, oh, building an apartment complex, and suggesting that any “peace treaty” that was signed would simply be a stepping stone to the destruction of Israel, might be just a bit more newsworthy than, oh, the last flotilla to Gaza.

But all we get from the President and the MSM is the sound of silence. In the delusional view of the Left, the Palestinians are an aggrieved party who would happily pursue peace if only the evil, oppressive Israelis would give peace a chance. Any report that the Palestinians have made three emphatic rejections of peace in two weeks time doesn’t fit that mime, so the administration and the MSM remain silent. The ironic thing is that silence on this issue isn’t news. It happens all the time.


Update (11/29/10):
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The Jerusalem Post provides additional details on the Palestinians' anti-peace actions and attitudes over the past few weeks and comments on the Left-leaning media’s blackout of this news. Interesting reading.