U.S. Vetoes Mideast Peace

Most people in the United States don't understand the real causes blocking peace in the Mideast. They have bought the old Israeli argument that the peace talks can't be held because the Palestinians won't agree that Israel has a right to exist. The problem is that's an outrageous lie. It's not the Palestinians that are blocking peace talks by their actions -- it's the Israelis.

All of the relevant Palestinian groups have either said they recognize Israel's right to exist, or that they are willing to negotiate that. That should have cleared the way for peace talks, but it didn't. It didn't because the Israelis are not ready for peace talks -- they haven't finished stealing Palestinian land. Ever since they took East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, the Israelis have been spreading out into that territory by building settlements -- in violation of international law.

Israel has no intention of holding peace talks -- talks that could result in a Palestinian nation and a true peace, because the day that happens they can no longer steal any more land. It is obvious that they have no intention of ever giving up any of the Palestinian land they have stolen, and the longer they can delay peace talks the more land they can steal.

George Bush encouraged this illegal action by the Israelis, which is why no progress was made toward peace during his eight-year term. It was hoped that President Obama would be more neutral with the opposing parties, and thus be able to mediate a road to peace. At first it looked like that may be true, since he joined other world leaders in asking Israel to stop building settlements on Palestinian land. Unfortunately, the Israelis didn't take Obama seriously and continued to build.

Now it looks like the Israelis had correctly assessed the situation (and President Obama). The Obama administration has made it clear they are backing the illegal Israeli actions. The president has had several opportunities to punish the Israelis for not stopping the building, but has done nothing. Aid money could have been cut (or at least threatened to be cut), but Obama has made no move to do that.

Now the Obama administration has gone even further in defending the illegal settlement building. For a while now, a resolution has been making its way through the United Nations that would condemn Israel for continuing to build the settlements even though it has been made clear to them that it is a violation of international law. Last month a "number of prominent scholars, activists, and former U.S. diplomats" sent the president a letter asking him to support the U.N. resolution. They warned that a U.S. veto would "severely undermine US credibility and interests, placing us firmly outside of the international consensus, and further diminishing our ability to mediate this conflict."

But the president didn't listen. He destroyed what little credibility this country had as a neutral mediator and seriously damaged any hope of Mideast peace any time soon. He instructed the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. to veto the resolution when it became apparent it would be easily passed. Any hope of peace talks have been set back indefinitely.

Now neither side wants to come to the peace table. The Israelis aren't through stealing land, and the Palestinians can't trust us to be a fair mediator.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the veto didn't mean the U.S. was in favor of the Israeli settlement building, and that they were afraid the resolution would have resulted in increased building. That is not just ridiculous -- it may be the most outrageous lie told by the Obama administration to date. If the Obama administration really opposed the continuing building of the settlements, they would have joined the rest of the world in condemning the Israeli actions.

Once again the United States has taken a stand in defense of illegal activity, to the consternation of the rest of the civilized world. This is incredible -- and very wrong.