White House coordinator for the Middle East Philip Gordon said Israel “should not take for granted the opportunity to negotiate,” shortly after his audience was forced to quickly evacuate the event hall and enter a safe room when an alert signaled Palestinian rockets were approaching Tel Aviv.
While speaking at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, Mr. Gordon said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, “[H]as shown time and again that he’s committed to non-violence and co-existence and cooperation with Israel,” within minutes after Palestinian rockets threatened his listeners.
Without an awareness of the irony to the situation on the southern border of the United States, Mr. Gordon said of Israel’s defenses, “By developing a layered defense that includes significantly strengthening the fences on both sides of the border, ensuring the right level of boots on the ground, deploying state of the art technology, the comprehensive program of rigorous testing, we can make the border safe against any type of conventional or unconventional threat – from individual terrorists or a conventional armored forces.”
Mr. Gordon went on to say, “How will Israel remain democratic and Jewish if it attempts to govern the millions of Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank? How will it have peace if it’s unwilling to delineate a border, end the occupation and allow for Palestinian sovereignty, security and dignity? How will we prevent other states from supporting Palestinian efforts in international bodies, if Israel is not seen as committed to peace?”
In a unique form of political doublespeak, the White House official, while condemning the Palestinian attacks on Israel, said “No country should have to live under the constant threat of indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians.”
Source article:Top Obama official blasts Israel for denying Palestinians sovereignty, security, dignity
