The State Department gave the PLO permission to fly their flag in Washington, DC on July 23, 2010.
" The United States State Department has announced to the Palestinian Authority/Palestinian Liberation Organization Mission representative in the United States that its status will be upgraded from a 'bureau' to that of a "general delegation' and that this change will allow the office in which the representation is situated to fly the PLO, now also the Palestine Authority, flag at its entrance.. The upgrading, besides allowing the flag to be flown, also grants certain
privileges to the delegation staff, such as diplomatic immunity, although it is not equal to embassy status."
On Tuesday, January 18, 2011, one day after the Palestinian Papers were released, "Real Americans Defend Israel" posted a statement by U.S. Rep. Ilena Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl), "criticizing the decision of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to officially hoist the Palestinian flag outside its office in Washington, DC.".
On August 9, 2010, she had also been one of the Representatives who had "written to the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, rquesting that the State Department reconsider its decison to grant certain privileges to the PLO office in DC and, instead, fully implement U.S. law by closing the PLO office due tot he PLO's failure to meet its obligations."
Specific dates mark holidays, birthdays, and celebrations throughout the year. I had been curious as to why it took the PLO's more than half a year after their organization had been granted permission to fly their flag of contempt, to finally choose January 18th as the date to hoist the flag. Why the 18th of January and not last July, or August, or September? Why one cold day in January, without any fanfare and press reviews and not last July, on a warm summer's afternoon, with bands playing and an invitation to the White House to join in the celebration?
Like a puzzle, fitting the pieces together, this morning's article posted on CIF Watch hit me like a ton of bricks and now, I am convinced that the purpose for flying the flag on January 18th was extremely important, for it happened one day after the "Palestinian Bubble had burst" and what better way to recoup some type of legitimacy for an illegitimate organization, then to fly a flag in Washington, DC with the permission of the Secretary of State's Department.
CIF Watch, guest post by AKUS, entitled "The Palestinian Bubble has Burst", dated January 27, 2011, begins, as follows:
"What I think of as the Pallypapers Affair has had the remarkable effect of bursting the bubble of fantasies that so many outside Israel have clung to regarding the prospect of a future Palestinian state. Our friends at the Guardian have been reduced to desperation as evidenced in an editorial headlined with the words: The Palestine Papers: Despair. But we still need a deal.
Yes – the world as the Guardianistas knew it has come to the end. Their awakening from the dream of a Palestinian state, an impossible fantasy nurtured since 1967, is a catastrophe only to be ranked, perhaps, with the fall of the Berlin Wall or the failure of global Communism.
Although I was initially inclined to believe the Pallypapers are forgeries, the furious denunciations by Saeb Erekat have persuaded me that they are very, if not completely, accurate records. Erekat is such a congenital liar that if he says something is false, it is extremely likely that it is true. I cannot recall an accurate statement the man has ever made.
The Guardian is twisting and turning in the wind like an evil dream catcher – not sure who to blame more. If the Pallypapers are actually true records of the talks, should the Guardian excoriate one set of its former pets, the PLO and Fatah in the guise of the Palestinian Authority, whose entire history of negotiations over the period since Camp David is revealed, as a tissue of lies and taqqiyah directed at its own people as much as the outside world? Should it, as always, just blame Israel – but how can it when it is clear that it is the Palestinians – or at least, that group of West Bank Arabs claiming to represent a non-existent Palestine – have been quietly agreeing to most of Israel’s negotiating positions? more ....
The Palestinians are not the only folks desperate to regroup and save face; all who have made false accusations and blamed the State of Israel for preventing "peace in the Middle East" due to settlement freezes have now had to eat humble pie and accept the fact that it has never been Israel or its leaders preventing peace - the blame goes to ... drum roll, please .... the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas.
With that knowledge, perhaps it would be good if Secretary of State Clinton requested that the PLO flag be removed until such time (if ever), when the Palestinians became trustworthy and serious about negotiating for peace in the Middle East. It is past time this administration learned a lesson from Jefferson:Whenever the people are well--informed, they can be trusted with their own government. – Thomas Jefferson
BeeSting
The following video is just one of the Palestinian's spins on the Palestinian Papers and of course, you will hear once again that all the blame falls upon the State of Israel.
