Another portion of the leaked video heard round the world courtesy of Mother Jones HERE; the transcript:

I’m torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I’ve had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Now why do I say that? Some might say, well, let’s let the Palestinians have the West Bank, and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians.

And then come a couple of thorny questions. And I don’t have a map here to look at the geography, but the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there, right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital, the industrial capital of Israel, the center of Israel. It’s—what the border would be? Maybe seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would be the West Bank…The other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would either be Syria at one point, or Jordan. And of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza. Which is that the Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel.

So Israel of course would have to say, “That can’t happen. We’ve got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank.” Well, that means that—who? The Israelis are going to patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation? Well, the Palestinians would say, “Uh, no way! We’re an independent country. You can’t, you know, guard our border with other Arab nations.” And now how about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we gonna allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in? And if not, who’s going to keep it from coming in? Well, the Israelis. Well, the Palestinians are gonna say, “We’re not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what can land in our airport.”

These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right? And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, “There’s just no way.” And so what you do is you say, “You move things along the best way you can.” You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem. We live with that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it. We don’t go to war to try and resolve it imminently.

On the other hand, I got a call from a former secretary of state. I won’t mention which one it was, but this individual said to me, you know, I think there’s a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis after the Palestinian elections. I said, “Really?” And, you know, his answer was, “Yes, I think there’s some prospect.” And I didn’t delve into it.

This is how 972mag in Israel responded to Romney’s comments HERE:

My sense is that it is difficult for him to express the words “Palestinian” and “state” together in a single phrase, as it is for many in the ruling Likud party and others who have openly endorsed a one-state solution or a scenario (espoused most saliently by Deputy Knesset Speaker Danny Danon, now touring the U.S. with his book Israel: The Will to Prevail) in which Israel annexes most of the West Bank and Palestinians come under Jordanian and Egyptian sovereignty.

Essentially, the video underscores that Romney is more aligned with the rightwing in Israel (possibly even more to the right than Netanyahu himself) than he is with his own party, whose platform does at least nominally endorse a two-state solution. Romney also lumps together the entire Middle East under one big threat to Israel – with absolutely no sensitivity to the different countries and their internal politics or the suffering of many people under these regimes.

Considering he sees all Muslims in the area as such a threat, it is pretty weird that his only offer for a solution is to “kick the ball around” and “hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.” Now that is what I call solid foreign policy.

Now remember – when Romney is talking in this video it is behind closed doors at a fundraiser to a group of wealthy donors speaking openly in what he thinks is a secure environment.  On July 30th of 2012 – Romney went to Israel on a disastrous foreign policy trip where he spoke to yet another group of wealthy donors during a fundraiser where he said this HERE:

The economic disparity between the Israelis and the Palestinians is actually much greater than Romney stated. Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500, according to the World Bank.

Romney then went on to say “culture makes all the difference.”

Romney then elaborated on culture insinuating that the Palestinians were culturally inferior:

And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things.

Yeah – that went over really well.  Even the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote in plain sight in their newspaper “Romney apparently accepts instructions from Netanyahu” HERE.  In other words – Haaretz is saying that Romney is Netanyahu’s lapdog.  Many people have accused Romney’s unquestionable say yes to anything response to Netanyahu akin to exporting America’s foreign policy to Israel’s Prime Minister.

Romney has demonstrated this time and time again; one example – his campaign said that it supports Israel’s right to unilaterally attack Iran (source).

But clearly – Romney’s comments about the Palestinian people show he doesn’t support a 2 state solution.  He doesn’t think it is militarily possible based on guidance and counsel he has received from … whom exactly?  Well – it’s a funny thing because wouldn’t ya know it … Romney admits that several of his consultants still work for the Prime Minister of Israel – Bibi Netanyahu – during another excerpt of the same hidden video at the fundraiser:

 I have a very good team of extraordinarily experienced, highly successful consultants, a couple of people in particular who have done races around the world. I didn’t realize it. These guys in the US—the Karl Rove equivalents—they do races all over the world: in Armenia, in Africa, in Israel. I mean, they work for Bibi Netanyahu in his race. So they do these races and they see which ads work, and which processes work best, and we have ideas about what we do over the course of the campaign. I’d tell them to you, but I’d have to shoot you.

Netanyahu is not interested in a 2 state solution – he is interested in a 1 state solution … they call it Israel; I have already explained why HERE.

“The Green Line is dead and buried, and the Left can kiss it goodbye … Jewish life in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem is growing and flourishing, and there is no human power on earth that is going to uproot or move hundreds of thousands of Jews from places such as Ariel, Tekoa or Hebron.”
~Former Netanyahu aide, Michael Freund

And since Netanyahu is for a 1 state solution and so are so many of Romney’s big donors like Sheldon Adelson who is willing to dump $100 million into this race on behalf of Romney’s campaign …. well then Romney is for a 1 state solution.  As far as he’s concerned – the Palestinians can go fuck themselves because after all – they just want to kill Israelis.  It is important to note that Romney’s public position prior to this video being released has always been that he supports a 2 state solution.  So in other words – he says one thing behind private doors to wealthy donors and something else to the general public.

Romney doesn’t think the Palestinians have any fair argument about this HERE:

Haaretz points us to the systemic and continuous occupying force that is the Israeli government in the West Bank HERE:

Altogether, according to UN data, Israel razed some 400 Palestinian structures in the West Bank’s Area C between the start of the year and mid-August, including 120 houses; more than 600 Palestinians were hurt by these demolitions. Area C is the part of the West Bank that the Oslo Accords assigned to full Israeli control.

The structures destroyed yesterday were in four communities located in the south Hebron Hills.

He doesn’t think they have the right to argue about this HERE.

Or HERE:

According to Israeli Military Order #47 HERE:

• Prohibition
  2. 2. It is forbidden to remove or bring any agricultural product from or into the region without a permit from the competent authority.
• Punishments
  3. Any person who violates Article 2 of this Order or any specification regarding he requisite permit will be punished by a period of three years imprisonment, a fine of 3,000 dinars, or both.

Or the segregated roads HERE:

Or HERE:

The Palestinian Authority demanded an impartial investigation into the incident and action from the international community over settler attacks and provocation. “The gravity of the footage lies not only in the settlers’ provocations and shooting live ammunition towards unarmed residents, but also in the irresponsibility of the Israeli soldiers who stood watching the events,” said a statement from the prime minister’s office.

The settlement’s spokesman, Avraham Binyamin, was quoted in the Israeli media as saying its security squad came under a hail of stones while trying to extinguish fires lit by Palestinians. “It is clear that use of arms by IDF forces or the security squad was done in a tangible life-endangering situation,” he said.

Villagers in Asira say attacks and intimidation by settlers from Yitzhar are routine. Yitzhar has a reputation for being one of the most hardline settlements in the West Bank. Israel‘s education ministry closed down a state-funded yeshiva (religious school) on the settlement last November after the security agency Shin Bet said it had accumulated evidence that students were engaged in acts of violence against Palestinian villagers.

Or HERE.

Or HERE:

Palestinian Christians are, indeed, worried about the militancy of extremists who cloak themselves in distorted Islamic rhetoric. Yet, the majority of Palestinian Muslims and Christians have chosen peaceful resistance. To say that Hamas is the cause of the declining Christian population in the occupied Palestinian territories is standing the truth on its head.

Our people are fleeing their homeland because the Israelis are confiscating the land of Palestinians — Muslims and Christians alike — to build Jewish-only settlements and the Apartheid Wall which is ghettoizing many Palestinian communities. Palestinian Christians are leaving because of Israeli checkpoints and barriers that severely restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians, destroying their economy and preventing their access to their holy places in Jerusalem. They are leaving because Israel diverts Palestinian water resources in a way that gives illegal Jewish settlements the right to enjoy swimming pools while the fields of Palestinian farmers next door go fallow for lack of water.

Or HERE:

Civil Administration’s maps and figures, disclosed here for the first time, suggest the barrier route was planned in accordance with the available land in the West Bank, intended to increase the area and population of the settlements.

A total of 569 parcels of land were marked out, encompassing around 620,000 dunams ‏(around 155,000 acres‏) − about 10 percent of the total area of the West Bank. Since the late 1990s, 23 of the unauthorized outposts were built on land included in the map. The Civil Administration is endeavoring to legalize some of these outposts, including Shvut Rahel, Rehelim and Hayovel.

Etkes believes this indicates the settlers who built the outposts had access to the administration’s research on available land − more proof of the government’s deep involvement in the systematic violation of the law in order to expand settlements, he says.

Or HERE:

Simply put, the law seeks to penalize those who call for boycotting Israel, the settlements, or anyone related to the occupation. If a person, for example, calls for a boycott of academic institutions that participate in the occupation, he could be sued in civil court, and ordered to pay compensation. If a company agrees not to purchase products manufactured in the settlements, it could be barred from government contracts. If an NGO joins the global BDS call, it could be stripped of its non-profit status, and compelled to pay taxes as if it was a commercial firm.

Or HERE:

The Israeli army used rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas against protesters in the village of Nabi Saleh today (Friday). Naomi Laet, An Israeli protester aged 22, seen below, was hit with a rubber bullet in her head. According to reports, another Palestinian was injured from a rubber bullet. The injured protesters were taken to a hospital.

Or HERE:

“They came at 2:00 am (0000 GMT) and took around 30 computers and all the transmitters. The station is totally shut down,” Watan’s editor in chief, Ali Daraghmeh, told AFP.

“One of our guards tried to stop the army, but they told him they had official orders to close the station.”

Haroun Abu Arra, director of Quds Educational TV, said troops raided his station shortly afterwards.

“At 3:00 am (0100 GMT), the Israeli army entered the television station’s office and took all the transmitters, and the station is now unable to broadcast,” he said.

Or HERE:

As of May 6th, 2010 – Israel made it illegal for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to have access to fresh meat, seeds and nuts, fishing rods, chickens, horses, cattle, goats, musical instruments, newspapers or even wood for construction.  That type of oppressive brutality will push even the most peaceful people to extremes and hostile actions:

Source: The Economist

PBS Frontline even did a documentary in 2005 on the growing extremism within Israel that has made it difficult for both sides to achieve peace:

In “Israel’s Next War?” FRONTLINE goes deep inside the world of militant Jewish radicals who pose a grave new threat to Israeli security and, potentially, to the region. “The dream of these extremists”—to blow up the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, one of the most important holy sites in the Muslim world—”should give us sleepless nights,” says former Israeli Security Chief Avi Dichter. “Jewish terror is liable to create a serious strategic threat that will turn the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a conflict between thirteen million Jews and a billion Muslims all over the world.”

All of that is just apparently insignificant and just more of an example of how serious Israel is about peace with the Palestinians. Romney wants these Muslims to be moved to some other land … because ya know – they just want to kill Israelis.

The reason we don’t have a deal between Israel and Palestine right now is strictly 100% because of the Israelis.  Bill Clinton said as much HERE:

“The Israelis always wanted two things that once it turned out they had, it didn’t seem so appealing to Mr. Netanyahu. They wanted to believe they had a partner for peace in a Palestinian government, and there’s no question — and the Netanyahu government has said — that this is the finest Palestinian government they’ve ever had in the West Bank,” Clinton said.

“[Palestinian leaders] have explicitly said on more than one occasion that if [Netanyahu] put up the deal that was offered to them before — my deal — that they would take it,” Clinton said, referring to the 2000 Camp David deal that Yasser Arafat rejected.

But the Israeli government has drifted a long way from the Ehud Barak-led government that came so close to peace in 2000, Clinton said, and any new negotiations with the Netanyahu government are now on starkly different terms — terms that the Palestinians are unlikely to accept.

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