[Marxism] Annapolis, and Why It Failed

[Dbachmozart@xxxxxxx]

By Ramzy Baroud 
The US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland was neither a  
success nor failure, if one accepts that its so-called objective was indeed  â
peacemakingâ.  
From a US perspective, the meeting was, at best, a diplomatic manoeuvre on  
the part of the Bush administration, a last chance for becoming relevant to a  
region that is quickly escaping its grip. At worst, the conference was a  
desperate public relations charade aimed at convincing the American public that 
 
the administrationâs plans for democracy and peace in the Middle East are  
unfolding smoothly. In both scenarios, the conference was a necessary but  
fleeting distraction from the prevailing criticism that the Iraq war is a  
ânightmareâ
 without end. 
Bushâs words at Annapolis suggested he was playing exactly the part Israel  
expected of him. His emphasis on the Jewish identity of Israel, itself a crude  
violation of the principles of secularism, seems more than a mere gesture to  
appease the concerns of Israel and its backers in the US; it was actually a  
subtle acceptance of the ethnic cleansing that continues to define Israelâs  
treatment of Palestinians. After all, millions of Palestinians have for decades 
 been expelled from their land for no other reason than not being Jewish, 
while  millions of Jews around the world are welcomed âbackâ to Israel â 
a land 
that  they never lived in or had prior ties to. Could Bush not have known 
about this  when he emphasised the need for a Jewish state? I doubt it. 
full article - 
_www.PalestineChronicle.com_ (http://www.PalestineChronicle.com) 



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