Thursday, July 15, 2010

When Obama Met the Pals. Via Mort Klein

This is the way bloggers work:

BPO sent me Marty Peretz's post about Mort Klein's press release that quoted from IMRA's post of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion's poll on 82% Pals. refusing to renounce the "right of return".

So, we'll work backwards.

And here's the poll:

Poll No. 171
July 12, 2010

لقراءته بالعربية
إضغط هنا

The most recent poll of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali has revealed that:

(46.8 %) of the Palestinian support the Palestinian government’s decision postponing the local municipal councils’ elections until further notice.
(65.2 %) believe that those mostly benefiting from the flotillas sent to break the Gaza blockade are the Gazans.
(52.5 %) believe that the indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks will be a failure.
(53.3 %) believe that the Israelis are not concerned about making peace with the Palestinians.
(69.3 %) support the intention of the PA President Mahmoud Abbas to pay a visit to Gaza.
(46.0 %) have confidence in Fateh leadership, (33.7 %) in Hamas leadership.
(81.8 %) oppose the renunciation of the right of home return.
(43.2 %) watch the FIFA world cup competitions on TV.

Beit Sahour – Section of Public Relations:

The most recent poll prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali, conducted and published by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion during the period from June 17 to July 2nd, 2010, covered a random sample of (1002) respondents representing the various demographic specimens of adult Palestinians (18 years and above) living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip...More than half of the Palestinian public, specifically(53.3 %), doesn’t trust the Israeli intentions and believe that the Israelis are not concerned about making peace with the Palestinians.

...Dr. Kukali mentioned that the confidence of the Palestinians in Hamas leadership has increased by (18.7 %) compared with the results of the poll conducted in April. This rise in confidence, Dr. Kukali stated, may be attributed to the popular solidarity against the Israeli assault on the humanitarian aid flotilla heading to Gaza as well as to the opening of the border crossings between Gaza Strip and Egypt by the Egyptian government, and last, but not least, to the blockade easing measures announced, and partly applied by the Israelis themselves. “All this”, Dr. Kukali said, “has obviously contributed to the sudden rise of the popular confidence in Hamas leadership. This rise in confidence comes unexpectedly from the West Bank, where Hamas scored (41.3 %) against (19.8 %) in their domain in Gaza Strip, giving an overall result of (33.7 %) “.

...With respect to the US peace commitment, Dr. Kukali pointed out that there is among the Palestinians an increasing feeling of frustration due to the inability of the United States to exert more pressure on Israel as to stop the settlement activities, particularly in East Jerusalem, and to make a progress towards the peace process. This could indicate a clear retreat from the US commitment declared by President Barack Obama to put an end to the Israeli occupation, to establish a Palestinian state and to achieve a comprehensive and just peace in the region.
You notice he glosses over that "right of return" whammer.

Here's IMRA.

The ZOA press release.

Marty Peretz's post excerpts:

Barack Obama Vs. Mort Klein. Who The Hell Is Mort Klein?

The president doesn’t like Mort Klein. I don’t know whether they’ve ever met. But the Obama folk did convene a meeting for the president with the “Jewish leadership,” which included, as it happens, American Jewish organizations (new on the block and who are financed mostly by Jewish billionaires who care not a fig for the survival of a people they do not think of as their home) believing that Israel is basically responsible for the intensity and duration of the conflict with the Arabs, in general, and the Palestinians, in particular. Anyway, Klein is president of the Zionist Organization of America...

Now, Klein takes a harder line than [former Supreme Court Justice and president of the ZOA 90 years ago Louis] Brandeis did. But then the Arabs had not waged five wars against Israel, and the Palestinian cause had not yet been invented...OK, smartass, give your ardor to Palestine. It will be like having given your ardor to Khmer Rouge Cambodia.

Barack Obama came to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a year-and-a-half ago with clear rhetoric and fuzzy ideas about the Middle East...I did spend a week campaigning for him in Jewish Florida, and frankly I resent the certainties I uttered then. And my readers should also resent them. In any case, pessimism is a Jewish trait. So I’m a pessimist.

And so is Mort Klein who has learned much from history. Those mainstream Jewish leaders who attended Obama’s exclusive White House meeting are no longer so high on his neat plans and on his fantasy expectations. Klein, who was explicitly and deliberately excluded, has the satisfaction of other invitees’ deep new doubts. And J Street? Well, J Street is J Street.

...ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is crystal clear from this poll and a great deal of other data that Palestinian society clearly opposes acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state and consistently favors by large majorities positions that indicate this – support for the co-called ‘right of return’; support for terror attacks on Israelis; and opposition to an end of claims after any signed agreement, among other things.


Well, well, well.

Obama, meet the enemy: Mort Klein.


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