Portside

How Democrats learned to tell the plain truth and like it

In recordings published Tuesday by Channel 10, (In Israel) America’s former top diplomat can be heard praising the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to nonviolence following a wave of terror attacks beginning in the fall of 2015, which he said has been ignored by Israelis due to right-wing configuration of the current government.“The Palestinians have done an extraordinary job of remaining committed to nonviolence.

It is understood that Kerry intends to meet Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and, importantly, King Abdullah II of JordanSeveral sources- Palestinian, Israeli and European- say Kerry is focusing on one major issue that many argue is the root cause of the current conflict: the status quo of what Israel calls the Temple Mount - the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. These are the mutually agreed arrangements that govern access to a site holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Kiev's siege of the Donbass, supported by the Obama administration, is escalating an already perilous crisis.

The State Department’s handling of the Ukraine crisis may go down as a textbook diplomatic fiasco, doing nothing to advance genuine U.S. interests while disrupting cooperation with Moscow and pushing Russia and China back together, reports Robert Parry.

The secretary of state said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become ‘an apartheid state,’ like the old South Africa. Jewish leaders are fuming over the comparison.

Rashid Khalidi said today that the US opposition to the reunification of Palestinian parties exposes the "farce" that is the peace process. It is in fact a "bring them to the table on their knees process," and the U.S. rejects a Northern Ireland model- in which George Mitchell negotiated among all parties to the conflict- because the Israel lobby won't let it pursue that course.

POOR John Kerry. This week he emitted a sound that was more expressive than pages of diplomatic babble. In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee he explained how the actions of the Israeli government had torpedoed the "peace process". They broke their obligation to release Palestinian prisoners, and at the same time announced the enlargement of more settlements in East Jerusalem. The peace efforts went "poof".

Saying Israel is a Jewish state in the sense of observant believers would be like asserting that the United States is a Christian state even though about 22% of the population does not identify as Christian (roughly the same proportion as non-Jews in Israel). The point of the US first amendment is to forbid the state to to “establish” a religion.

Reader Comments: Chelsea Manning Sentencing; Egypt; Koch Bros.; Kerry and the Mideast Peace Process; Petition to Hold Kerry Accountable; False History; Labor Unions At Another Crossroad-Exchange (Martin Morand & Bill Fletcher); Dawkins Dresses Up Bigotry; Announcement: Encore-The Blacklisting of Hope Foye - Los Angeles-Aug 24 Resources: The Unfinished Dream - The March on Washington & the Radical Legacy of Martin Luther King