The Forward of August 27 has an interesting pairing of op-ed pieces. In the first, the Jewish weekly expresses its dismay re the Bush administration’s approval of a new Israel settlement construction project. The approval comes at a time when Israel’s attorney general is suggesting it should “recognize the applicability in the territories of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the 1949 treaty on which the world court relied to declare the fence and the settlements illegal.”
For 37 years, “Israel has rejected the treaty as inapplicable to the territories, and Washington, while disagreeing, has looked the other way. Successive administrations have tut-tutted about ‘obstacles to peace,’ but every president has guaranteed Israel the running room to do what it felt it must.” Now, “while Israelis search desperately for a way to disentangle themselves from their neighbors, Washington is offering to assist in deepening the quagmire.”
If The Forward really thinks a sick joke has gone on long enough, the second piece, John Kerry’s pledge of “unwavering support,” should make it very uneasy.
Ha’aretz columnists Gideon Levy and Meron Benvenisti also think that the Attorney General Mazuz’s recommendation re recognizing the applicabilty of the Geneva Convention is significant. While it apparently doesn’t agree, the New York Times does lament Bush’s “support for a major expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.” And in this context it offers acceptance speech advice, “If Mr. Bush is going to speak seriously about terrorism tonight, he also needs to talk about Israel.” But again, what about “Mr. Kerry?”
Michael Moore doesn’t mention Israel in his USA Today acceptance speech advice offering, “it’s show time” so let’s gush over the Bush daughters for five paragraphs. Linda Stasi has a strong protest piece in the New York Post, but I don’t think she realizes just how much of a burden Moore has become. It’s not surprising that Bush has surged to a double digit lead.