Thursday, June 4, 2009

Obama offers real hope, Netanyahu's 'government of yesterday' offers nothing

Uri Avnery, former member of Israel's Knesset (Parliament), is a founder of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc.

As an Israeli patriot I must say, without the shadow of a doubt, that at this moment the president of the United States understands the interests of Israel much better than Israel's own prime minister and his ministers. In his memorable Cairo speech, as in his entire career so far, President Obama has opened up a horizon of real hope to the citizens of Israel as to the Palestinians and to all Arabs and Muslims -- as he brought hope to the citizens of the U.S., who elected him. Conversely, Netanyahu's 'Yesterday's Government' offers no solution of any kind, and its policy consists of clinging blindly to continued occupation and settlement expansion.

Each year in the beginning of June, Israeli peace seekers demonstrate, in order to remind their fellow-citizens that our country is maintaining a cruel occupation rule over millions of Palestinian inhabitants, already for more than two-thirds of Israel's total history. This year we are also demonstrating in the concrete hope that the end of the occupation is near, the beginning of peace between the state of Israel and the state of Palestine to arise, between Israel and the entire Arab world.

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