"Over the last 3 months, two thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your [Israeli] homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars." JD Vance, June 18 2026

"Over the last 3 months, two thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your [Israeli] homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars."  

JD Vance warns Israel officials that attack Trump: 'Only powerful ally' you have left

Jun 18, 2026

 

In a rare rebuke, Vice President JD Vance blasted Israeli officials attacking President Trump over his Iran deal, warning that Trump is “the only head of state in the entire world” currently sympathetic to Israel and urging critics to “wake up” to the country’s reality. 

Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans that pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory

Trump White House voices opposition after Israel unveils plan to increase control over West Bank

A White House official has reiterated Donald Trump’s opposition towards Israel annexing the West Bank, after Israeli plans were announced that would pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The measures, announced on Sunday, included allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power. It was unclear when the new rules, approved by Israel’s security cabinet, would take effect but they do not require further approval.

As regional states and others condemned the plan, a White House official on Monday said that “a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.”

More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Around three million Palestinians live there.

Earlier, the UK called on Israel to reverse its decision, saying: “The UK strongly condemns the Israeli security cabinet’s decision yesterday to expand Israeli control over the West Bank.

“Any unilateral attempt to alter the geographic or demographic make-up of Palestine is wholly unacceptable and would be inconsistent with international law. We call on Israel to reverse these decisions immediately,” the statement added.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is scheduled to meet Trump in the US on Wednesday.

The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said he was “gravely concerned” by the changes, and warned they were “eroding the prospects for the two-state solution”, his spokesperson said in a statement.

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state but is regarded by many on the religious right as Israeli land.

Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Sunday that the changes were aimed at “deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state”.

Guterres called Israel’s actions “destabilising” and pointed to an international court of justice finding that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory was illegal.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/10/trump-west-bank-occupation-white-house-opposition

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]     

ICE’s New-Age Propaganda With its string of “wartime recruitment” ads, often featuring pop songs and familiar meme formats, the agency has weaponized social media against itself. by By Brady Brickner-Wood

Infinite Scroll

Kyle Chayka on the people and platforms that are shaping digital culture.  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll

 For this week’s Infinite Scroll column, Brady Brickner-Wood is filling in for Kyle Chayka.

Illustration by Ariel Davis

Late last year, the White House’s social-media team lauded ICE’s torrential deportation efforts with a string of memes seemingly engineered to go viral. In one video posted to Instagram, the song “all-american bitch,” by Olivia Rodrigo, provides a soundtrack to a montage of deportees being forced onto buses and planes; in another, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Juno” plays as ICE agents accost people in the streets, the lyric “Have you ever tried this one?” repeating each time a new person is detained. Another video uses the satirical song “Big Boys,” from a “Saturday Night Live” skit featuring SZA, as agents handcuff people in parking lots. A line from the song—“It’s cuffing season”—flashes in all caps across the screen. Rodrigo, Carpenter, and SZA have denounced the videos as “hateful,” “evil,” and “peak dark,” respectively. (In response to Carpenter, the White House doctored a video promoting her own “S.N.L.” appearance to make it seem as if she said she would “arrest” the cast member Marcello Hernández for being “too illegal.”) Unlike other cases of Trump using musicians’ songs, against their will, at rallies or in campaign materials—Beyoncé, Adele, and Jack White, among them—these videos are not one-off inanities or easily ignorable promotional assets. Instead, they are part of a hundred-million-dollar “wartime recruitment” effort, according to an internal document obtained by the Washington Post, aimed at hiring thousands more deportation officers in the new year, a propaganda crusade intended to portray ICE as a team of Avengers valiantly defending American soil from a malevolent foreign terror. By splicing pop songs and familiar meme formats into cruel detainment footage, ICE strains to attract a younger demographic, hoping to convince people that the agency is a vibrant—and trollishly funny—organization engaged in the noble work of putting away bad guys. Oh, the pop stars got mad? Joke’s on them. Now even more people know ICE is hiring.

The Trump Administration has pledged to deport a million immigrants each year during the President’s second term—even, it appears, if the immigrants have not committed crimes or are lawfully residing in the U.S. This past summer, as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress increased ICE’s budget to more than a hundred and seventy billion dollars across the next four years, netting out to an annual allocation that is more than the combined yearly budgets of all local and state law-enforcement agencies in the country. ICE has used some of this money to go on a hiring spree; the agency recently announced that it had signed up twelve thousand new officers and agents—a hundred-and-twenty-per-cent increase to its workforce... READ MORE  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/ices-new-age-propaganda

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies] 

James J. Zogby: "Today’s Trump/Netanyahu meeting was an embarrassingly gross “log-rolling” exercise in flattery. Netanyahu says he nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize. Trump calls Netanyahu “the greatest man alive.” It made me sick. Meanwhile the genocide of Palestinians continues"

James J. Zogby

@jjz1600

Today’s Trump/Netanyahu meeting was an embarrassingly gross “log-rolling*” exercise in flattery. Netanyahu says he nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize. Trump calls Netanyahu “the greatest man alive.” It made me sick. 

Meanwhile the genocide of Palestinians continues

*Log-rolling

Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member. In organizational analysis, it refers to a practice in which different organizations promote each other's agendas, each in the expectation that the other will reciprocate. In an academic context, the Nuttall Encyclopedia describes logrolling as "mutual praise by authors of each other's work".

Please do not demonize and silence or destroy people who speak out peacefully against corruption, injustice, racism, bigotry, and violence of every type.

Semitic languages

 Dear America ,

Criticizing Israel is not Anti-Semitic.  Semites speak Semitic languages. Palestinians are Semites, but they are erased and excluded from the definition of Anti-Semitism... 

 

Palestinians are also being erased, excluded, and silenced by Israeli efforts to seize Palestinian land, rights, peace, and the story itself.   

We know about Anti-Semitism because of the crimes against humanity committed by Nazis who were taught to hate Jewish people and others.

 

The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place during the Nuremberg trials (1945-1946) against defeated leaders of Nazi Germany, laying the ground work for modern international law.  

 

Nazis had been brainwashed by toxic propaganda to hate Jewish people.  But Nazis were held accountable for their war crimes.  Israelis should be too. 

 

Arming Israel and funding Israel's violations of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights is wrong. 

 

“Never Again means Never Again for anybody!” Every year Holocaust survivors and their descendants speak out about Israel’s cruelty towards Palestinian men, women, and children on Holocaust Memorial Day. It is not a huge crowd, but what they say is hugely important. We should listen.

 

Please do not demonize and silence or destroy people who speak out peacefully against corruption, injustice, racism, bigotry, and violence of every type. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

American homemaker & poet

Notes  https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

Jonathan Cook: Thirty years of Middle East lies just keep coming back to haunt us- The West’s ‘war on terror’ was built on a series of deceptions to persuade us that our leaders were crushing Islamist extremism. In truth, they were nourishing it

No To Hate: United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech

“We must condemn antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears – as we must condemn all forms of racism, prejudice and religious bigotry which we see proliferating today.”  @antonioguterres United Nations

Rashida Tlaib: Politicians should not be allowed to profit from war

Tlaib introduced the Stop Politicians Profiting from War Act to ban members of Congress and their families from owning defense stocks.

UNWRA 2025- Palestinian children dream of music and peace....

A family from Bethlehem in 1951

“Never Again means Never Again for anybody” Holocaust Survivors speak about Israel's Genocide on Holocaust Memorial Day -January 2025

UNWRA WORKS: In the first week of the ceasefire, 60% of all the food that entered the Gaza Strip was from UNRWA. If the ban on UNRWA is implemented in the next days, it will severely challenge the already fragile ceasefire including the delivery of lifesaving aid in Gaza #UNWRAworks

"I don’t think that God sent us prophets and books of light to fight each other over them. They actually tell us how to live together. " Yusuf/Cat Stevens

Frankly every Holocaust Museum on earth should have a wing added explaining the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish Palestinians. 75 years and counting...

CIVILIANS & their homes MUST BE PROTECTED 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 

America should not help Israel commit crimes against humanity.

Israeli Settlers threw molotov cocktails and rocks, breaking windows and setting several houses and cars on fire in each place they targeted in protest at the release of 90 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

"Since the war in Gaza began, settler violence has intensified further, displacing entire villages for the first time. On many occasions, the Israeli army has been documented failing to stop settler attacks, or even joining in."

"“We can’t even cross the road to our olive trees now or they’ll shoot at us,” he said of the settlers. “This is our land, and our houses, but they want us to leave for good.”"

‘A constant state of panic’: how war in Gaza triggered new wave of depression and insomnia among Palestinian refugees from 1967 war The stress of seeing the destruction of their homeland sent rates of mental illness soaring in Jordan’s Jerash camp – and the ceasefire has brought scant relie

Poet Mosab Abu Toha's January 22, 2025 Statement on the destruction of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza

Dear America- letter sent to my elected leaders: Please understand that our friend Israel already is a one state "solution" that has been oppressing and intentionally displacing the native non-Jewish Palestinians for decades now.

Unrwa may be forced to stop saving lives in Gaza. Will the world let that happen? Outrage over Israel’s attempt to dismantle our UN agency has largely petered out. The stakes are very high now Opinion piece by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General

"Meanwhile, Hamas accuses Unrwa’s leadership of colluding with the Israeli occupation and opposes the agency’s efforts to promote human rights and gender equality. Far from being a party to the conflict, Unrwa is a casualty of this war." Philippe Lazzarini

CSM ‘Cold is death.’ For Gazans in flimsy tents, a winter of sorrow and loss. 

Human Rights Watch joins with nearly 90 other organizations in a letter opposing US sanctions against the International Criminal Court. It would be a terrible irony if a tool designed to penalize violators of human rights could instead contribute to their impunity. 

"The U.S. provided $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel from October 2023 to October 2024, a substantial increase from the already $3.8 billion in military aid the U.S. gives Israel annually. "

The best idea is to start with full support for fair and just laws based on full respect for basic human rights.

The United Nations & The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Always, no matter what.... Even Wars Have Rules

"If the U.S. had held Israel accountable for the killing of other Americans like Rachel Corrie or Shireen Abu Akleh, perhaps Israeli soldiers would not feel so emboldened to kill Americans, and other civilians, today." Hamad Ali in The Hill 12/14/24

Dear America- Israel and its propagandists claim it is all about self-defense, but Israel is and has been the aggressor and the rule breaker.

Dear Elected Officials- Stop poisoning the land, and undermining international law.

My Letters https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/letters

 

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

 

In the aftermath of the ceasefire in Gaza, 1.9 million displaced people urgently need shelter, aid, and psycho-social support.⁣ ⁣UNRWA plays a vital role in fostering stability and resilience during this critical time.⁣

White House Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on Aysenur Eygi "Aysenur was peacefully protesting in the West Bank—standing up against the expansion of settlements—when her young life was senselessly cut short. No one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest. The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF personnel in the West Bank."

Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on Aysenur Eygi

2. Briefing Room
3. Statements and Releases

The killing of Aysenur Eygi is a horrific tragedy that never should have happened. Doug and I are keeping her family and loved ones in our prayers. Aysenur was peacefully protesting in the West Bank—standing up against the expansion of settlements—when her young life was senselessly cut short. No one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest. The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF personnel in the West Bank.  Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.
 
Israel’s preliminary investigation indicated it was the result of a tragic error for which the IDF is responsible. We will continue to press the government of Israel for answers and for continued access to the findings of the investigation so we can have confidence in the results. There must be full accountability.
 
The United States will continue to hold accountable anyone in the West Bank – Israelis and Palestinians – who stokes violence and undermines peace and stability.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/09/11/statement-from-vice-president-kamala-harris-on-aysenur-eygi/

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

"For the White House to allow pro-Israel “word police” to define what is & isn’t acceptable language is a dangerous abuse of power" James J Zogby ... & Annie's Notes about the real meanings of some very crucial words that are being badly misconstrued by Biden & the Zionist Word Police

 James J. Zogby

@jjz1600

So the president is now condemning the word “intifada” as hate speech. It literally means “shaking off,” as in removing the shackles of the past. For the White House to allow pro-Israel “word police” to define what is & isn’t acceptable language is a dangerous abuse of power

What the “word police” say can’t be said: apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleaning, settler colonialism, “from the River to the sea…”, & now intifada. The list keeps growing as a way to shield Israeli policies from criticism. & to equate this w/ antisemitism is so wrong.

 

 ~~~~~~

 Annie's Notes about the real meanings of some very crucial words that are being badly misconstrued by Biden & the Zionist Word Police

 

 

Dove of Peace w Key ASA copyright 2009

Intifada- shaking off

 

From the River to the Sea-  Freedom, equality & respect everywhere for everyone- empowering the rule of fair and just laws.

Apartheid- 1940s: from Afrikaans, literally ‘separateness’, from Dutch apart ‘separate’ + -heid (equivalent of -hood):  SEGREGATION

Ethnic Cleansing- the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically or religiously homogenous.

Settler Colonialism- Settler colonialism occurs when colonizers invade and occupy territory to permanently replace the existing society with the society of the colonizers

 Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people^[a] in whole or in part.  

In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly

Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide in his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, combining the Greek word γένος (genos, "race, people") with the Latin suffix -caedo ("act of killing"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide

 

Semite, name given in the 19th century to a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages spoken primarily in parts of western Asia and Africa. The term therefore came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians (including the Amhara and the Tigrayans), and Aramaean tribes.

 

Notice that indigenous Arab Palestinians, including Arab Christians, are being erased -ethnically cleansed- from historic Palestine while also being intentionally and persistently excluded from the definitions of antisemitism:

 

Antisemitism- hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people. The term anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns underway in central Europe at that time. Nazi anti-Semitism, which culminated in the Holocaust, had a racist dimension in that it targeted Jews because of their supposed biological characteristics—even those who had themselves converted to other religions or whose parents were converts. This variety of anti-Jewish racism dates only to the emergence of so-called “scientific racism” in the 19th century and is different in nature from earlier anti-Jewish prejudices.

Israel's real, undeclared goal has always been to make Gaza uninhabitable and destroy as many traces of Palestinian life as possible

 

Gaza, Palestine 2024

Occupied by Israel

Occupied by Israel

 ***

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/24/remarks-president-obama-and-president-abbas-palestinian-authority-bilate

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

September 24, 2013

Remarks by President Obama and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority Before Bilateral Meeting

Conference Building-United Nations
New York, New York

3:06 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  I want to thank President Abbas for this opportunity to speak to him once again.  The last time that we had an extensive discussion was in Ramallah during my visit to both Israel and the West Bank.  And at that time I said to both sides that I remain deeply committed, and the United States remains deeply committed to bringing about a just and lasting peace to a conflict that has been going on too long.

And I want to say that President Abbas I think has consistently rejected violence, has recognized the need for peace, and I’m grateful to him for his efforts.

The position of the United States has been clear.  The border of Israel and Palestine should be based on 1967 lines with mutually agreed-to swaps so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states with robust security provisions so that Israel retains the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threats.

And I am very pleased that President Abbas has been willing to enter into negotiations.  Sitting directly at the table, we’ve seen Palestinian and Israeli representatives discuss some of the most difficult issues that have been roadblocks to peace for too long.

None of us are under any illusion that this would be easy.  As I said in my speech this morning, it has already entailed significant political risk by President Abbas, as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu.  But I think the reason that they’ve been willing to take those risks is they realize this is the best way, the only way, for us to achieve what should be our goal:  two states living side-by-side in peace and security.  It’s right for Palestinian children.  It’s right for Israeli children.

And having leaders who are willing to look out into the future and take risks on behalf of that better history is something that the United States intends to support as strongly as possible.  And I’m urging all my counterparts, heads of state here at the United Nations to support this effort as well.

Last point I would make -- the Palestinian Authority has been a critical mechanism to improve governance and increase transparency in the West Bank.  Obviously, the Palestinian Authority operates under significant constraints, including resource constraints.  But we think it's very important that we continue to support efforts that have been made by the Authority, for example, to improve internal security and professionalize security forces inside the Authority.  And that, I think, lays also an important foundation for the kind of economic development and governance that will be critical for an independent Palestinian state.

So, Mr. President, thank you for taking the time to be with me here today.  And I look forward to our discussions.

PRESIDENT ABBAS:  (As interpreted.)  Thank you very much, Mr. President, for hosting us here and agreeing to meet with us to discuss very critical issues related to the peace process in the Middle East.

And we still -- and our people still remember very proudly the historical visit that you paid to the Palestinian Territories, after which we launched peace negotiations with your support and help, and also with the involvement of Mr. Kerry.  And we appreciate all the support that the U.S. is extending to the Palestinian people to build the institutions of the future Palestinian state, which hopefully will materialize very soon with your support and continued assistance.

And as we have said in the past, and we can continue to reiterate, that we are fully committed to the peace process so that we can reach a final settlement that ultimately will lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state that would live side-by-side in peace and security with Israel.

And as you have indicated, Mr. President, we have no illusions that peace will be easy or simple.  And we have to overcome several difficulties, but we realize that peace in the Middle East is not just important for the Palestinians and Israelis, it’s important for the entire region and the world.

We appreciate your support for the continuation of the negotiations, and we will exert every effort possible to make sure that they will succeed and to take advantage of this historical opportunity.  We understand there will be difficulties, but we will do our utmost best to overcome them.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Thank you, everybody.

END
3:13 P.M. EDT

Twenty Years After Oslo, Trying it Again

The White House South Lawn on September 13, 1993 as a crowd of 3,000 gathers for the signing of the Oslo accords.

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

 http://www.aaiusa.org/dr-zogby/entry/twenty-years-after-oslo-trying-it-again/

 Monday September 16, 2013

by Dr. James Zogby of AAI

Twenty years have passed since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accords in Washington, DC on September 13th, 1993.

On the White House lawn, where the signing took place, there was a sense of euphoria. When Arafat and Rabin shook hands, Arab Americans and American Jews, who had long been combatants in the public sphere, turned to each other to embrace and celebrate the moment. Two days later, in an effort to build on this positive sentiment, President Bill Clinton invited 150 leaders of both communities to the White House urging them to work together as a "constituency for peace."

In Israel and the Occupied Territories there were also celebrations with leaders on both sides expressing optimism about the way forward. Appearing on my live call-in TV show just days after the signing, Nabil Sha'ath the chief Palestinian negotiator was questioned about whether the fledgling Palestinian government would be able to restrain perpetrators of acts of violence against Israelis. He responded, “if the agreement works, and I believe that it will, two years from now our farmers will be cultivating the land that has been liberated, our young men will be working at jobs that have been created, and we will be building the infrastructure of our new state. If, in the midst of all of this, someone were to commit an act of violence, the people would turn to us and say, ‘stop them, because they are threatening everything we've won.’”

There were also Israelis who looked confidently to the future. Israel’s deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin said, “Israel is another Israel, we are ready to change many of our ideas from the past to adapt ourselves to a new reality. The PLO is no longer the same PLO. Things can be done in the Middle East.”

But not everyone was pleased. Israeli critics accused Rabin of surrendering to and giving legitimacy to Palestinian terrorists, while Palestinian critics charged that the Oslo documents had too many loopholes and would only prolong the Israeli occupation.

By any measure, the Accords were incomplete. They were full of ambiguities, areas where the parties fudged over differences because they could not find agreement. And resolution of the most critical issues of Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees, and security arrangements were put off until after a five-year transitional period. One observer, at the time, described the Accords, more like "a cry for help" than a peace agreement. It was as if Israelis and Palestinians were saying "this is a start—as far as we can go. We need help to get to the finish line".

But even with the flaws and the ambiguities, what was undeniable was that Israel and the PLO had taken unprecedented steps, breaking taboos and shattering myths.

In the first place, Israelis and Palestinians formally recognized each other as national communities. While Palestinians had committed themselves to a two-state solution in 1988, signing an agreement with the Israelis that recognized the legitimacy of an independent Israeli state represented a dramatic breakthrough. Israel also had an issue with recognition. Until Oslo they had refused to acknowledge the existence of a Palestinian people. And they refused not only to talk to the PLO but had insisted that others shun the group, as well. In 1985, speaking at a Washington event, Rabin was quoted as saying "whoever agrees to talk to the PLO means he accepts in principle the creation of an independent Palestinian state" and this he said, was "unacceptable". In acknowledging the PLO, Israel not only opened the door to the inevitability of a Palestinian state, it also shattered the anti-PLO taboo (that it had established). For years, the heavy-handed political clout of American supporters of Israel had tormented Arab Americans and others, punishing them for "contact" with the "forbidden" group.

The Oslo Accords also shattered the myth that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was insoluble, the result of an "age-old" conflict that was "in the genes" of both communities. Oslo did not provide a solution, but it demonstrated a willingness of both sides to finding one.

There were other breakthroughs resulting from Oslo. While no Palestinian state came into being, the locus of Palestinian authority and decision-making would move for the first time to the Palestinian territories. And while the occupation remained an oppressive fact of life for most Palestinians, even the limited pullback of Israeli forces from most West Bank cities and towns, gave Palestinians welcome respite.

The Oslo Accords provided for an initial Israeli limited deployment that would lead to a five-year transitional phase, during which negotiations would continue.  It was at the end of this five year period that the parties would begin work in earnest to resolve the so-called "final status" issues. The operative assumption behind this approach was that with five years of peaceful relations sufficient trust would have developed giving the negotiators the space to tackle the thorniest issues.
For the process to play out, as it was envisioned, several things had to occur:

• The role of the US had to shift from being an observer, with an inclination to support one side, to a fully engaged balanced participant. As the Accord made clear, Israelis and Palestinians could go no further on their own. They needed someone to heed their cry for help and shepherd them through to the end;
• The parties had to move quickly. In drawing up their timetables, the architects of Oslo did not factor in the ability of a suicide bomber, settlers on a rampage, or excessive force by Israeli occupation forces to unravel the process. Violence from Palestinians and Israeli settlers who opposed Oslo eroded public confidence in the peace process, making it politically difficult for the negotiators to complete their work; and
• Provisions had to be made to bring the benefits of peace to both sides in order to sustain their confidence in a five year process. The problem was that while Israel's economy grew quite quickly after Oslo, the Palestinian economy contracted. Because of unrestrained Israeli behaviors, in the first two years after Oslo: settlements grew at an unprecedented rate; and because of restrictive Israeli policies, Palestinian unemployment doubled, income fell, and businesses closed because they could not freely import or export. 

In the end, the flaws of Oslo proved fatal. Today, the number of Israeli settlers has tripled; the Palestinian economy remains dependent on Israeli good-will and international largess; and thousands have died, victims of acts of terror, disproportionate military assaults, and settler violence. As a result, confidence and trust is at a low point.

After a long hiatus, the parties have once again reopened negotiations. One can only hope they have learned lessons from the Oslo experience:

• An interim, phased approach won't work. The opponents of peace will take advantage of an interim period to attempt to sabotage any agreement;
• The US can't be an observer. The Palestinians are too weak and have no leverage. Pressure must be applied on the Israelis to help level the playing field; and
• There must be immediate signs of improvement in the daily life of both peoples. Israelis must feel more secure, and Palestinians must feel more free and they must see clear signs that their future will be prosperous and just.

Twenty years have passed since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accords in Washington, DC on September 13th, 1993.

 On the White House lawn, where the signing took place, there was a sense of euphoria. When Arafat and Rabin shook hands, Arab Americans and American Jews, who had long been combatants in the public sphere, turned to each other to embrace and celebrate the moment. Two days later, in an effort to build on this positive sentiment, President Bill Clinton invited 150 leaders of both communities to the White House urging them to work together as a "constituency for peace."

 In Israel and the Occupied Territories there were also celebrations with leaders on both sides expressing optimism about the way forward. Appearing on my live call-in TV show just days after the signing, Nabil Sha'ath the chief Palestinian negotiator was questioned about whether the fledgling Palestinian government would be able to restrain perpetrators of acts of violence against Israelis. He responded, “if the agreement works, and I believe that it will, two years from now our farmers will be cultivating the land that has been liberated, our young men will be working at jobs that have been created, and we will be building the infrastructure of our new state. If, in the midst of all of this, someone were to commit an act of violence, the people would turn to us and say, ‘stop them, because they are threatening everything we've won.’”

 There were also Israelis who looked confidently to the future. Israel’s deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin said, “Israel is another Israel, we are ready to change many of our ideas from the past to adapt ourselves to a new reality. The PLO is no longer the same PLO. Things can be done in the Middle East.”

 But not everyone was pleased. Israeli critics accused Rabin of surrendering to and giving legitimacy to Palestinian terrorists, while Palestinian critics charged that the Oslo documents had too many loopholes and would only prolong the Israeli occupation.

 By any measure, the Accords were incomplete. They were full of ambiguities, areas where the parties fudged over differences because they could not find agreement. And resolution of the most critical issues of Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees, and security arrangements were put off until after a five-year transitional period. One observer, at the time, described the Accords, more like "a cry for help" than a peace agreement. It was as if Israelis and Palestinians were saying "this is a start—as far as we can go. We need help to get to the finish line".

 But even with the flaws and the ambiguities, what was undeniable was that Israel and the PLO had taken unprecedented steps, breaking taboos and shattering myths.

 In the first place, Israelis and Palestinians formally recognized each other as national communities. While Palestinians had committed themselves to a two-state solution in 1988, signing an agreement with the Israelis that recognized the legitimacy of an independent Israeli state represented a dramatic breakthrough. Israel also had an issue with recognition. Until Oslo they had refused to acknowledge the existence of a Palestinian people. And they refused not only to talk to the PLO but had insisted that others shun the group, as well. In 1985, speaking at a Washington event, Rabin was quoted as saying "whoever agrees to talk to the PLO means he accepts in principle the creation of an independent Palestinian state" and this he said, was "unacceptable". In acknowledging the PLO, Israel not only opened the door to the inevitability of a Palestinian state, it also shattered the anti-PLO taboo (that it had established). For years, the heavy-handed political clout of American supporters of Israel had tormented Arab Americans and others, punishing them for "contact" with the "forbidden" group.

 The Oslo Accords also shattered the myth that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was insoluble, the result of an "age-old" conflict that was "in the genes" of both communities. Oslo did not provide a solution, but it demonstrated a willingness of both sides to finding one.

 There were other breakthroughs resulting from Oslo. While no Palestinian state came into being, the locus of Palestinian authority and decision-making would move for the first time to the Palestinian territories. And while the occupation remained an oppressive fact of life for most Palestinians, even the limited pullback of Israeli forces from most West Bank cities and towns, gave Palestinians welcome respite.

 The Oslo Accords provided for an initial Israeli limited deployment that would lead to a five-year transitional phase, during which negotiations would continue.  It was at the end of this five year period that the parties would begin work in earnest to resolve the so-called "final status" issues. The operative assumption behind this approach was that with five years of peaceful relations sufficient trust would have developed giving the negotiators the space to tackle the thorniest issues.

 For the process to play out, as it was envisioned, several things had to occur:

       ·   The role of the US had to shift from being an observer, with an inclination to support one side, to a fully engaged balanced participant. As the Accord made clear, Israelis and Palestinians could go no further on their own. They needed someone to heed their cry for help and shepherd them through to the end;

       ·   The parties had to move quickly. In drawing up their timetables, the architects of Oslo did not factor in the ability of a suicide bomber, settlers on a rampage, or excessive force by Israeli occupation forces to unravel the process. Violence from Palestinians and Israeli settlers who opposed Oslo eroded public confidence in the peace process, making it politically difficult for the negotiators to complete their work; and

        ·   Provisions had to be made to bring the benefits of peace to both sides in order to sustain their confidence in a five year process. The problem was that while Israel's economy grew quite quickly after Oslo, the Palestinian economy contracted. Because of unrestrained Israeli behaviors, in the first two years after Oslo: settlements grew at an unprecedented rate; and because of restrictive Israeli policies, Palestinian unemployment doubled, income fell, and businesses closed because they could not freely import or export. 

In the end, the flaws of Oslo proved fatal. Today, the number of Israeli settlers has tripled; the Palestinian economy remains dependent on Israeli good-will and international largess; and thousands have died, victims of acts of terror, disproportionate military assaults, and settler violence. As a result, confidence and trust is at a low point. 

After a long hiatus, the parties have once again reopened negotiations. One can only hope they have learned lessons from the Oslo experience:

·    An interim, phased approach won't work. The opponents of peace will take advantage of an interim period to attempt to sabotage any agreement;

·   The US can't be an observer. The Palestinians are too weak and have no leverage. Pressure must be applied on the Israelis to help level the playing field; and

·   There must be immediate signs of improvement in the daily life of both peoples. Israelis must feel more secure, and Palestinians must feel more free and they must see clear signs that their future will be prosperous and just.

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