Tom Perry lifts his pen; count the lies

It's another day and another deceit for Reuters propagandist Tom Perry who offers us his unique brand of "analysis" on the current state of Middle East peacemaking as orchestrated by the Quartet (Russia, the EU, the UN, and the US).  So, let's see where Perry seeks to mislead his audience this time:

The immediate obstacle [in the way of negotiations] is the standoff over Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements on the land where the Palestinians aim to found an independent state. World powers view the settlement as illegal under international law.

Er, no.  The immediate obstacle is the utter refusal of the Palestinians to engage in good faith peace talks without dictating the outcome of those talks by obtaining in advance of them, extraordinary unilateral concessions from Israel in the form of, 1) a termination of Jewish settlements on land promised to the Jews in resolutions adopted by the League of Nations and United Nations, and 2) a commitment by Israel to accept a Judenrein Palestinian Arab state on all land, including Jerusalem, liberated by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

And "world powers", like the United States, emphatically do not view Jewish settlements on this land as illegal in international law.  Indeed, as noted above, Jewish settlements in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") are entirely legal in international law.

In Israel, there has been a swing to the political right, a shift helped by the last Palestinian uprising. Add to that the fact that half a million Israelis have now settled in the would-be Palestine, and hopes for a deal seem far fetched.

Ah yes, that euphemistic and nebulous Palestinian "uprising", aka the Palestinian terror war, that killed over 1,000 Israelis in suicide bombings and shootings.  A bit more journalistic transparency in this respect might enable readers to better apprehend the reasons behind that "swing to the political right" in Israel.

Perry's reference to "would-be Palestine" includes the city of Jerusalem, a city built by the Jews over three-thousand years ago and only ever sovereign to the Jewish nation.  Jerusalem, a city where Jews maintained a community despite successive waves of invasion, conquest and occupation until 1967 when it was finally liberated from Arab colonization that had sought to obliterate any Jewish connection to the land and its holy sites.

The deal [to exchange Israeli Gilad Shalit for over 1,000 Hamas terrorists] disheartened Palestinian leaders in the West Bank who, unlike Hamas, oppose armed conflict with Israel and believe peace talks are the way to end the conflict.

This is a double bald-faced lie from Perry.  First, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas celebrated the release of the Hamas prisoners by paying them stipends.  Secondly, as we've noted dozens of times, Abbas, his Fatah party, and the PLO remain committed in word and deed to the destruction of Israel via armed violence.

A [Jewish] settlement freeze was a requirement of a 2003 peace plan, drawn up by the Quartet and known as the road map for peace.
"If the Quartet is going to play any credible role, it must really be able to enforce the terms of reference, and the compliance with these terms of reference, particularly those that have led to an agreed text, like the road map," said Nabil Shaath, a veteran Palestinian official.

No mention by either Shaath or Perry of Palestinian obligations under the Road Map, like disarming and dismantling all terrorist infrastructure, something the Palestinians have completely failed to do.

Tom Perry still peddling lie that Mahmoud Abbas committed to peace

Serial liar and Reuters propagandist Tom Perry still wants his readers to believe that, unlike Hamas, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is committed to peace with Israel:

Abbas strongly opposes any form of violence by the Palestinians and his security forces in the West Bank cooperate with Israeli security forces.

This is a running propaganda mantra appearing in scores of Perry's stories, one that is completely uncoupled from reality.  Here's Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to the Jordanian paper, al-Dustur, three years ago:

“At this present juncture, I am opposed to armed struggle because we cannot succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different.”

And here's Abbas offering Palestinian support for an Arab declaration of war against Israel just a few months ago:

"I have said more than once that if the Arabs want war - we are with them."

Having lied about Palestinian tactical goals, Perry then lies about Palestinian strategic goals:

But peace talks with Israel have, by his [Abbas] own admission, hit a dead end while Jewish settlements continue to expand in the West Bank, consuming territory seen by Palestinians as central to their goal of a viable state.

First, Jewish settlements have definitively not continued to expand in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank"), "consuming territory".  Other than a handful of tiny outposts disclaimed and frequently destroyed by the Israeli government, settlements have not expanded laterally in many years.

Secondly, the Palestinian goal, often admitted in Arabic and occasionally in English, is not a "viable state" but a Judenrein one (ethnically cleansed of Jews), as a stepping stone to the demographic conquest (destruction) of Israel.

Perry further misleads readers with the notion that Abbas' attempt to wrestle away Israeli-won land, including the city of Jerusalem, by breaching the Oslo Peace Accords and applying for statehood to the UN reflects a "peaceful" approach to settling the conflict:

"Abbas made the most peaceful move you can imagine: going to the United Nations. And yet he got this brutal political response by Israel and the United States," the Palestinian official said. "That's also a negative message to the public about the productivity of this peaceful approach."

Then, there's the obligatory propaganda on the 2008-09 Gaza War between Hamas and Israel:

That war had a lopsided outcome in favor of Israel. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed while 13 Israelis lost their lives.

So, approximately 1,400 Palestinians (over 700 of which were Hamas terrorists) were "killed", while 13 Israelis "lost their lives" -- undoubtedly due to tripping over their shoelaces while running toward shelters to escape the thousands of Hamas rockets raining down on them.

Perry finishes up by citing, uncritically, an official employing the Palestinian euphemism for the eradication of Israel:

"I think the prisoner swap comes at a good time. It reaffirms the power of resistance at a time when all Palestinian groups are adopting non-violent resistance," he said.

Sure, all Palestinian groups are adopting non-violent resistance.

Perry really ought to cut down on the Arab Kool-Aid.