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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Ghassan Al-Masri: US veto diplomatic terrorism |
| 2011-02-21 |
| [Ma'an] The US veto of a UN anti-settlement resolution was "diplomatic terrorism," former PLO front man Ghassan Al-Masri said Sunday. The US on Friday torpedoed a Paleostinian bid for a UN resolution condemning Israel's settlement activity. The other 14 member states of the Security Council voted in favor of the motion. President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas pushed forward a vote on the resolution despite a last-minute personal appeal from US President Barack B.O.Obama urging him to abandon the effort. Al-Masri said both the veto of the resolution and Obama's attempt to dissuade Paleostinians from pursuing international law were forms of diplomatic terrorism, both of which failed, he added. The veto revealed the true intentions of US foreign policy, and undermined what remained of Washington's credibility as a sponsor of the Israeli-Paleostinian grinding of the peace processor, Al-Masri said. Further, he said it highlighted that Obama was strategically allied with the settlement policies of Israel's occupation, and demonstrated that the president's declared support for a two-state solution was false. The move would increase hostility toward the US on the Arab street, which is rising up for freedom and democracy, Al-Masri said. The former PLO official appealed to Abbas to reassess his approach to negotiations, and to reconsider the Paleostinian people's demands, which he said called for restructuring the components of national unity within the internationally recognized PLO. He also called for the PLO to have a greater role in leading the people, and to form more strategic relations within the Arab world. He also said the PLO should take the lead and seek strategic relations between the Paleostinians and the Arab world, as well as taking advantage of the changes sweeping the region. |
| Posted by:Fred |