STF NA MÍDIA

vernment policies at odds
with the undiluted Lib Dem
standpoint, his colleagues in
ministerial roles were instead
busy in their departments
doing the "right thing".
In a sideswipe at Tory colleagues,
he said: "On those
very, very rare occasions
when Michael Gove says or
does something stupid or
wrong, Sarah Teather doesn t
come out and slag him off.
Instead she fixes it.
"Free schools for example.
When the Tories showed
hesitancy about committing
to true and fair banking reforms,
Vince Cable laid on
the pressure and forced that
commitment. And when George
Osborne flew the kite of
cutting income tax for the
wealthy, Danny Alexander
cut the string, and stopped
him."
He said that the outcome of
the referendum on AV –
which was a key Lib Dem
demand but was roundly rejected
by voters who opted to
stick with the first past the
post system – had been a
"salutary" lesson for the
party about the Conservatives
and Labour.
"It reminds us what we are
up against in general," he
said.
"A Tory party owned and
directed by the impossibly
rich, a Labour party which
may be led by a progressive
but which is owned by the
forces of conservatism and a
media owned by a handful of
powerful individuals with
antidemocratic axes that they
grind very effective."
The Liberal Democrats
should fight "every day" to
prove they are worthy of
power.
"No one will sell our story if
we don t, no one will believe
our message if we don t, no
one will fight our battles if
we don t."
He added: "We ve spent years
trying to qualify for the
premier league of politics,
now we are here – let s waste
no time looking into the
stands for reactions, let s
look at each other, look to
each other, focus on the goal,
tackle our opponents and
stuff them."
JUSTIÇA NO EXTERIOR •
THE GUARDIAN (LO) • COMMENT IS FREE • 18/9/2011
Palestine: A virtual state
A fresh wind is blowing through the Middle East – one with which the US has still to come
to terms
There are two options facing
what is still referred to – with
increasing irony after 18 years
of failure – as the Middle
East peace process: a bad
one, and something worse.
The bad option is for the Palestinian
Authority to go this
week to the United Nations
and apply to be admitted as a
member state.
Such a status would not remove
a single settlement or
roadblock. If a state with
observer status is created
instead by a vote in the general
assembly, giving it the
right to take Israel to the international
Court of Justice
over settlements, and the ICJ
rules that all settlements are
illegal, this could remove the
one remaining tool for resolving
the issue – land swaps.
To swap land for illegal settlements
would be to legitimise
them. What future negotiator
could do this?
Statehood could well tempt
some in Israel to push for
retaliatory measures which,
unlike the declaratory state,
would be concrete enough: a
major construction push in
the settlement blocs or the
annexation of the Jordan valley.
Binyamin Netanyahu s
partners have long pushed to
tear up the Oslo accords.
Some want Israel to declare
sovereignty over the whole
territory. Others want to e-
xact revenge on the very people
the US has been training
to keep security in the West
Bank. When Michael Oren,
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