Israel Matzav

Al Hayat: 'Jewish lobby' sent Pelosi to Damascus

This has to be the ultimate in the blame game. Raghida Dergham, a columnist and senior diplomatic correspondent for the London-based Al Hayat (full bio here), has written a column on her website, which was also published in Friday's al-Hayat, in which the so-called Jewish lobby is blamed for sending moonbat House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Damascus.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus was motivated by a fraction of the Israeli lobby convinced that stimulating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's interest in striking a deal with Israel would prompt him to break away from Iran and abandon Hezbollah in Lebanon. The visit came on behalf of the Israeli government and its affiliates, who view the Syrian regime as weak and incapable of inflicting harm, yet the best de facto partner of Israel, since it will never stir up the Syrian-Israeli front, or allow for the emergence of the 'Muslim Brotherhood'. Hence, it stands to represent the wished for separation fence, running along the Syrian-Israeli borders. The visit of the head of the top US legislative body came to the dismay of George W. Bush, the head of the executive body, who is tasked by the Constitution with foreign policy decision-making and entrusted with the prerogatives to outstrip jurisdictions. This visit might cost Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party dearly, since she justified her trespassing by arguing that she played the role of the go-between by conveying a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the Syrian president. By doing so, she has impaired the prestige of the presidency of the US House of Representatives, while diminishing the status of the US presidency at the hub of a capital ruled by a regime standing accused of being behind politically-motivated assassinations in a neighboring country.

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The prospects for the Middle East are clear to all the moderate and rational Israelis who are well aware that the extremists in Israel and in the Jewish lobby within the US are those dictating policies on Nancy Pelosi and those of her caliber. The deliberate obstruction of peace, rather than peacemaking, is their aim, as they play for time and exploit a number of Congressmen/women as tools in carefully studied and planned policies suitable to Israel and harmful to the US. Buying time and establishing a tacit agreement to maintain the status quo was the actual purpose of the message Pelosi rallied back and forth between al-Assad and Olmert.

Accordingly, Nancy Pelosi's actions contradict and effectively block peace efforts exerted by the moderate Arab forces that gave Israel a clear and firm message indicating readiness for a collective and comprehensive peace with it in exchange for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict first. After having sat next to Vice President Dick Cheney during a special hearing at Congress and the Senate for Jordanian King Abdullah II a few weeks ago, Pelosi must have forgotten, pretended to forget, or even failed to hear the message being conveyed initially. She did not exert any effort in following the events of the Arab Summit in Riyadh, which launched an extremely important initiative in the course of the genuine pursuit of peace and an Arab, Islamic normalization with Israel. She acted either out of ignorance or ill intention by assuming a go-between role while visiting Damascus to breach its isolation amid a highly critical phase of isolation due to reasons directly related to the establishment of the international tribunal, sought to put an end to an era and a tradition of non-accountability and exoneration.

What Pelosi actually did was to implement another bleak chapter of the Israeli lobby strategy, stipulating to offer Damascus a deal with Israel to pull it way from Iran and Hezbollah. The truth of the matter is that Damascus will not break away from Iran, regardless of its readiness to sacrifice Hezbollah as part of bilateral deals with Israel in Lebanon. In fact, Israel needs a war to restore its image of supremacy following the uncovering of its weaknesses during last summer's war in Lebanon. It also seeks to militarily neutralize Damascus once again, as its is eager to claim its practical participation in sacrificing Lebanon. All the rhetoric over a peace deal in the Golan Heights are no more than lip service aimed at the Syrian and Israeli sides. This lip service has now come coupled with a smile from the US Speaker of the House, who assume the go-between role for deals doomed to failure.

A Democratic party seeking control of the White House is now required to radically compensate for Pelosi's actions, and to bear in mind the difference between reclaiming the White House from the Republican Party and stripping the US from the elements of its interests, status and future. The higher interest of the US calls on US Congressmen/women to stop thinking in terms of a pen merely inscribing the diktat of an extremist US-Israeli lobby intimidating the ranks of moderation in Israel.

If Israel is not ready for peace with the Palestinians, then it is up to Nancy Pelosi and those of her caliber to stop offering the interests and the future of the US as a hostage and an offering for the sake of the Israeli interest. If both Israel and Syria are ready for peace, then it is hoped that they negotiate and immediately forge a bilateral peace pact that would spare the Palestinians and the Lebanese the tragedies of being used as cards in the Syrian-Israeli, US-sponsored waiting game like the one sponsored by Pelosi.

Where does Hezbollah stand with respect to all this? Is it favoring the deal being concocted between Damascus and Tel Aviv by the hands of the Israeli lobby in Washington? Or is it favoring Lebanon, to whom belongs its popular base, which it exploits in its political maneuvers?

Simply amazing....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:10 PM