Israelis Do Care About Peace; But Wish Palestinians Were As Concerned As They Were

Time Magazine stepped into it when they released their latest edition, claiming that Israelis no longer care about peace.

That can't be further from the truth.

Israelis are sick and tired of being at a perpetual state of war. They are going to live hard and fight hard, because they have been under the gun for so long because of Palestinian terror and genocidal threats of annihilation from Israel's myriad enemies both near and distant (Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran, Syria, etc.)

Israel has become more pragmatic and realistic about the chances for peace with the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states following the Israel disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the Lebanese withdrawal in 2000. Israel has seen a rise in terror attacks from Gaza since the 2005 disengagement - thousands of kassam attacks each of which is designed to kill or maim Israelis or destroy Israeli property within range of the missiles. Far from being an opportunity for peace, Gazans turned to Hamas and the terror group has maintained an iron grip on Gaza expelling Fatah in a bloody civil war.

Those actions have convinced Israel's polity that peace cannot come through more concessions, let alone land for peace. Israel has precious little land as compared to its neighbors, and Israel's so-called partners in peace at the Palestinian Authority have offered up nothing but empty platitudes and maintained the status quo on indoctrination of another generation of Palestinians to see Israel as illegitimate and refuse to recognize its right to exist alongside a Palestinian state.

Time is in the business of selling papers, and couldn't be bothered with reporting on facts or employing even the slightest bit of critical thinking and logic. It glosses over the reasons why Israelis have hardened in their belief that peace is not forthcoming - namely they lack a true partner for peace.

Instead of focusing on Israel, attention should truly be focused on the Palestinians and their double-speak - how they say one thing to their followers and empty statements to the diplomats who continue to think that they can substitute their own reality for the facts on the ground.

Settlements are not the impediment to peace - Palestinian intransigence to Israel's existence is the impediment to peace.

Moreover, how can peace with the Palestinians come when Fatah doesn't speak for at least half the Palestinian people and can't even address the issue of Gaza, which is fully in the hands of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group dedicated to Israel's destruction. Indeed, even the current Fatah charter references back to its original charter, which also calls for Israel's destruction and obligation to fight Israeli oppression.

With "partners" such as this, it is not Israel who no longer cares about peace, but the Palestinians who never did - unless it included a future without Israel's very existence.