Can Obama walk the walk?

Aides and spin doctors for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off, claiming that he is soon to issue a major speech which will endorse the idea of Palestinian statehood. Without being overly cynical, we shall wait and see on that one, because any unequivocal statement regarding Palestinian statehood would be a first for this gentleman and a first that would almost certainly tear apart the rag, tag and bobtail coalition that he heads.

Not that he can ignore the issue for much longer. Mr Netanyahu has done everything that his imagination can dream up to avoid addressing the question since his coalition came to power. But such a statement from an Israeli prime minister is not necessarily the last word. His predecessor managed to wax lyrical over statehood for Palestinians while, at the same time, consolidating illegal settlements across the territory of the nascent state.

And, for some mysterious reason, something always seemed to happen to make further progress on a Palestinian state difficult or impossible. But this has been the tenor of Israeli policy for many years. Aware that world opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of independence for Palestine, Israeli policy has been designed as what can best be described as an infinitely extended holding action, forever delaying, prevaricating and, where possible, spreading and fomenting division between Palestinians.

It has been so transparent that it has been difficult to imagine how the pro-Israel lobby has sustained its perennial pose as victims rather than oppressors.
But it has continued and, up until the present, has been remarkably successful in maintaining its status quo as an invader and occupying force in the Palestinian territories without ever facing the weight of hostile world opinion head on.

It has been able to do this because of successive complaisant US administrations, which have continually underwritten the overstretched war economy of Israel and used their massive diplomatic power in the counsels of the world to run interference for a country which, in many respects, makes a perfect fit with the definition of rogue state, that the US applies so freely to regimes with which it disagrees. But the present US administration is clearly conscious of the opprobrium which this policy has brought on the US and is aiming to change it.

The pressure of world opinion, influenced by decades of campaigning throughout the world and the obdurate refusal of the Palestinians to bow the knee before their Israeli oppressors, has finally forced the US into seeking real change. And standing firm in the face of the delaying tactics of Israel will be a real test of the sincerity and determination of the Obama administration.

Already, even before Mr Netanyahu's speech has been heard, the equivocations have started to appear. Israel, it seems, will not tolerate any new state having an army, as if it had any imaginable right to stipulate such conditions. But, with Israel as a neighbour, what state could accept such an impudent demand?

The signs are not all positive from the US. The hopes of peace activists worldwide have been severely dented by Mr Obama's continuing prosecution of the war in Afghanistan.

But the world will be watching and it is to be hoped that the US president's administration stands firm in its position and does not fall at the first fence.

The Palestinian people have suffered for long enough. The US knows it and the world knows it. And the Obama administration will be judged on how far it manages to stick to its declared position of statehood for the dispossessed and brutally persecuted Palestinian people.

Let's Kill This Tory Bill To Scrap The Minimum Wage For Good

I wonder if you could help me take on the Tory Bill to scrap the minimum wage (I promise it'll only take five minutes of your time.)

Our Wage Concern campaign may have been successful in getting the Employment Opportunities Bill pulled by the sponsoring Tory MPs last month but it's still down on the order paper for this Friday, June 12th in the House of Commons.

That means the proposed legislation to effectively abolish the minimum wage is still alive.

So we still need your help to raise awareness of this retrogressive and unfair bill.

Here's what you can do:

Here's a draft email you can use to send to the 11 Tory MPs sponsoring the Bill:

"I am very concerned to hear about the Private Members Bill, Employment Opportunities, down for its second reading on Friday 10th June, that will seek to abolish the mandatory national minimum wage.

"You are listed as one of the Bill's sponsors.

"The national minimum wage has benefited more than a million people since it was introduced and your Bill would effectively undermine it by allowing unscrupulous bosses to pay what they like.

"Please could you let me know as a matter of urgency whether you still plan to support this Bill and if so, why you back it. I am respectfully asking you to withdraw your backing.

"Could you also let me know whether you believe it is right for paid MPs to call for the minimum wage to be effectively abolished whilst holding second jobs themselves as many of the Bill's sponsors do."

Send the email

You can send it to the following Tory MPs sponsoring the Bill

Christopher Chope (Christchurch) chopec@parliament.uk
Peter Bone (Wellingborough, Northants) bonep@parliament.uk
Philip Davies (Shipley, West Yorkshire) daviesp@parliament.uk
Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley, Wales) evansn@parliament.uk
Greg Knight (Yorkshire East) knightg@.parliament.uk
Edward Leigh (Gainsborough, Lincolnshire) leighe@parliament.uk
Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater, Somerset) liddeli@parliament.uk
Brian Binley (Northampton South, Northants) binleyb@parliament.uk
William Cash (Stone, Staffs) cashw@parliament.uk
Robert Syms (Poole, Dorset) symsr@parliament.uk
David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Surrey) wilshired@parliament.uk

Get your friends to do it too

Forward on this post to your friends asking them to do the same.
You can find out more about the Bill and the MPs sponsoring it at www.wageconcern.com

Let's see if we can get the MPs to withdraw their supp