Monday
Nov102008
Obama, His Chief of Staff, and Palestine: The 2002 Interview
Monday, November 10, 2008 at 8:02
Juan Cole offers an incisive analysis of the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff to Barack Obama. I share his view of Emanuel's family and political background:
Emanuel is not responsible for his father's activities or views. Rahm Emanuel was the one in the Clinton White House who arranged the logistics of the handshake between then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993. He supported the Oslo Peace Process and the Camp David negotiations, which the Israeli Right absolutely hated.
That said, I'm not as sanguine as Cole about Emanuel's views on the Middle East, as least as they emerge in the 2002 interview on MSNBC that Cole has reprinted. It's not just a case of Emanuel being firmly against any pronouncement of a Palestinian state before an "end to terrorism". Emanuel's closing line, in the context of the last seven years of US foreign policy, is disturbing:
People believe we're in a real battle here. That is defined in people's minds. And you'll see people either with us or against us.
More on the 2002 interview and Cole's analysis....
Emanuel is not responsible for his father's activities or views. Rahm Emanuel was the one in the Clinton White House who arranged the logistics of the handshake between then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993. He supported the Oslo Peace Process and the Camp David negotiations, which the Israeli Right absolutely hated.
That said, I'm not as sanguine as Cole about Emanuel's views on the Middle East, as least as they emerge in the 2002 interview on MSNBC that Cole has reprinted. It's not just a case of Emanuel being firmly against any pronouncement of a Palestinian state before an "end to terrorism". Emanuel's closing line, in the context of the last seven years of US foreign policy, is disturbing:
People believe we're in a real battle here. That is defined in people's minds. And you'll see people either with us or against us.
More on the 2002 interview and Cole's analysis....
tagged Israel, Palestine, Rahm Emanuel in Middle East & Iran
Israel, Palestine, Rahm Emanuel in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (1)
Pretty sickening stuff:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/11/2008111404055793981.html