First the New York Times and now the Economist... Its a convenient illusion that you are helping to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by bringing people together, even if everyone is being brought together on land confiscated from Palestinian territory and under economic arrangements that erase the borders between Israel proper and the West Bank. But Ms Johansson isnt the only one in this drama who has tried to have things both ways for as long as possible. Israel has watched with growing anxiety as Palestinian activists have succeeded in forcing Oxfam and Ms Johansson to make a choice. The divestment of European firms, the growing power of liberal Jewish organisations that oppose and denounce the occupation, the intense blitz of visits by John Kerry to force progress in the peace process, the widening cracks in Binyamin Netanyahus coalition: all of this points to what Thomas Friedman characterised this week as a turning point in the relationship to the territories. The question of whether Israel has the intention and the willpower to ever pull out is finally going to have to be answered. Last week a top Israeli think tank laid out a new bottom line: if the peace talks with the Palestinians fail, Israel is simply going to have to unilaterally pull out of the 85% of the West Bank it hasnt directly occupied. The indecision, the deferral, the fantasy of Greater Israel is going to have to end. MH economist/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/01/scarlett-johansson-and-sodastream?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/vicky_cristina_jerusalem
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:01:01 +0000
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