Criticism of Secretary Powell\'s speech in Israel centered on the following points:
* Powell strongly criticized Israeli settlement activity, saying it \"has severely undermined Palestinian trust and hope. It preempts and prejudges the outcome of negotiations and, in doing so, cripples chances for real peace and security.\" He did not, however, call upon the PLO to cease its own construction in strategic places in the same areas - also a form of \"preempting the outcome.\"
* Powell\'s reference to negotiation over the ultimate fate of Jerusalem could have only one outcome: Israeli concessions, meaning an end to Jerusalem\'s status as the indivisible and eternal capital of the Jewish People.
* Powell\'s call for the conclusion of yet another agreement with the PLO ignores its 37-year track record of systematically violating all its international commitments.
* Powell said, \"Palestinians need security, as well. Too many innocent Palestinians, including children, have been killed and wounded. This, too, must stop.\" The implication is that the \"innocent\" Palestinians who were killed by accident, or \"not so innocent\" Palestinians who were killed in the course of Israeli self-defense, are equivalent to the truly \"innocent\" Israelis who were deliberately targeted by Palestinian terrorism.
* Powell noted, \"The Palestinian leadership must arrest, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of terrorist acts\" - but did not mention their Oslo obligation to extradite them to Israel for punishment.
* The bottom line is that in return for an end to Palestinian terrorism, they will receive a state. \"Would the American people tolerate awarding Bin Laden with a state in response to him calling off terrorism?\" asks Nadia Matar of Women in Green.
An editorial in Israel\'s most popular daily newspaper Yediot Acharonot today expressed doubt whether Powell\'s speech would have a practical effect:
“Despite the Americans’ diplomatic desire to create a balanced vision, the two peoples’ willingness to accept and adopt it is not balanced at all…\" The paper claims that while a large majority of Israelis would be willing to accept the principles Powell enumerated, \"there is still no parallel, significant, peace bloc among the Palestinians, and especially not in the Islamic and Arab countries further away from Israel. There is no sincere cultural willingness to recognize Israel as a sovereign Jewish state and to put a decisive end to the war against Zionism. There is no realistic desire to reach an end to the conflict. There is no state effort to change the format of Islam’s education for hatred. There is no conceptual or moral countenancing of a solution to the refugee problem outside Israel’s borders. There is no rallying of public opinion against terrorism; the rallying in favor of it continues.”
* Powell strongly criticized Israeli settlement activity, saying it \"has severely undermined Palestinian trust and hope. It preempts and prejudges the outcome of negotiations and, in doing so, cripples chances for real peace and security.\" He did not, however, call upon the PLO to cease its own construction in strategic places in the same areas - also a form of \"preempting the outcome.\"
* Powell\'s reference to negotiation over the ultimate fate of Jerusalem could have only one outcome: Israeli concessions, meaning an end to Jerusalem\'s status as the indivisible and eternal capital of the Jewish People.
* Powell\'s call for the conclusion of yet another agreement with the PLO ignores its 37-year track record of systematically violating all its international commitments.
* Powell said, \"Palestinians need security, as well. Too many innocent Palestinians, including children, have been killed and wounded. This, too, must stop.\" The implication is that the \"innocent\" Palestinians who were killed by accident, or \"not so innocent\" Palestinians who were killed in the course of Israeli self-defense, are equivalent to the truly \"innocent\" Israelis who were deliberately targeted by Palestinian terrorism.
* Powell noted, \"The Palestinian leadership must arrest, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of terrorist acts\" - but did not mention their Oslo obligation to extradite them to Israel for punishment.
* The bottom line is that in return for an end to Palestinian terrorism, they will receive a state. \"Would the American people tolerate awarding Bin Laden with a state in response to him calling off terrorism?\" asks Nadia Matar of Women in Green.
An editorial in Israel\'s most popular daily newspaper Yediot Acharonot today expressed doubt whether Powell\'s speech would have a practical effect:
“Despite the Americans’ diplomatic desire to create a balanced vision, the two peoples’ willingness to accept and adopt it is not balanced at all…\" The paper claims that while a large majority of Israelis would be willing to accept the principles Powell enumerated, \"there is still no parallel, significant, peace bloc among the Palestinians, and especially not in the Islamic and Arab countries further away from Israel. There is no sincere cultural willingness to recognize Israel as a sovereign Jewish state and to put a decisive end to the war against Zionism. There is no realistic desire to reach an end to the conflict. There is no state effort to change the format of Islam’s education for hatred. There is no conceptual or moral countenancing of a solution to the refugee problem outside Israel’s borders. There is no rallying of public opinion against terrorism; the rallying in favor of it continues.”