US President George W. Bush is currently in Sydney. This morning he met with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and discussed…the Israel/Palestine conflict? Over to you, Howard:
“And also the prospects for something we both hope for – and that is a lasting settlement between Israel and the Palestinian people which does justice to the right of the Israelis to exist unmolested as a free and proud nation, and also the right of the people of Palestine to have a homeland.”
How touching. So, the West is aiming for a Jewish state that can essentially do as it pleases (as now) but the Palestinians will have to compromise. Of course, Howard didn’t say this, but the facts on the ground prove it. Israel’s colonial project continues unmolested, while historical Palestine is shrinking by the day.
What a bizarre statement. Bizarre, of course, in the realm of logic, but not in the realm of what passes for international statesman-speak on Israel.
So the Israeli “nation” – which has existed for 6 decades – has all sorts of nice adjectives attached to it. The putative Palestinian ‘homeland’ – emphatically not a ‘nation’ for Mr. Howard – is by contrast unvarnished and unadorned. But this style of idiotic rhetoric, as I say, is typical.