President Bush is, in fact, brain dead.
Israel has taken difficult actions, including withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Palestinians have held free elections, and chosen a president committed to peace. Arab states have put forward a plan that recognizes Israel's place in the Middle East. And all these parties, along with most of the international community, now share the goal of a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state -- a level of consensus never before seen on this crucial issue.
Only one of those statements is true. Does he truly not know this?
The past five years have also brought developments far too familiar in the recent history of the region. Confronted with the prospect of peace, extremists have responded with acts of aggression and terror. In Gaza, Hamas radicals betrayed the Palestinian people with a lawless and violent takeover. By its actions, Hamas has demonstrated beyond all doubt that it is [more] devoted to extremism and murder than to serving the Palestinian people.
This is a moment of clarity for all Palestinians. And now comes a moment of choice. The alternatives before the Palestinian people are stark. There is the vision of Hamas, which the world saw in Gaza -- with murderers in black masks, and summary executions, and men thrown to their death from rooftops. By following this path, the Palestinian people would guarantee chaos, and suffering, and the endless perpetuation of grievance. They would surrender their future to Hamas's foreign sponsors in Syria and Iran. And they would crush the possibility of any -- of a Palestinian state.
There's another option, and that's a hopeful option. It is the vision of President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad; it's the vision of their government; it's the vision of a peaceful state called Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people. ...
How long have we been hearing about this moment of choice? For many years, now. And the choice is always the same. But wait! There's another option. Abu Mazen's dream of a peaceful state called "Palestine," stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, with nary a Jew in sight. Which peaceful state, by the way, would be gobbled up before you could blink by those local members of the "international community" who have never bought in to that mythical "consensus" Bush keeps referring to.
... To realize this vision, these leaders are striving to build the institutions of a modern democracy. They're working to strengthen the Palestinian security services, so they can confront the terrorists and protect the innocent. They're acting to set up competent ministries that deliver services without corruption. They're taking steps to improve the economy and unleash the natural enterprise of the Palestinian people. And they're ensuring that Palestinian society operates under the rule of law. By following this path, Palestinians can reclaim their dignity and their future -- and establish a state of their own.
No, they're not. No. They. Are. Not. Saying it, wishing it, hoping it, doesn't make it so. They're not doing any of those things. They're the second face of the same two-faced coin. And it's really scary that the so-called leader of the free world is this incredibly clueless about something so important.
President Bush! Wake the hell up!
