Lihat videonya: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2011/02/20112211027266463.html#
Assessing a changing Arab world with Noam Chomsky and Al Jazeera's Marwan Bishara. AMY GOODMAN: Before Marwan goes, we can't not talk about the Palestine Papers, because Al Jazeera has released them, and you're the senior political analyst for Al Jazeera. The Palestine Papers, the leaked documents obtained by Al Jazeera that show how Palestinian leaders offered sweeping concessions to Israel on a number of key issues but received little in return. The UN Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace, Robert Serry, has said the papers highlight the Israeli government's rejection of serious negotiations in its attempt to retain control over the West Bank. ROBERT SERRY: What you have seen is, in my view, an earnest, genuine Palestinian attempt to actually show readiness for a two-state solution, and maybe we haven't seen that same readiness on the other side, given also the fact that all of what happened hasn't led to an agreement. AMY GOODMAN: That's Robert Serry. Marwan Bishara, I want to have you explain the significance of this - it's hardly talked about in the United States; we all know about the WikiLeaks documents, but not the Palestine Papers - and again, get Professor Chomsky to respond. MARWAN BISHARA: Well, look, it's very simple. There's been this notion for the last 20 years that, from Arafat onwards, that the Palestinians were not serious partners for peace, that the Palestinians were not forthcoming, that they're not willing to compromise, that they were set in their ways. What we found out from the Palestine Papers, 1,600 documents detailing session after sessions with the Americans, with the Israelis and so on and so forth, that the Palestinian delegation was not only making incredible compromises that I'm not sure that they will pass through the public opinion in Palestine, but they were making acrobatic attempts just to please their Israeli partners and their American partners. They were almost playing in the American role of trying to bridge between America and Israel and between Palestine and Israel themselves. And yet, they've been met with rejection after rejection after rejection, not only from the so-called hawkish bits of the Israeli politics, but actually from the so-called moderate parts of the Israeli policy or the Israeli delegation. So we would see sessions after session, for example, with then-Foreign Minister Livni, where the Palestinians are offering one possibility after another, and the Israelis coming back and saying something so condescending, such as, "Oh, this is very interesting, but I don't think this will work. Why don't you come up with something different?" And it just goes on and on for years. Now, as Professor Chomsky was saying, the problem with much of that, Amy, is that there is information out there, but it does not come together in some understanding of some sort. So we know for 20 years the Palestinians have made historic compromises on the question of the territory, on the question of borders, even on the question of Jerusalem, a question of right of return of refugees, but they have always been met with rejection from the Israeli side and complicity from the American side. AMY GOODMAN: And Al Jazeera's role here? And the significance, before you go, of Al Jazeera in this entire uprising? I mean, Saeb Erekat first was really fiercely going after Al Jazeera, and then, before you know it, he, the longtime Palestinian negotiator, had resigned. You, yourself, Marwan, are Palestinian. MARWAN BISHARA: Well, you know, there was an article out a couple of days ago - I think it was in the Washington Post - by Robert Malley, who was a former aide at the Clinton administration. He said, "Well, today we showed, you know, that Al Jazeera is the Arab leader." And what does that really mean? What it means is that Al Jazeera is a transparent, open forum for Arabs to come and speak, and they have been for the last decade and a half, almost as long as you've been on air, Amy, except that they've given Arabs from various parts of the Arab world the capacity to come on air and speak. And I think the way we've covered places like Palestine - for example, we were the only ones, Amy, in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment and war and invasion of Gaza, last one in 2008. AMY GOODMAN: And that was Ayman - right? - who now is in Cairo, is the Cairo bureau chief. MARWAN BISHARA: Yes, Ayman Mohyeldin, that's correct. And, of course, in Cairo, we've been there in a very substantial way. I think we had like eight roving reporters in Egypt alone when things broke out. So, we are there, we listen to the people, and we report the story as is. Of course, before, we've been accused, because we report those things that Noam spoke about, the sentiments of people - there is a pent-up tension in that area. The fact that Washington sees people as terrorists, as jihadists, as radicals, as extremists, and the most autocratic and the worst of kleptocracies in the world as moderate, as allies, as friends of the United States, is an insult to the American people. But that's how Washington has been viewing these things. AMY GOODMAN: We are going to break and then come back. Marwan Bishara, I want to thank you very much for being with us, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera English and host and editor of Empire. You can see Al Jazeera English on the web. In fact, we did a very interesting forum that you moderated, Marwan, at Columbia Journalism School, with Carl Bernstein and Clay Shirky and others, about WikiLeaks, about a number of issues, about what's happening. It was happening all - about an hour after Mubarak had resigned. You can go, unfortunately, I'll say, online, until this is all over the United States. In Toledo, Ohio, and Burlington, Vermont, you can see Al Jazeera English, actually, on Free Speech TV and on Link TV, satellite networks who are giving over some of their time to the programming. We'll see what happens. Al Jazeera English is waging a huge campaign in the United States, full-page articles in the New York Times ads, saying to people to call for their networks, to cable stations, to bring Al Jazeera just as one of the panoply of networks that people can see. Marwan, thanks so much, Marwan Bishara. This article was first published on Democracy Now! on February 17, 2011. ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! 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