State Department Peaceniks

When it comes to the Middle East, here is what we get from NPR :

• "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pledged new efforts toward Arab-Israeli peace…but US officials have long complained that Israel has no partner for peace..." (Michele Norris)
• "The US considers Hamas a terrorist organization…the US ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, told reporters at the State Department recently that Hamas has been busy arming itself..." (Michele Kelemen)
• "a State Department official says for now the US is gently pushing Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to continue making overtures, to Palestinian leader Abbas, and to take confidence building steps..." (Michele Kelemen)

NPR is "covering" the US policy of arming Fatah (see earlier post) in the apparent US-Israeli effort to bring the latest rule by civil war strategy to Palestine. Sadly, for criticism of this policy, where does NPR turn? To "former US consul general in Jerusalem," Edward Abbington and "a former State Department official with a long record in Middle East peacemaking," Aaron David Miller! That's it. No official from Hamas. No outspoken critic of the overall US-Israeli policy, no one from the Israeli Peace and Justice movements. Aaron David Miller seems like a decent guy, and it's fine to get his viewpoint, and Abbington is an employee of Mahmoud Abbas and has lobbied for the Palestinian authority so he's a worth hearing from--BUT what a tiny, narrow, pathetic range of opinion--and all framed within the basic premise that the guiding principle of US foreign policy in Palestine is to seek a just peace.

One shouldn't be surprised, considering that even an insider like former President Carter can't get a hearing on NPR news due to the fact that he has ever so slightly lifted the curtain on the US-Israel government policy of carving up Palestine, maintaining the biggest illegal settlements, and relegating Palestinians to a permanent second class status.