Delusional Bush Moment: Peace In Our Time

President Bush just had his delusional moment of the year, and we're only 10 days in. He thinks that there can be a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis by the end of his term in office - little over one year from now.

Sorry, but there is simply no way that you can have a peace agreement that is more than just a piece of paper unless and until the Palestinians actually put down their arms, cease and desist from all terrorist attacks (including the daily rocket war), and crack down on the terrorists in their midst.

That latter part is just short of impossible since the groups that would be charged with cracking down on the terrorists are members of the same terrorist groups engaged in the terrorism. Hamas and Fatah each control their own parts of territory that would be deemed for a Palestinian state. Fatah has no problem seeking Israel's destruction and its al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade actively engages in terrorist attacks against Israel on a daily basis. The diplomats ignore this at their own peril.

Olso was supposed to bring peace in our time, and all it has done is create an entrenched terrorist bureaucracy in Palestinian controlled territories. That's right - since 1993 the Palestinians have had civil administrative control over Gaza and most of the West Bank. All they've done since then is use those areas to launch terrorist attacks, forcing Israel to build a security barrier.

The barrier has all but eliminated the possibility of suicide bombings and caused much hand wringing by the diplomats and media elites who can't bear to watch Israel take a passive measure that stops terrorist attacks but limits Palestinian movements into Israel that are regularly exploited by terrorists.

The barrier, however, has spawned the rocket war. Since the terrorists can't blow themselves up in restaurants, cafes, and public spaces, they've taken to firing off kassam rockets and mortars on a daily basis. Israel has found no solution to the problem, and has refused to take the kind of retaliatory strike against the terrorist infrastructure, including the PA itself that any other nation would take when faced with a declared war. Make no mistake here, the Palestinians have declared war on Israel and Hamas and the other terrorist groups make no bones about it. The Palestinians voted for Hamas in 2005 and their intentions have been all too clear to everyone except the diplomats themselves.

Forcing the Israelis and Palestinians to sign a piece of paper will not bring peace.

The Palestinians think that they can still defeat Israel and take it all for themselves. Forcing Israel to make still more concessions and not demanding the Palestinians adhere to the obligations made under Oslo will do that. Funding the Palestinians and providing aid and weapons training is ill advised since those receiving the aid and training are simply turning around and using that on the Israelis themselves.

UPDATE:
This is just great. President Bush says that Israel must end occupation of Arab lands. Sounds pretty, doesn't it. It's also a prescription for eliminating Israel because the Arabs that have refused to make peace with Israel do not consider Israel legitimate and have sought its destruction since 1947/48. They consider all of Israel to be occupied - not simply the West Bank, Gaza, or Jerusalem.

President Bush should have known better than to respond with that kind of statement - not to mention the fact that he and his diplomatic corps has continued to ignore the Jerusalem Embassy Act. That law, which became law over President Clinton's objections (he refused to sign), requires that the US Embassy be moved to Jerusalem by 1999, for the Secretary of State to provide regular updates on the move, and cites that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel.

(a) STATEMENT OF THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES-

(1) Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected;

(2) Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and

(3) the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.

Sadly, we're more than eight years past that deadline, and still no movement of the embassy. And now we've got President Bush offering up platitudes that will simply encourage the Palestinian terrorists to continue their attacks since Bush has no problem carving Israel apart for the sake of "peace."

Now, some could argue that he's simply providing talking points and taking different positions with different interest groups in mind, but the Palestinians are watching and listening to all the talk, and they're hearing exactly what they want to hear - that Israel must be forced to concede more territory and the US will help them. They ignore all the obligations they're supposed to fulfill, which is just as it has been since 1993.

UPDATE:
President Bush expands on his nonsensical comments on the peace process, by setting forth the Swiss Cheese rule. The rule states that "any viable Palestinian state must be "contiguous," saying Palestinians deserve better than a "Swiss cheese" state."

Actually, going all the way back to the Mandate period, the Palestinians and Israelis would have had a Swiss Cheese state because that was the only way in which Palestinian areas and Israeli areas would not be 100% cut off from the others. For if you attempt to provide contiguous Palestinian borders, you're necessitating that Israel be hacked to bits.

Of course, all this will be for naught since the Palestinians themselves refuse to accept a two-state solution, but Bush is going through the motions nevertheless.