Monday, October 17, 2011

Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, PA: Photo of Staff and Volunteers, 1947

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 17, 2011

James S. Robinson, Jr. standing in center; Raymond Harris, band leader is on the far right.
Others pictured are not identified.

Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, PA: What It Is, What It Does, How It Affects You

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 17, 2011

Obama and Bush Administrations Complicit With Bankers’ in Massive Foreclosure Scheme

Black Buzz News Service
Silver Spring, MD
October 17, 2011

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
The robo-signers kept stealing as a matter of routine, while the Obama administration pretended it was on the side of the people.”
Both the Bush and the Obama administrations are complicit in the gargantuan and ongoing corporate conspiracy to unlawfully foreclose on the homes of millions of Americans. The U.S. government, through its quasi-private housing corporation Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which is supposed to oversee the millions of mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae, collaborated in the so-called “robo-signing” scheme [5] that has allowed banks to repossess homes without proof they own the mortgages to the houses.
That’s the scenario that emerges from a new report [6] by the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Agency. It is an indictment of the clear complicity of two administrations – one Republican, the other Democratic – in the total abrogation of the rule of law as it pertains to Wall Street. The report shows that the Bush administration was made aware, back in 2003 that banks were engaged in wholesale fraud and theft of properties of American homeowners. The housing bubble had not yet burst, but the banks were gobbling up properties, especially defaulted sub-prime mortgages that had been targeted at Blacks and Latinos. But, because of the banks own practices of bundling mortgages into securities and then immediately passing them on to suckers down the line, the banks did not have clear title to the properties. They sold them anyway by forging signatures by the millions. Theft and fraud were standard practice on Wall Street, and both the Bush and Obama administrations knew it, and protected the bankster criminals. Law firms did much of the criminal dirty work. At least one legal outfit in Florida processed 75,000 robo-signed signatures a year for Fannie Mae.
It is an indictment of the clear complicity of two administrations – one Republican, the other Democratic – in the total abrogation of the rule of law as it pertains to Wall Street.”
The Bush administration was alerted to these activities eight years ago, but did nothing. And, after Fannie Mae became bankrupt and was absorbed [7] into the federal government in 2008, the Obama administration continued to protect the Wall Street conspirators. The robo-signers kept stealing as a matter of routine, while the Obama administration pretended it was on the side of the people by launching what it promised would be a $50 billion Home Affordable Modification Program. It was all a sham. Relatively few [8] homeowners were saved. The reason was that the Obama administration’s priority was the same as the Bush administration’s had been: to smooth the process by which the banks could clear up foreclosures and pass the bad paper on to the federal government, putting the people’s bank account deeper and deeper in the red.
The robo-signers kept signing, and they are still at it, with the full protection of the Obama administration. The Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who issued the damning reports, says the agency still claims to be deciding what to do about the robo-signers, eight years later. The agency issued a statement that it would do something by September of 2012 - just before the presidential election.
To apologize for President Obama by claiming that he “inherited” the housing mess from George Bush is like saying that Al Capone inherited his criminal enterprises from previous gangsters. Obama is just as much a conspirator with Wall Street as Bush, and he has signaled he intends to keep the mega-crime going right up till Election Day. He's a gangster, pure and simple.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, to go BlackAgendareport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com [9].
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20111005_gf_FannieMaeRoboSign.mp3

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, PA: Photo of Volunteer Leading Girl Scouts of Troop 484 Hill City

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 15, 2011

Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, PA: Photo of Halloween Costume Winners, 1946

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 15, 2011

Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, PA: Photo of the Great Hill City Marching Band

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 15, 2011


Raymond Harris is shown standing on the right.  Mr. Harris was the famous band director of Hill City.


Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, Pa: Photo of a Judge in Court Proceedings, January 16, 1947

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 15, 2011



Hill City staff members on left: Jean Swan sitting down, behind Ms. Swan is Pronty Ford.  Remaining pictured are: Allegheny County Bar Association members, the Hill City Court Judge and Hill City Youth Municipality prosecutors and the Hill City Youth public defenders.


Hill City Youth Municipality Pittsburgh, PA: Photo of the Hill City Court in Recess

Black Buzz News Service
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Robinson Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 15, 2011

The National Black Political Caucus Pittsburgh PA, Picture of Ronald B. Saunders of the NBPC Who Recruited Alphonso Jackson for the position of Director of Public Safety for the City of Pittsburgh PA.

Black Buzz News Service
Ronald B. Saunders Project
Saunders Family Archives
Pittsburgh, PA
October 15, 2011


The City of Pittsburgh did not hire Alphonso Jackson as the Public Safety Director, a position he held with the City of St. Louis.  This is the same Alphonso Jackson who later served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President George W. Bush.

Monday, October 10, 2011

The New State Voter Photo ID Suppression Laws

·   
Black Buzz News Service
Selma, Alabama
October 10, 2011

    The new State Voter Photo ID Laws passed in various States are a major civil rights issue that should receive top priority from the United States Justice Department, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other public interest legal organizations who are sensitive to the legal issues raised in this overt abuse of State power.
    All of these GOP Voter Photo ID Laws are designed to limit, curtail, stop a certain demographics from exercising their right to vote in the 2012 presidential election.
    Even though we presently live in a plutocracy, we do have some democratic elements that have been in place since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of which is a citizen's fundamental right to vote.  For any State within the jurisdiction of the United States to suppress in any manner the most fundamental right of a citizen in exercising their right to vote is nothing but unadulterated tyranny, which must be defeated at all cost.
  The Brennan Center for Justice, at the NYU School of Law announced the following States have passed New Voter ID Laws in their 2011 legislative sessions:
1. Alabama
2. Kansas
3. Rhode Island
4. South Carolina
5. Tennessee
6. Texas
7. Wisconsin
  Further, the Brennan Center for Justice states that studies show that as many as 12% of eligible voters do not have government issued photo ID, that the percentage is even higher for seniors, people of color, people with disabilities, low-income voters and students. The studies also show that many citizens find it hard to obtain a government photo ID because the underlying documentation such as a birth certificate needed for a photo ID is very difficult and expensive to come by for many of voters.

  It also appears that the new State voter photo ID laws will have an adverse effect and disparate impact on African American voters.
 On September 8, 2011, the United States Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights held a hearing on the suppressive effects of the photo ID laws. Was this U.S. Senate hearing all about show and pizzazz or will these U.S. Senators finally show some courage and determination to address this new camouflaged James Crow voter photo ID Laws?
  The hypocritical US propaganda apparatus has the gall and audacity to go around the world lecturing other countries about the benefits of democracy when they can't stand on the right side of justice and practice what they preach in their own backyard. 
  According to Solomon Commissiong, activist, educator at the University of Maryland, College Park (and I concur): "the same US propaganda machine has fooled many more into thinking that America stands as a beacon of freedom, justice and equality."  Solomon further states that one of the most reprehensible myths propagated by the US government is that it is a nation that delivers "democracy to nations allegedly under autocratic rule."

  The GOP has declared war against at least a million voters who will be disenfranchised if these biased new voter ID laws remain on the books.

  The way you win a war is to have the right game plan, right strategy and a zillion foot soldiers who are committed to victory at all cost. One's game plan must be clear, concise and coherent. Either we are part of the solution or part of the problem. This is really the time to put on our marching shoes and use other items that are germane in our arsenal of weapons in beating these new voter photo ID laws. 
 One should always remember the biggest weapon we have is our mind and NO one can take that away.
 Although the issues raised in the Occupy Wall Street Movement are vitally important to many Americans, interfering and obstructing an American citizen's right to vote should take priority over any other matter at the present time.
  It is very unfortunate that we do not have any credible or accountable national Civil Rights leaders who can galvanize, organize or develop a comprehensive game plan in concert with the Occupy Wall Street Movement in order to defeat these new James Crow III State Voter Photo ID Suppression Laws.
  This is not the time for Black people, young people or other people of color to remain on the sidelines when there is plenty of hard work to do in defeating James Crow III.
   I do remember at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's that most Black folks sat on the sidelines while important history was being made. What will we do this time? This is the time for citizens to be engaged not outraged.

 The cowards within the ranks of the Grand Ole Party and Tea Party may say that these new laws have nothing to do with the 2012 presidential election, but in essence they have everything to do with the 2012 election.  One must ask the question why didn't the GOP in the subject States enact these restrictive voter suppression laws when William Jefferson Clinton was seeking a second term in the White House in 1996?  If these new Voter Photo ID Laws are not about race and class, then what must one conclude?
    What is the intent of these Voter Photo ID Law? What is the motivation of these new Voter Photo ID Laws?  Is defeating Barack Obama at all costs coupled with a big dose of old fashioned 21st century racism masked as State's Rights the motivation of these new Voter Photo ID Laws?  The new Voter Photo ID Laws are nothing but a modern day poll tax designed to limit young voters, the elderly, poor Blacks and other poor people of color who as we know came out in droves in the 2008 election.
  The United States of America is indeed ripe for an Arab Spring, and the voters must wake up and seize the time or we may be relegated to a position of secondary consideration in a country that has the one percent  elites owning/controlling 42-44 percent of the actual financial wealth in the United States and whose sole mission is maintenance of the status quo.

  Power To The People Who Know How To Use It


     
      



Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Saunders Family Enjoy a Pleasant Outing in Colonial Williamsburg

Black Buzz News Service
Ronald B. Saunders Project
Saunders Archives
Big Stone Gap, Virginia
October 6, 2011


From left to right: Thomas J. Saunders, TJ Saunders III, Mina Saunders and Janey Lee Saunders


Sunday, October 2, 2011

No Peace or Justice in Our Time with Netanyahu

Black Buzz News Service
Marblehead, Massachusetts
October 2, 2011

by Stephen Lendman

Like his Washington paymaster/partner, Netanyahu deplores peace. Initiating talks never worked before and won’t now.

Speaking privately at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, Bill Clinton said Netanyahu lost interest because Palestine has a president he controls, and normalizing relations with the Arab world is within reach.

“The Israelis always wanted two things that once it turned out they had,” he said, it didn’t seem so appealing to Mr. Netanuahu.”

Israel believes it has a reliable “Palestinian government, and there’s no question – and the Netanyahu government has said – that this is the finest Palestinian government they’ve ever had in the West Bank.”

In fact, President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are longtime Israeli collaborationists, serving as Israeli enforcers against their own people.

Of course Netanyahu approves. He controls them both.

Clinton added that “cynics” think his “government’s continued call for negotiations over borders and such means that he’s just not going to give up the West Bank.”

Of course he’s not nor any other Israeli leader. For decades, they’ve stolen most valued parts dunam by dunam. They’ll keep doing it until Palestinians have only worthless scrub land for a bantustan state Israel will agree to as long as it remains occupied or at least firmly controlled.

Clinton also believes Abbas would accept the deal Arafat rejected in 2000, adding:

“For reasons that even after all these years I still don’t know for sure, Arafat turned down the deal I put together that (Ehud) Barak accepted. (And) they also had an Israeli government that was willing to give them East Jerusalem as the capital of the new state of Palestine.”

Fact check

In 1947, UN Resolution 181 internationalized Jerusalem as a separate body (a corpus separatum), administered by a UN Trustee Council. Israel spurned a policy still binding.

In July 1980, Israel’s Basic Law declared “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.” Yet on June 30, 1980, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 476. America abstained.

It stipulated that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant (Fourth Geneva) violation.”

Following Israel’s non-compliance, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 478, America again abstaining.

It “censur(ed Israel) in the strongest terms” for enacting the Jerusalem Basic Law, calling it a violation of international law. It also said the Council doesn’t recognize it, and told member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city.

At the time, the Security Council and General Assembly reaffirmed that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, that expropriating its land is illegal, and that all Israeli legislative and administrative measures altering the city’s character and status are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.

Israel never complied. Moreover, it continued land seizures, home demolitions, and dispossessions, flagrantly flouting its obligations under international law.


Camp David – July 2000

Bill Clinton hosted Arafat and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Clinton and America’s major media called Israel’s proposal “generous” and unprecedented,” accusing Arafat of spurning peace for conflict by rejecting it.

Barak insisted Arafat sign a “final agreement,” declare an “end of conflict,” and give up any legal basis for additional Occupied Territory land. No written offer was made nor were documents or maps presented.

In fact, only a May 2000 West Bank map was used, dividing the area into four isolated cantons under Palestinian administration surrounded by expanding Israeli settlements and other Israeli-controlled land.

The cantons consisted of: Jericho, a southern canton to Abu Dis, a northern one including Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm, and a central one including Ramallah.

Gaza was left in limbo as a fifth canton to be resolved when Israel disengaged in August and September 2005, but kept effectively occupied to reenter or attack any time.

Barak’s deal, if accepted, would have doomed real peace. It also offered no resolution of final status issues, including statehood, fixed borders, diaspora Palestinians right of return, East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, and others.

Arafat understood and rejected it. Yet he was unfairly blamed. Clinton was party to a deal calling for unconditional surrender, not peace or a viable Palestinian state.

Eleven years later he wondered why Arafat turned it down. He might have been run out of town back home or worse if he accepted it. That’s why.

Support for Palestinian Statehood

Despite his own cross to bear, Turkish Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan understands enough to support Palestinian statehood.

Addressing the General Assembly on September 22, he sharply criticized Israel for obstructing Middle East peace and refusing to apologize for murdering nine Turkish nationals aboard the Mavi Marmara humanitarian ship to Gaza, then added:

“What is more painful is that the UN has been incapable of taking the necessary steps to end the humanitarian tragedy that Palestinians have gone and are going through.”

He also urged UN member states to recognize Palestinian sovereignty, saying, it was established but never formally implemented.

Ahead of his September 23 General Assembly address, Abbas said pressure won’t deter him from submitting a Security Council bid, knowing it’ll go nowhere because Washington will obstruct it.

Nonetheless, he formerly petitioned the UN, handing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon an official application for membership. PA delegation member Husam Zomlot called it a “historic moment.” He and others may rethink that view when Palestinians get nothing substantive, leaving them at square one.

Former Clinton administration official David Rothkopf said Obama stated “a clear US position and put himself squarely as a champion of the status quo,” leaving Palestinian statehood unresolved in limbo.

Whether or not he meant it, Abbas added:

Peace “negotiations with Israel achieved nothing at all. All parties are demanding that we return to negotiations, but we say that if Netanyahu does not announce his recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and the halt of settlement (construction), we will not return to negotiations.”

On September 17, Hugo Chavez wrote UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, saying:

“I address these words to the United Nations General Assembly, to this great forum that represents all the people, to ratify, on this day and in this setting, Venezuela’s full support of the recognition of the Palestinian state: of Palestine’s right to become a free, sovereign and independent state.”

“This represents an act of historic justice toward a people who carry with them, from time immemorial, all the pain and suffering of the world….Palestine will live and overcome! Long live free, sovereign and independent Palestine!”

The New York Times’ Jihad Against Palestinian Statehood

On September 22, its latest editorial broadside headlined, “The Palestinians’ Bid,” saying:

In addressing the General Assembly, “Obama had no choice but to stand by Israel, this country’s historic ally. And we agree that a negotiated deal is the only way to ensure the creation of a viable Palestinian state, guarantee Israel’s security and build a lasting peace.”

Fact check

Times correspondents, opinion writers, and editorials support wrong over right, especially on issues affecting Israel.

Obama indeed has choices but made the wrong one. Negotiations never produced peace or statehood and won’t now. Israel hasn’t faced security issues for almost 40 years, and doesn’t today as the region’s nuclear armed superpower.

Palestinians are denied justice and statehood because Israel and Washington won’t tolerate either. Peace won’t come until world leaders go around them for resolution enforced with teeth.

“There is no mystery to what a final deal would look like, just a lack of political courage to push it to the end. (It would) creat(e) a Palestinian state on territory equivalent to the pre-1967 West Bank Bank and Gaza Strip, with mutually agreed land swaps.”

Fact check

In 1948, Israel stole 78% of historic Palestine. In 1967, it took the rest. Palestinians will settle for 22% returned. Land swaps won’t work because Israel will demand all valued areas, leaving Palestinians isolated in cantons.

Moreover, what about East Jerusalem as Palestine’s legitimate capital. The Times thought it unimportant to mention, let alone demand.

Yet it called for a “bold and fair” proposal, as well as “help to sell it to the Israeli and Palestinian people – not just politicians.” Otherwise a “diplomatic train wreck” may result.

In fact, Palestinians never got “bold and fair” proposals and won’t now. Instead they’ve endured 63 “train wreck(ed)” years begging to be ended.

As a result, now’s the time to go around Washington, Israel, their obstructionist allies, and collaborationist Abbas leadership for what they won’t achieve otherwise.

It may not be now or never, but if left up to Washington, Israel, and its fifth column leaders, statehood and full UN membership won’t ever come.

A Final Comment

On September 20, Gaza-based journalist and university lecturer Rami Almeghari headlined his Electronic Intifada article, “PA goes to UN without Palestinian consensus behind it,” saying:

It’s “clear that many Palestinians remain at best doubtful that the promised confrontation in New York will do anything to advance their rights and aspirations.”

True enough, but he’s wrong suggesting why bother given that likely outcome. Victories come incrementally, not all at once against long odds. Most important, they come by trying, knowing long sought goals are never achieved easily or quickly.

Moreover, committed leadership for what’s right is key. Palestinians sorely lack it, assuring failure under a man who’ll accept it, his rhetoric notwithstanding.

On September 20, London Independent writer Robert Fisk headlined, “Why the Middle East will never be the same again,” saying:

“The Palestinians won’t achieve statehood, but they will consign the ‘peace process’ to history.” Of course, it was stillborn from inception, and indeed Washington and Israeli obstructionism prevents any possibility of statehood now or in the foreseeable future.

The Mossad-connected DEBKAfile agreed, saying expect no “diplomatic showdown….when the Palestinian bid for statehood is filed Friday, Sept. 23….Neither the Security Council or General Assembly will (make) any immediate decisions….(In fact, the) process (can drag on for) weeks if not months,” and may end up dying from inaction.

“The game is lost,” said Fisk. “America’s political power in the Middle East will this week be neutered on behalf of Israel. Quite a sacrifice” for pyrrhic victories.

All the more reason why Palestinians should never quit trying for what one day’s within reach by persisting. It’s how all great struggles are won.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Quartet Anti-Palestinian Statehood Proposal

Black Buzz News Service
Moosehead, Maine
October 2, 2011

by Stephen Lendman

Quartet representatives UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN Middle East envoy Tony Blair, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy High Representative Catherine Aston explained its elements.

On September 21, an initial statement “expressed its strong support for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which can resolve all final status issues within one year.”

“The Quartet reaffirmed its full commitment to its previous statements, which provide that negotiations should lead to an agreement that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic, contiguous, and viable Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”

“In the spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative, the Quartet called on Arab states to support Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and progress on the other tracks by taking bolder steps to foster positive relations throughout the region and to combat violence and extremism.”

“Recalling that change on the ground is integral to peace, the Quartet reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian Authority’s August 2009 plan for building the institutions of a Palestinian state within two years.”

Quartet members established a timeline for “realistic and serious” negotiations to begin in a month. They hope for comprehensive proposals within three months, substantial progress in six, and a firm deal by end of 2012.

An international conference in Moscow was also proposed once “substantial progress” has been made on “comprehensive proposals.”

In addition, a Donors Conference will convene to support “state-building actions developed by Prime Minister Fayyad under the leadership of President Abbas.”

“The Quartet agreed to meet regularly” to monitor events and propose recommendations.

A follow-up September 23 statement can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/full-text-of-mideast-peace-brokers-statement/

Notably, the proposal excludes key issues, including settlements, 1967 borders, East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, Gaza’s siege, diaspora Palestinians right of return, and their legitimate elected Hamas government, among others.

As a result, it’s offensive and demeaning, treating Palestinians like children ordered to obey or be spanked.

It’s little more than old wine in new bottles to deny statehood and keep Palestine oppressively occupied in perpetuity.

Ma’an News said Egypt’s interim Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said the Quartet’s proposal represents “another failure.”

Addressing the General Assembly on September 24, he said:

Egypt “was, and will remain, committed to the goal of achieving just and comprehensive (Middle East) peace.”

However, the Quartet failed to make progress. Friday, “(w)e have witnessed….another failure….to come up with a balanced vision to achieve the goal that we all know and approve of yet differ on how to realize it.”

On September 23, Abbas petitioned the Security Council for statehood and full UN membership. If implemented, the Quartet proposal will consign it to memory hole oblivion.

Rhetoric aside, Israel, Washington, key EU allies, and Ban Ki-moon aim to bury it this way. In other words – delay, delay until going, going gone and forgotten.

Early Reactions

On September 24, Haaretz writers Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid and Avi Issacharoff headlined, “Palestinian FM rejects Quartet proposal for not addressing settlements, Israeli withdrawal,” saying:

On Saturday, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki “rejected (the) Quartet’s proposal to renew peace negotiations….”

On an unnamed Palestinian radio station, he said it doesn’t “call for a settlement freeze and an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, and therefore isn’t sufficient.”

An unnamed US official called the proposal “realistic and serious,” saying it provides:

“a credible, serious alternative path and we believe that both sides, if they’re true to their words, will find a way to respond favorably to this.”

No matter that decades of “peace talks” failed, including:

– Camp David I;

– Madrid;

– Oslo;

– Oslo II;

– a 1994 Protocol on Economic Relations;

– a Cairo Agreement on Gaza and the Jericho Area the same year;

– the 1994 Washington Declaration and Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities between the two parties;

– the 1995 Protocol on Further Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities; it included an agreement to resume “permanent status” talks and discuss other elements of a peace plan relating to Israeli troops redeployments, land transfers, safe passage between Gaza and the West Bank, a Gaza seaport, prisoner releases, and various issues related to security, normal civilian activities, international donor aid, and a timetable for final status talks;

– the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum;

– Camp David II;

– the “Road Map;”

– Anapolis; and

– the stalled September 2010 grand illusion fudged to look real like all previous failures.

In fact, on and off for decades, negotiations were stillborn from inception because Israel and Washington won’t tolerate peace. They demand unconditional surrender and permanent occupation.

Only Israeli demands matter. Palestinians always got take it or leave it deals. As a result, they never had a legitimate peace partner and don’t now, dealing with Israel’s most extremist ever government under Netanyahu.

He deplores peace. He once called negotiations “a waste of time,” and never does it in good faith. Moreover, Washington agrees to whatever Israel wants, making a mockery of serious talks.

Longtime Israeli analyst Gideon Levy agrees. On September 25, his Haaretz article headlined, “Netanyahu proved Israel doesn’t want peace,” saying:

His General Assembly address showed “Palestinians (and the world) can no longer expect anything from Israel. Nothing.”

“Netanyahu, peddler of emotions, did not shrink from or forget anything (in reviewing) thousands of years of history to obscure reality….”

Those with him in New York “said it all, (a) cheerleading squad, (including) two kippa-wearers, two generals, two former Russians, three current beard-wearers – a depressing and threatening group portrait of Israel’s extreme right, class of 2011.”

Israel’s true face leaves Palestinians on their own with no legitimate peace partner. In fact, Israel won’t tolerate peace, Palestinian statehood, or ending its 44 year occupation.

On Saturday, nonetheless, Abbas again said he’ll consider all “solution(s) that can last and end the conflict.”

“We realize that the parties who suggest initiatives either seek to reach a solution quickly or to prevent any solution….We will see what the days bring, but expect good things….We are talking about weeks, not months.”

Aboard his plane back home, he told reporters:

“When settlement expansion continues, and when Israel considers that an accomplished fact, we will not accept it because it will be a real threat to the presence of the Palestinian Authority. That is what I said, and here I say it again.”

A Final Comment

On return to Ramallah, Haaretz said Abbas called Netanyahu Israel’s most inflexible leader, saying:

“Benjamin Netanyahu’s ideological positions do not allow him to advance forward,” stopping short of saying negotiating with him is impossible.

It’s also true of Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a longtime ultranationalist extremist.

On September 25, he told Israeli Army Radio that there will be unspecified “tough repercussions” if Palestine’s statehood application is approved.

Specifically referring to possible General Assembly passage, he said:

“If the Palestinians will indeed pass a one-sided resolution if not in the Security Council then the General Assembly, that would bring us to an altogether new situation and this would have repercussions, tough repercussions. Any unilateral step will without a doubt bring an Israeli reaction.”

At the same time, he and Netanyahu welcome the Quartet’s proposal. They know it promises failure, again shattering Palestinian hopes.

In fact, smart money bets on it because neither side is serious about what Palestinians want and deserve but won’t get.

Maybe next time, not now. It’s for Palestinians on their own to prove them wrong.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.