Friday, December 07, 2012

The Council Has Spoken!1 This Week's Watcher's Council Results



The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.



This week , we were treated to an interesting spectacle.

Every EU country except the Czech Republic either voted for or abstained from voting against the recognition of 'Palestine' as a a state, something that essentially gutted the international  treaties of Oslo Accords and the Road Map. A day or so later, these same countries were calling Israel's ambassadors on the carpet and accusing them of 'jeopardizing the two state solution' because they decided to build some badly needed housing on a vacant hillsisde!



As this week's winner, Joshuapundit's 'Palestine' - A Celebration At The Funeral   points out, the celebration  over the recognition of 'Palestine' is not a new beginning but a wake. Here's a slice :

 The UN has finally taken the step of openly endorsing 'Palestine'. In response to the PLO's request, the General Assembly issued Resolution 67/19, giving 'Palestine' observer status, which means it is a non-voting member who can join other international bodies like UNICEF or the International Criminal Court.
Prior to the vote, Mahmoud Abbas made a typical speech in which he accused Israel of racism numerous times. Coming from the lips of a man whose thesis at Moscow University denied that the Holocaust occurred, this added yet another touch of comedy to the proceedings.
There was never any doubt about the outcome. Given the 51 nation OIC Muslim bloc, those nations like France, Sweden and others with a restive Muslim population and those they were able to influence, Abbas was certain to get what he asked for. The UN General Assembly could probably be relied on to pass a resolution saying Jews had horns on their heads with a decent majority.
What the UN did, essentially, was to flush two international treaties, the Oslo Accords and The Road Map down the toilet, as if they never existed. The resolution unilaterally grants Abbas and the PLO statehood status and 'the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967' ( never mind that there was no 'Palestinian territory' at that time) 'including East Jerusalem' without any pretense of negotiating anything whatsoever. No surprises there, since that's been the PLO's real position all along.
Even more farcically, the resolution calls for 'the urgent need for the resumption and acceleration of negotiations within the Middle East peace process.'
After what the UN General Assembly claims it granted to the PLO in this resolution, why would they suppose there's anything left to negotiate? Who makes the best felafel? And why would the Israelis even bother, seeing how the PLO and the so-called international community regards treaties and agreements when it concerns Jews and Israel?


Speaking of which, to those of you whom celebrate it, Hanukkah begins  this Saturday night, right after the Jewish Sabbath...take time to celebrate and remember that Israel and the Jewish people have triumphed over much greater odds in the past before. Ma'ale Adumim, after all, is not so far from Modi'in, where a group of Jewish farmers decided that enough was enough and their G-d and their freedom weren't negotiable anymore...Chag Hanukkah Sameach

 




In our non-Council category, the winner was Victor Davis Hanson with Waiting for the GOP’s Populist Turn submitted by Joshuapundit. In it VDH examines the next direction for the GOP to go to reclaim its popularity.  Unfortunately , given the Republican establishment's current war on conservatives and anyone associated with the Tea Party, it's beginning to look more an dmore like that new direction of conservative populism might end up coming from a third party.

OK,  here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners



Non-Council Winners


See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!
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