Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Deconstructionist Text



I was reminded of the above picture after reading this:

Senators urged not to sign letter on Mideast

Americans for Peace Now is urging U.S. senators not to sign a letter encouraging the Arab world to normalize ties with Israel because it does not mention efforts to halt Israeli settlements. The bipartisan letter to President Obama, circulated by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and James Risch (R-Idaho) and backed by the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, is "unhelpful" because it "seems to make a straightforward and reasonable demand for the Arab world to normalize relations with Israel," but "the subtext of the letter directly contradicts and undermines the efforts" of the Obama administration "to promote Middle East peace...the Bayh/Risch letter conspicuously ignores Israel's continued refusal to stop settlement activity" and "never even once mentions the word 'settlements,'" states the Americans for Peace Now letter. "It sends a message that signers consider settlements more important than peace."...



This is truly a text of deconstruction.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't quite see the reason for hysteria.

This group has limited public support, and it's not a particularly unreasonable position to ask that one side isn't pushed to make a concession without the other being made to do likewise.

I don't fully agree with them on this one, but it's not exactly an outrageous position when most US Jews are very much against the settlements.

YMedad said...

If APN wants to circulate for signatures a letter highlighting Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria, that's one thing. To shoot down another letter is quite another. Quite a Dolchstoss.