White House photo at the Annapolis Conference.
So what progress has been achieved in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the Annapolis Conference in November, 2007 when Bush announced:
The day is coming when Palestinians will enjoy the blessings that freedom brings — and all Israelis will enjoy the security they deserve. That day is coming. The day is coming when the terrorists and extremists who threaten the Israeli and Palestinian people will be marginalized and eventually defeated. And when that day comes, future generations will look to the work we began here at Annapolis.
If you know an adequate antonym for progress, let is ring.
From the statistics cited below, Olmert obviously duped Bush in Annapolis, just as Barak duped Clinton at Camp David, where the chumps were Abbas and Arafat, respectively, and ultimately the Palestinian people.
In a brief article about Annapolis entitled, Brzezinski Says, Steven Clemons of The Washington Note featured an interview with the Palestinian leader, Mustafa Barghouti.
Since the end of the Annapolis Conference whose goal was to establish peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, principally by ending Israel’s 41 year military occupation and creating a sovereign Palestinian state, this is what has happened, as reported by Barghouti:
During the entire year 2007, the number of Palestinians, civilians and militants involved in fighting the occupation, killed was 404, while 10 Israelis, soldiers and civilians, were killed. In the eight months since Annapolis, more than 520 Palestinians were killed including more than 70 children (Israelis killed not quoted).
Israeli attacks on Palestinians: “increased by 300%.”
Military road-blocks/checkpoints in the West Bank: “increased from 521 to 607.”
The rate of settlement growth in the West Bank since Annapolis: “twenty times more than before.”
Barghouti’s estimate of the situation on the ground: can only be called “apartheid.”
See the complete interview here:
Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote Clemons after viewing the interview.
steve —
that discussion with [Barghouti] is humiliating for any decent American who values human rights….
zb
