Spot the Obvious Contradiction

Via the NYT:

The Arab League endorsed the 2002 peace proposal once again at a Riyadh meeting that ended Thursday. The initiative calls for “achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194” passed in 1948.

The resolution, in its key paragraph, “resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible.”

Israel has always argued that the United Nations resolution gives no specific right of return to Palestinians.

There will be no peace in the region until Olmert is replaced. That much is obvious.

TEL AVIV, March 30 — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in interviews published Friday that Israel would not allow a single Palestinian refugee to return to what is now Israel, and that the country bore no responsibility for the refugees because their plight resulted from an attack by Arab nations on Israel when it was a fledgling state.

When other countries continually violate UN resolutions, they are quickly called to account (See: Iraq and Iran). This issue has been going on for almost 60 years and has still not been resolved.

Related:
Resolution 194
Electronic Intifada. Daily news and opinions from a Palestinian perspective.
Olmert channels MLK:

"I have a dream. That within five years there will be a global peace accord in the Middle East," Olmert told Maariv.

What Olmert doesn't seem to understand is that if you want peace, you actually have to make it happen and, on that front, he has failed and will no doubt continue to do so.
 

US to Israel: Don't Even Think About Talking to Syria

Who runs Israel's foreign policy? The Bush administration.

U.S. hardens line on talks between Jerusalem, Damascus
By Ze'ev Schiff, Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents

The United States demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.

In meetings with Israeli officials recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was forceful in expressing Washington's view on the matter.

The American argument is that even "exploratory talks" would be considered a prize in Damascus, whose policy and actions continue to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and the functioning of its government, while it also continues to stir unrest in Iraq, to the detriment of the U.S. presence there.
[...]
When Israeli officials asked Secretary Rice about the possibility of exploring the seriousness of Syria in its calls for peace talks, her response was unequivocal: Don't even think about it.

And Olmert, of course, is quite willing to act as Bush's sockpuppet on the matter.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far adopted the strict American position not to respond to the Syrian feelers.

On the other hand, at the Foreign Ministry and within the defense establishment, there is a greater degree of openness to the offers, and the overall view is that the door should not be closed entirely to the Syrians. Similarly, many believe that the Syrian offers should be tested for their sincerity.

Among the leading individuals supporting this view is Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Nonetheless, there is strict adherence to the principle of not acting against the views of the prime minister and of coordinating all matters with him.

Peretz should be pushing for talks. He's the one who was in charge of the war with Lebanon - another failure of military might supposedly making things right.

So, the US not only refuses to negotiate with the remaining so-called 'axis of evil' countries, Iran and Syria. It is now demanding that the Israelis back away from that thing called 'diplomacy' as well. And exactly what good can come of that besides a guarantee of even more foreign aid from the US to Israel? That's exactly how this administration conducts its foreign policy: threats and bribes. It seems to me that if the people of Israel truly want to live in peace, they'll turf Olmert as soon as possible and choose a leader who actually has their best interests in mind and has the guts to stand up to American political influence and interference.