Iran Proposes Peace Plan
Rightists often insist that Arab peace plans are disingenuous attempts to weaken Israel through territorial deprival before a final, military blow - and that the plot is done in full view of the world. Arafat never hid the fact that he was using the peace process to set Israel up for military defeat...
No less damaging than [Arafat's] comments about Jerusalem was Arafat's cryptic allusion about his agreement with Israel. Criticized by Arabs and Muslims for having made concessions to Israel, he defended his actions by comparing them to those of the Prophet Muhammad in a similar circumstance: I see this agreement as being no more than the agreement signed between our Prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh in Mecca [in which Muhammad used the time to build up his army, waiting until the right time to break the peace and conquer Mecca].
... but the Clinton administration, as well as the Netanyahu and Barak governments, repeatedly tried to appease him by giving him concessions. Arafat at least had the good taste to keep his threats in Arabic and his lies in English. Iran isn't even that polite:
Barely a week after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki declared Monday that his government was planning to propose to the United Nations a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to Mottaki, the proposal was to be based on the ideas of Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
Let's review:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who repeated the words of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, by saying: "Israel must be wiped off the map."... "The comments expressed by the president is the declared and specific policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Mottaki told state-run television.
It is the policy of the Islamic Republic - passed on from the exact and infallible words of their founder - to wipe Israel off the map. Now they're proposing a "solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on that policy. Mere Rhetoric is now giving even odds as to whether tomorrow’s news will feature Annan saying that Iran's peace plan is a "positive sign of progress".
No less damaging than [Arafat's] comments about Jerusalem was Arafat's cryptic allusion about his agreement with Israel. Criticized by Arabs and Muslims for having made concessions to Israel, he defended his actions by comparing them to those of the Prophet Muhammad in a similar circumstance: I see this agreement as being no more than the agreement signed between our Prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh in Mecca [in which Muhammad used the time to build up his army, waiting until the right time to break the peace and conquer Mecca].
... but the Clinton administration, as well as the Netanyahu and Barak governments, repeatedly tried to appease him by giving him concessions. Arafat at least had the good taste to keep his threats in Arabic and his lies in English. Iran isn't even that polite:
Barely a week after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki declared Monday that his government was planning to propose to the United Nations a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to Mottaki, the proposal was to be based on the ideas of Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
Let's review:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who repeated the words of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, by saying: "Israel must be wiped off the map."... "The comments expressed by the president is the declared and specific policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Mottaki told state-run television.
It is the policy of the Islamic Republic - passed on from the exact and infallible words of their founder - to wipe Israel off the map. Now they're proposing a "solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on that policy. Mere Rhetoric is now giving even odds as to whether tomorrow’s news will feature Annan saying that Iran's peace plan is a "positive sign of progress".
