After reports yesterday indicated that the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would not call for a declaration of statehood and that he would agree to negotiations to begin within a month about final statehood discussions with Israel, Palestinian officials have backtracked and appear to be on a collision course with US and Western diplomatic efforts.
The spin about President Obama's (and America's) waning influence globally is not a rebuke of Obama's multilateral approach, but rather a result of the President pursuing a multilateral approach at a time when American leadership is needed. Yet, there are limits to leadership - and the Arab-Israeli conflict is one such area.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is one in which Israel lacks a partner in peace among Palestinians. This has been repeatedly demonstrated in recent weeks, but diplomats are trying their hardest to ignore reality and substitute their own to get a deal done that would avert a Palestinian call for statehood at the UN and a deal done to establish a 2-state solution in Israel and the territories.
It completely ignores that the Palestinians repeatedly indicate that a 2-state solution is not their ultimate goal; it's to completely eliminate Israel and a 2-state solution is a means to that end.
The failure of a peace process isn't on the President as Palestinian Authority critics would have it, it's on the Palestinians themselves - but the President failed to understand that injecting himself into that process was setting himself up for failure and blame regardless of his intentions.
Showing posts with label pseudorealism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pseudorealism. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Trying To Salvage Peace Process Means Heading Off Palestinian Calls For Statehood at UN
President Barack Obama and Israel are facing a September deadline. They have to convince the Palestinians that declaring statehood at the United Nations in September would be a train wreck of the worst kind. Yet, the Palestinians are increasingly likely to make that declaration and throw what's left of the "peace process" under the bus. That assessment comes from former Middle East envoy George Mitchell:
While it's worth noting that other countries are backing the US on seeing that the peace process continue via direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, no one should hold any parties just yet - Hamas and Fatah continue to reject Israel's existence and any talk of a 2-state solution can't occur until such time when Hamas and Fatah - the elected representatives of the Palestinian people, accept Israel's right to exist.
It seems that every other day Hamas or Fatah spokeshacks declare their intentions to seek liberation of all Palestine and seek Israel's demise. They aren't hiding their intentions, but the diplomats continue working under the illusion that there is a framework for peace to be found.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gets in on the act too, complaining that peace will not come from speeches and polls. That's rather rich considering that he botched not one but two wars with terror groups - the Hizbullah War and the Operation Cast Lead. Instead of fighting both to defeat Hizbullah and Hamas when they lobbed thousands of rockets, mortars, and missiles at Israel, he took half measures and limited Israel's military efforts to dislodge the terrorists from their refuges. Failing to disrupt the terror networks gave the terror groups renewed hope that they could defeat Israel in the long run.
It's worth noting that Prime Minister Netenyahu essentially agreed with President Obama's calls for peace and painful concessions, but only after the Palestinians accept Israel's right to exist. There are no such statements forthcoming from the Palestinians, who hold on to the belief that they can wait out Israel and plot Israel's demise all while forcing Israel into making still more concessions without any reciprocation.
Then, there's the issue of what exactly would happen if the Palestinians declared independence in September? Well, it would mean the end of the peace process as it currently exists, and would then position the territories of Gaza and West Bank into a different category under international law. Gaza would be sovereign territory - and if terrorists launched attacks from Gaza into Israel, it would be a clear act of war to which Israel could respond with force. The situation in the West Bank is more complicated considering that it is carved up into areas of responsibility - A, B, and C zones that give Palestinians and Israelis different levels of control and authority. Jerusalem has been annexed by Israel, but the Palestinians refuse to accept that - or Israel's borders, so it would set the stage for yet another war.
There's no word on whether Palestinian leaders would keep their fellow Palestinians bottled up in refugee camps as they've done throughout Gaza and the West Bank, but that's what they've done to date and there's no reason to believe that they'd end the refugee camps until Israel ceases to exist. That's the ultimate goal under Palestinian demands for a right of return.
"The United Nations does not have the authority to recognize states," Mitchell said. Recognition of a state, especially if passed by an overwhelming margin at the UN, would be "very harmful for Israel, for the United States, and not good for the peace process."Mitchell should know better than most that the Palestinians will more than likely vote along the same lines as the last elections held - Hamas wins Gaza and parts of the West Bank, while Fatah wins elsewhere. Hamas would likely repeat its totals, and again throw the "peace process" into turmoil since Hamas refuses to accept Israel's very existence, which is a necessary condition for any talks between Israel and the Palestinians to be worth more than the paper they're printed upon.
The United States has consistently expressed the opinion that bringing the issue of a Palestinian state to the UN is harmful to the peace process with Israel. Despite this, several countries, have already granted recognition to an independent Palestinian state of their own accord.
In a recent meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, saying "We do not think that unilateral steps are helpful."
The way the Middle East conflict is going to end, Mitchell said is "by an agreement in which the United States plays an active and substantive role but an agreement that will be owned by, be the property of, and be the result of negotiation by Israelis and Palestinians."
The envoy also spoke about the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, saying "obviously we hope that Abbas and the Fatah Party will win the election, not Hamas."
While it's worth noting that other countries are backing the US on seeing that the peace process continue via direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, no one should hold any parties just yet - Hamas and Fatah continue to reject Israel's existence and any talk of a 2-state solution can't occur until such time when Hamas and Fatah - the elected representatives of the Palestinian people, accept Israel's right to exist.
It seems that every other day Hamas or Fatah spokeshacks declare their intentions to seek liberation of all Palestine and seek Israel's demise. They aren't hiding their intentions, but the diplomats continue working under the illusion that there is a framework for peace to be found.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gets in on the act too, complaining that peace will not come from speeches and polls. That's rather rich considering that he botched not one but two wars with terror groups - the Hizbullah War and the Operation Cast Lead. Instead of fighting both to defeat Hizbullah and Hamas when they lobbed thousands of rockets, mortars, and missiles at Israel, he took half measures and limited Israel's military efforts to dislodge the terrorists from their refuges. Failing to disrupt the terror networks gave the terror groups renewed hope that they could defeat Israel in the long run.
It's worth noting that Prime Minister Netenyahu essentially agreed with President Obama's calls for peace and painful concessions, but only after the Palestinians accept Israel's right to exist. There are no such statements forthcoming from the Palestinians, who hold on to the belief that they can wait out Israel and plot Israel's demise all while forcing Israel into making still more concessions without any reciprocation.
Then, there's the issue of what exactly would happen if the Palestinians declared independence in September? Well, it would mean the end of the peace process as it currently exists, and would then position the territories of Gaza and West Bank into a different category under international law. Gaza would be sovereign territory - and if terrorists launched attacks from Gaza into Israel, it would be a clear act of war to which Israel could respond with force. The situation in the West Bank is more complicated considering that it is carved up into areas of responsibility - A, B, and C zones that give Palestinians and Israelis different levels of control and authority. Jerusalem has been annexed by Israel, but the Palestinians refuse to accept that - or Israel's borders, so it would set the stage for yet another war.
There's no word on whether Palestinian leaders would keep their fellow Palestinians bottled up in refugee camps as they've done throughout Gaza and the West Bank, but that's what they've done to date and there's no reason to believe that they'd end the refugee camps until Israel ceases to exist. That's the ultimate goal under Palestinian demands for a right of return.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Making a Joke of the "Peace Process"
The idiotic coverage of the President's speech earlier this week, and then blowing the context of the speech and the response by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netenyahu have done nothing to resurrect a moribund and defunct "peace process". Fact is that Israel has not had a partner in peace in the Palestinians, even dating back to the signing of Oslo.
The Palestinian Authority has not been the partner in peace Israel was looking for and Palestinians still refuse to accept a key condition to any deal - accepting a 2-state solution with Israel as a Jewish state. Hamas refuses to accept Israel's very existence, and they're part and parcel of the Palestinian Authority.
That's why President Obama's latest statements show the farce that the entire process has become.
At the same time, the Palestinians keep making the same demands that they've been making for years - an unlimited right of return that would swamp Israel demographically with millions of Palestinian "refugees" most of whom have never actually lived in the area from which Israel was created or which it later captured from Jordan, Syria, or Egypt.
What exactly is so urgent about forcing a peace deal? It is to provide a legacy achievement for any President who works through a deal, but is it actually in the interests of Israel to cut a peace deal that undermines its security? With the Palestinians steadfastly incapable of adhering to the Oslo requirements - including accepting a 2-state solution, we now have Mahmoud Abbas claiming that he's going to the United Nations in the fall to declare Palestinian independence when Oslo requires a negotiated statehood.
Abbas claims Netenyahu's speech shows that Israel is the stumbling block to a deal, but the reality is that the Palestinians view Israel's existence as the stumbling block - not settlements, not right of return. Eliminate Israel and voila - peace.
You want a breakthrough on a peace deal - how about the Palestinians giving up the right of return. How about them actually eliminating all references to an eternal struggle to destroy Israel in their charters (Hamas charter, PLO charter, and incorporated into everyday affairs such as maps that show Israel as being wiped out).
That's the crux of the Palestinian position, and it is in its most extreme form with Hamas. But Fatah, the PLO, and other Palestinians adhere to that line.
The Palestinian Authority has not been the partner in peace Israel was looking for and Palestinians still refuse to accept a key condition to any deal - accepting a 2-state solution with Israel as a Jewish state. Hamas refuses to accept Israel's very existence, and they're part and parcel of the Palestinian Authority.
That's why President Obama's latest statements show the farce that the entire process has become.
US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "more urgent than ever." He said that he was "confident" that there could be a Jewish state with "safe and secure" borders alongside a Palestinian state where Palestinians can "determine their fate and future."He warns that Hamas is no partner in peace, and yet Israel has to work with the Palestinian Authority. What a way to mangle reality. We have to turn a blind eye to the fact that Hamas is involved in the PA and get Israel to the negotiating table with groups that refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist.
Speaking alongside UK Prime Minister David Cameron at a press conference after the two privately met, Obama said that the Palestinians must understand that "they have obligations as well."
The US president said that the conflict rests on four central points: territorial boundaries, Israeli security, the Palestinian refugee issue, and Jerusalem. He said that the last two issues were "extraordinarily emotional" and would require "wrenching concessions."
He stressed that talks were necessary and that without negotiations, there would be no peace. He said that a UN resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state, if passed, would not create a viable Palestine and, in the end, would not "serve the Palestinians."
Obama acknowledged, however, that Hamas was not a partner for negotiations until it renounced violence and recognized Israel. He said Israelis have a right to be worried by the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, given that Hamas does not recognize Israel and has not renounced violence.
The US president also thanked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for expressing his position, and making recommendations on how to restart the peace process.
Both the UK prime minister and US president expressed unity in supporting Israeli security, as well as a sovereign Palestinian state, in a jointly penned op-ed on Tuesday.
At the same time, the Palestinians keep making the same demands that they've been making for years - an unlimited right of return that would swamp Israel demographically with millions of Palestinian "refugees" most of whom have never actually lived in the area from which Israel was created or which it later captured from Jordan, Syria, or Egypt.
What exactly is so urgent about forcing a peace deal? It is to provide a legacy achievement for any President who works through a deal, but is it actually in the interests of Israel to cut a peace deal that undermines its security? With the Palestinians steadfastly incapable of adhering to the Oslo requirements - including accepting a 2-state solution, we now have Mahmoud Abbas claiming that he's going to the United Nations in the fall to declare Palestinian independence when Oslo requires a negotiated statehood.
Abbas claims Netenyahu's speech shows that Israel is the stumbling block to a deal, but the reality is that the Palestinians view Israel's existence as the stumbling block - not settlements, not right of return. Eliminate Israel and voila - peace.
You want a breakthrough on a peace deal - how about the Palestinians giving up the right of return. How about them actually eliminating all references to an eternal struggle to destroy Israel in their charters (Hamas charter, PLO charter, and incorporated into everyday affairs such as maps that show Israel as being wiped out).
That's the crux of the Palestinian position, and it is in its most extreme form with Hamas. But Fatah, the PLO, and other Palestinians adhere to that line.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Hamas Rejects Israel (Again) and US Efforts to Broker a Peace Deal
What Hamas knows is that President Obama's statements demanding the Palestinians accept a Jewish state of Israel is antithetical to Hamas' very reason for existing - to destroy Israel and to refuse a 2-state solution.
The Islamic terror group that holds control over Gaza and holds sway as part of the Palestinian Authority, saw the speech quite differently than media outlets that saw the President's comments about the border as more important. That, as always, was never an issue.
The border between Israel and her neighbors would be determined through future negotiations as per Oslo, but without a partner in peace that recognizes Israel and a 2-state solution, all talk about borders is asinine and premature to say the least. The Palestinians continue to refuse to accept Israel's right to exist, and Hamas just says it clearer than most.
The Islamic terror group that holds control over Gaza and holds sway as part of the Palestinian Authority, saw the speech quite differently than media outlets that saw the President's comments about the border as more important. That, as always, was never an issue.
The border between Israel and her neighbors would be determined through future negotiations as per Oslo, but without a partner in peace that recognizes Israel and a 2-state solution, all talk about borders is asinine and premature to say the least. The Palestinians continue to refuse to accept Israel's right to exist, and Hamas just says it clearer than most.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said that in light of Obama’s new speech, the PA should reconsider its position toward the peace process and increase efforts to achieve national unity.Hamas isn't merely talking about the West Bank; it's talking about the very existence of Israel on territory that Hamas believes part of a Palestinian state - all of the former Mandate territory. There is no bargaining here, and any diplomatic efforts to paper over this is doomed to failure.
“Obama’s speech is a disaster to all those who have been bidding on US policies and positions,” Radwan said. “We reject such statements which prove that the Americans are completely biased in favor of occupation at the expense of Palestinian rights.”
The Hamas spokesman strongly condemned the Obama Administration for “supporting the security of the Zionists and ignoring Palestinian rights.”
Radwan said that it has become obvious now that the Obama Administration is not talking about the 1967 lines or a Palestinian state. “What they are doing now is deception,” he said in reference to Obama’s speech at the AIPAC conference.
Another Hamas spokesman on Sunday also commented on Obama's speech saying it will not force Hamas to recognize Israel.
Obama explicitly referenced the need for Hamas to adhere to the Quartet principles after it recently entered into a Palestinian national unity government, whose formation he called “an enormous obstacle to peace.”
“No country can be expected to negotiate with a terrorist organization sworn to its destruction,” Obama said to cheers from the more than 10,000 AIPAC activists filling the massive convention center hall. “We will continue to demand that Hamas accept the basic responsibilities of peace, including recognizing Israel’s right to exist and rejecting violence and adhering to all existing agreements."
In response, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was quoted as saying by Ma'an that, "The US administration will fail, just as all others have in the past, in forcing Hamas to recognize the occupation," and that Obama's speech showed the US was "not a friend to the people of the region."
The Hamas spokesman added that Obama's continued support of Israel signaled that the US was biased, and would "support the occupation at the expense of the freedom of the Palestinian people," Ma'an quoted him as saying.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Where Tom Friedman Continues Believing Israel Has A Partner In Peace
Here's a memo to Tom Friedman about the chances for an Arab-Israeli peace deal (and particularly a Palestinian-Israel deal). No deal can be had when the Palestinians refuse to undertake their most essential obligation under Oslo - agreeing to a 2-state solution. Friedman believes that the problem isn't Hamas and Fatah, but rather Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu's refusal to make concessions.
That puts the cart before the horse. Why exactly would any Israeli leader make still more concessions when the Palestinians have refused to carry out their stated obligations under Oslo?
When Hamas, which has reconciled with Fatah and rejoined the PA, refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and doesn't include Israel on a map other than to use as targeting data for its terror plots, Israel lacks a partner in peace.
Israel can and has shown an uncommon willingness to swap land for peace, but the Gaza disengagement should have disabused the world of the notion that land for peace will work when one party to the deal doesn't accept Israel's existence. Instead of using Gaza to build a productive society, the Palestinian leadership turned the region into an armed camp for a terror war against Israel using fellow Palestinians as human shields. Palestinian propaganda continues touting those killed in these attacks as martyrs for the cause of liberating all of Israel from Israeli control.
That is not the framework for peace, and Netenyahu and other Israeli leaders would not be carrying out their sworn obligation to defend Israel from its enemies if it granted still more concessions to Palestinians when Palestinian obligations go unfulfilled.
Housing can be swapped - and has been in the past - it was, and never has been, the real stumbling block to peace no matter how much the left in Israel and the pro-Palestinians try to spin it. The history of Israel's land swaps disprove that time and time again (Camp David, Gaza disengagement).
Palestinians simply can't accept a Jewish state of Israel alongside a Palestinian state - regardless of what borders are delineated on a map. The border incursions weren't about Israel capturing the West Bank, Golan and Gaza in 1967, but called for liberating all of Israel for the Palestinians; a tacit call for Israel's destruction.
These are the partners in peace that Friedman and others like him think Israel should be making still more concessions to in the hopes that the Palestinians will somehow moderate.
Frankly, the recent history has shown that whenever Israel has made concessions, the result has been to portray Israel as weak and terror groups, including Hamas (still part of the PA) has unleashed waves of terror. Israel makes concessions and gets terror as a consequence. Israel doesn't make concessions, and it still gets threats of terror. With that calculus, there's no reason to make further concessions. The onus should be on the Palestinians to show that they are truly committed to a 2-state solution.
To that end, that means a full repeal of the Hamas charter and PLO/PA charter provisions calling for Israel's destruction. Yet, we all know that will never happen since Hamas' raison d'etre is to seek Israel's destruction as a religious and political goal. Hamas considers Israel's very existence as an abomination against Israel, and phrases its call to jihad as a duty for all Muslims. This isn't a partner in peace, but the call by a terror group to commit genocide should it have the means at its disposal.
That puts the cart before the horse. Why exactly would any Israeli leader make still more concessions when the Palestinians have refused to carry out their stated obligations under Oslo?
When Hamas, which has reconciled with Fatah and rejoined the PA, refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and doesn't include Israel on a map other than to use as targeting data for its terror plots, Israel lacks a partner in peace.
Israel can and has shown an uncommon willingness to swap land for peace, but the Gaza disengagement should have disabused the world of the notion that land for peace will work when one party to the deal doesn't accept Israel's existence. Instead of using Gaza to build a productive society, the Palestinian leadership turned the region into an armed camp for a terror war against Israel using fellow Palestinians as human shields. Palestinian propaganda continues touting those killed in these attacks as martyrs for the cause of liberating all of Israel from Israeli control.
That is not the framework for peace, and Netenyahu and other Israeli leaders would not be carrying out their sworn obligation to defend Israel from its enemies if it granted still more concessions to Palestinians when Palestinian obligations go unfulfilled.
Housing can be swapped - and has been in the past - it was, and never has been, the real stumbling block to peace no matter how much the left in Israel and the pro-Palestinians try to spin it. The history of Israel's land swaps disprove that time and time again (Camp David, Gaza disengagement).
Palestinians simply can't accept a Jewish state of Israel alongside a Palestinian state - regardless of what borders are delineated on a map. The border incursions weren't about Israel capturing the West Bank, Golan and Gaza in 1967, but called for liberating all of Israel for the Palestinians; a tacit call for Israel's destruction.
These are the partners in peace that Friedman and others like him think Israel should be making still more concessions to in the hopes that the Palestinians will somehow moderate.
Frankly, the recent history has shown that whenever Israel has made concessions, the result has been to portray Israel as weak and terror groups, including Hamas (still part of the PA) has unleashed waves of terror. Israel makes concessions and gets terror as a consequence. Israel doesn't make concessions, and it still gets threats of terror. With that calculus, there's no reason to make further concessions. The onus should be on the Palestinians to show that they are truly committed to a 2-state solution.
To that end, that means a full repeal of the Hamas charter and PLO/PA charter provisions calling for Israel's destruction. Yet, we all know that will never happen since Hamas' raison d'etre is to seek Israel's destruction as a religious and political goal. Hamas considers Israel's very existence as an abomination against Israel, and phrases its call to jihad as a duty for all Muslims. This isn't a partner in peace, but the call by a terror group to commit genocide should it have the means at its disposal.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Have Palestinians Hit Upon a Winning Tactic Against Israel?
For decades, the Palestinians have used suicide bombers, terror attacks, mortar attacks, kassams, and all manner of violence to try and establish a Palestinian state.
This weekend dawned a different tactic and one that Israel was unprepared to deal with.
Thousands of protesters swarmed across Israel's northern borders in a predesigned incursion to which Israel responded with deadly force.
That's a visual that Israel can't deal with in the long run, and the Palestinians know this. Already international human rights organizations are demanding investigations, even though Israel has the sovereign right to defend its borders against invasion. That's on top of the hypocritical calls by Lebanon and Syria to investigate Israel's human rights abuses all while Syria is engaged in one of the most brutal crackdowns against protesters in recent history. Thousands have been detained and hundreds killed, but Israel takes steps to protect its borders from invasion, and that's suddenly more important than what the Arabs are doing to their fellow Arabs all across the Middle East?
Expect to see more incursions of this kind, not only as a way for Arab regimes to divert pressure on their own regimes from protesters but as a way to force Israel to make still more concessions towards the Palestinians. For its part, the Israelis lodged a formal complaint against Syria and Lebanon for the northern incursions:
At the same time, President Obama is going to address the Palestinian-Israel peace process and once again demand that the Palestinians accept a 2-state solution, but that call is a tacit recognition that Oslo failed to achieve the basic goal of laying the groundwork for a 2-state solution. More than a decade after Oslo, the US and Israel is still trying to get the Palestinian Authority to accept its obligations under Oslo and accept a 2-state solution.
Moreover, this past weekend's protesters and incursions weren't seeking a 2-state solution, but rather seeking the elimination of Israel altogether and the establishment of a Palestinian state upon all the territories west of the Jordan River.
Still, given the track record of terror groups like Hamas and Hizbullah, they wont use the recent events as a guide towards peaceful demonstrations against Israel but will continue to use terror attacks where possible.
This weekend dawned a different tactic and one that Israel was unprepared to deal with.
Thousands of protesters swarmed across Israel's northern borders in a predesigned incursion to which Israel responded with deadly force.
That's a visual that Israel can't deal with in the long run, and the Palestinians know this. Already international human rights organizations are demanding investigations, even though Israel has the sovereign right to defend its borders against invasion. That's on top of the hypocritical calls by Lebanon and Syria to investigate Israel's human rights abuses all while Syria is engaged in one of the most brutal crackdowns against protesters in recent history. Thousands have been detained and hundreds killed, but Israel takes steps to protect its borders from invasion, and that's suddenly more important than what the Arabs are doing to their fellow Arabs all across the Middle East?
Expect to see more incursions of this kind, not only as a way for Arab regimes to divert pressure on their own regimes from protesters but as a way to force Israel to make still more concessions towards the Palestinians. For its part, the Israelis lodged a formal complaint against Syria and Lebanon for the northern incursions:
Israel on Monday lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations against the Syrian and Lebanese governments over the border incidents.Hamas continues to refuse to accept Israel's very existence, and although elections are now scheduled for October, the fact is that the group with which Israel is supposed to make a peace deal with has no intention of ever accept Israel's right to coexist shows the farce involved in the peace process. People are supposed to simply ignore Hamas and their intentions?
On Monday, in a sign of alliance with Israel, the White House accused the Syrian government of fomenting the clashes in the Golan Heights to distract from its suppression of demonstrations at home.
Israel fortifies borders and Jerusalem after protests on Nakba Day, killing 15. Video courtesy of Reuters.
The Israeli prime minister said that while popular demonstrations across the Middle East could bring positive changes and peace in the long term, they are making Israel's situation more "problematic" by emboldening those opposed to Israel's existence.
"A Palestinian government, one half of which is composed of those that declare daily their intention to destroy the state of Israel, is not a partner for peace," he said.
At the same time, President Obama is going to address the Palestinian-Israel peace process and once again demand that the Palestinians accept a 2-state solution, but that call is a tacit recognition that Oslo failed to achieve the basic goal of laying the groundwork for a 2-state solution. More than a decade after Oslo, the US and Israel is still trying to get the Palestinian Authority to accept its obligations under Oslo and accept a 2-state solution.
Moreover, this past weekend's protesters and incursions weren't seeking a 2-state solution, but rather seeking the elimination of Israel altogether and the establishment of a Palestinian state upon all the territories west of the Jordan River.
Still, given the track record of terror groups like Hamas and Hizbullah, they wont use the recent events as a guide towards peaceful demonstrations against Israel but will continue to use terror attacks where possible.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
UN Report Claims PA Ready To Govern Palestinian State
The United Nations has prepared a report claiming that the Palestinian Authority is capable of governing a state, but that the ongoing occupation presents obstacles to doing so.
Now, this particular report claims that Israel's ongoing military presence in the West Bank is preventing the PA from operating. That too is a serious misrepresentation of the facts on the ground.
Israel and the PA have divided the West Bank into sectors of operation - the PA has civil administrative control over nearly all the West Bank, and Israelis are limited to move only within certain areas altogether. Israeli security forces operate only within certain areas as well, and the PA is responsible for security in those areas where Israel currently does not operate. These are designated by A, B, and C areas. This was arranged under Oslo, the Gaza-Jericho Accords, Wye, and other interim documents and agreements.
The PA has shown an inability to deal with the terror groups operating from its territories, and the PA has limited ability to operate within Gaza altogether, where Hamas rules with an iron fist.
So, before there can be any talk of statehood, the UN needs to reorient itself with the facts on the ground instead of engaging in wishful thinking about what should happen if Israel stops taking actions defending its citizens against ongoing terror threats arising from both Gaza and the West Bank.
Peace talks have ostensibly been on hold since late last year because Israel decided to go ahead with building housing on areas claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians within the West Bank. Yet, it isn't the housing dispute that causes problems so much as the fact that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terror factions have been unrelenting in their terror war against Israel's very existence.
The Gaza disengagement should have exposed the lie of land for peace for the world to see, but it is ignored by the diplomats. Instead of using Gaza to establish an economic and political center for a future Palestinian state, it was turned into a terror camp.
Land does not equate with peace.
Settlements - housing - can be transferred, but when one side (the Palestinians) refuse to accept a Jewish state of Israel alongside a Palestinian state, you get to the heart of the problem. The Palestinians refuse to accept Israel on religious, ideological, and political grounds despite the statements in English made to the diplomats. The rhetoric, propaganda, and indoctrination of refusing to accept Israel's very existence continues to this day despite their prohibition under Oslo.
That is the problem.
Until the Palestinians recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, there can and will be no peace. Israel will have to continue to defend itself against terror attacks on a daily basis because the Palestinians refuse to accept the facts on the ground and that Israel will not go quietly into the night.
Thus, this report whitewashes the problems with the Palestinians themselves, and instead focuses on what Israel is doing to prevent a Palestinian state. It's an infantilization of the Palestinian people - and shows that no one requires them to carry out their obligations under Oslo.
UPDATE:
Hamas has released video confirming Israel's longstanding claims that the terror group purposefully fires rockets and mortars from within heavily populated areas of Gaza (HT: NJDhockeyfan at LGF).
The Palestinian Authority is ready to govern a state of its own, according to a report published Tuesday by the office of UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Robert Serry, AFP reported.Curiously, there is no mention of the fact that Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, and that the Fatah/Hamas schism is a geographical and ideological divide so severe as to make any claims that the PA is ready to govern ludicrous. The last time that Fatah and Hamas attempted to share/redistribute power between the two terror groups, a civil war erupted and Hamas threw Fatah out of Gaza.
The report, which will be submitted to Palestinian donor nations at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, said that in six areas where the UN is most engaged there are sufficient governmental functions to establish a state.
The report, however stressed that it would be difficult for the Palestinians to make further progress while peace talks remained stalled and Israeli "occupation" continued.
Serry praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a statement accompanying the report.
Now, this particular report claims that Israel's ongoing military presence in the West Bank is preventing the PA from operating. That too is a serious misrepresentation of the facts on the ground.
Israel and the PA have divided the West Bank into sectors of operation - the PA has civil administrative control over nearly all the West Bank, and Israelis are limited to move only within certain areas altogether. Israeli security forces operate only within certain areas as well, and the PA is responsible for security in those areas where Israel currently does not operate. These are designated by A, B, and C areas. This was arranged under Oslo, the Gaza-Jericho Accords, Wye, and other interim documents and agreements.
The PA has shown an inability to deal with the terror groups operating from its territories, and the PA has limited ability to operate within Gaza altogether, where Hamas rules with an iron fist.
So, before there can be any talk of statehood, the UN needs to reorient itself with the facts on the ground instead of engaging in wishful thinking about what should happen if Israel stops taking actions defending its citizens against ongoing terror threats arising from both Gaza and the West Bank.
Peace talks have ostensibly been on hold since late last year because Israel decided to go ahead with building housing on areas claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians within the West Bank. Yet, it isn't the housing dispute that causes problems so much as the fact that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terror factions have been unrelenting in their terror war against Israel's very existence.
The Gaza disengagement should have exposed the lie of land for peace for the world to see, but it is ignored by the diplomats. Instead of using Gaza to establish an economic and political center for a future Palestinian state, it was turned into a terror camp.
Land does not equate with peace.
Settlements - housing - can be transferred, but when one side (the Palestinians) refuse to accept a Jewish state of Israel alongside a Palestinian state, you get to the heart of the problem. The Palestinians refuse to accept Israel on religious, ideological, and political grounds despite the statements in English made to the diplomats. The rhetoric, propaganda, and indoctrination of refusing to accept Israel's very existence continues to this day despite their prohibition under Oslo.
That is the problem.
Until the Palestinians recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, there can and will be no peace. Israel will have to continue to defend itself against terror attacks on a daily basis because the Palestinians refuse to accept the facts on the ground and that Israel will not go quietly into the night.
Thus, this report whitewashes the problems with the Palestinians themselves, and instead focuses on what Israel is doing to prevent a Palestinian state. It's an infantilization of the Palestinian people - and shows that no one requires them to carry out their obligations under Oslo.
UPDATE:
Hamas has released video confirming Israel's longstanding claims that the terror group purposefully fires rockets and mortars from within heavily populated areas of Gaza (HT: NJDhockeyfan at LGF).
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Yet Another Reason Palestinian-Israeli Peace Talks Wont Succeed
I can sum up the reason that peace talks will not succeed between Israel and the Palestinians in one word. It is also the one word that diplomats, pundits, and the New York Times refuse to recognize trumps anything else, even as they tout the possibility of a breakthrough for a peace deal.
Hamas.
So, while Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas and other diplomats engage in talks with Israel, Hamas continues to reject any and all deals with Israel.
Hamas rejects Israel's existence.
Hamas sees any deal in the context of a hudna - a truce until such a time when Hamas can fight and defeat Israel at the time and place of its choosing. That's a lose-lose situation for Israel and the Palestinians themselves. So any deal that potentially enlarges Gaza in land-swaps would be giving territory to a regime that is antithetical to Israel's very existence and which has shown no interest in peaceful coexistence.
Moreover, Fatah needs a diplomatic breakthrough and success, but it can't impose any breakthrough because the population has been conditioned to accept nothing less than Israel's destruction. Even news reports that Abbas and his negotiators were making concessions brought out the condemnations from the usual suspects because they were seen as collaborating with Israel to give up Palestinian rights to Jerusalem and accepting a two-state solution.
Meanwhile, Gazan terrorists affiliated with Islamic Jihad continue their ongoing attacks against Israel, firing off four mortars today that slammed into the Negev. Thankfully, there were no injuries but the incident shows Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza have no interest in peace and that they're going to take advantage of the situation to further their own ideological goals, which do not include coexistence with Israel.
Hamas.
Palestinian Authority municipal elections scheduled for July 9, 2011, will not be held in Gaza until rival Palestinian factions reach a reconciliation agreement, Israel Radio quoted Hamas as saying Tuesday.The last Palestinian elections were held in 2005, and Hamas won handily in Gaza, and won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament. Fatah and Hamas engaged in a civil war, and Hamas threw Fatah out of Gaza. Fatah has no ability to impose its will on Hamas, and Fatah needs Israel to provide sufficient backing to keep Hamas from overwhelming Fatah's operations.
Hamas spokesman Fawazi Barhoum said that the elections, announced by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad earlier in the day, have no real value because they were declared by a government that has lost its legitimacy.
According to the report, Barhoum also said that the elections were meant to cover up the WikiLeaks scandals and the "Palestine Papers" released by Al Jazeera that exposed the concessions PA President Mahmoud Abbas was willing to make in peace negotiations with Israel.
Earlier Tuesday, Palestinian Authority Spokesman Ghassan Khatib had said that even if Hamas blocks elections in Gaza, they will still be held only in the West Bank.
So, while Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas and other diplomats engage in talks with Israel, Hamas continues to reject any and all deals with Israel.
Hamas rejects Israel's existence.
Hamas sees any deal in the context of a hudna - a truce until such a time when Hamas can fight and defeat Israel at the time and place of its choosing. That's a lose-lose situation for Israel and the Palestinians themselves. So any deal that potentially enlarges Gaza in land-swaps would be giving territory to a regime that is antithetical to Israel's very existence and which has shown no interest in peaceful coexistence.
Moreover, Fatah needs a diplomatic breakthrough and success, but it can't impose any breakthrough because the population has been conditioned to accept nothing less than Israel's destruction. Even news reports that Abbas and his negotiators were making concessions brought out the condemnations from the usual suspects because they were seen as collaborating with Israel to give up Palestinian rights to Jerusalem and accepting a two-state solution.
Meanwhile, Gazan terrorists affiliated with Islamic Jihad continue their ongoing attacks against Israel, firing off four mortars today that slammed into the Negev. Thankfully, there were no injuries but the incident shows Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza have no interest in peace and that they're going to take advantage of the situation to further their own ideological goals, which do not include coexistence with Israel.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A Map Will Not Bring Peace
The New York Times reports that a think tank has come up with a map that they think might lead to a breakthrough in the impasse in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Fat chance.
Once again, it's the lack of a partner in peace that is the impasse, not maps or plans.
The Palestinians have steadfastly refused to accept a Jewish state of Israel and Jewish ties to lands that include the pre-1967 borders. Palestinians continually attempt to rewrite history and Jewish ties to lands both within and outside the 1948 borders. Palestinian Authority "historians" claim that Jews don't have claims to the Temple Mount, despite a 3,000 history of documented ties.
Palestinians can't even negotiate with a single voice - Hamas and Fatah are at odds, and Hamas refuses even to negotiate with Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and Hamas controls Gaza - not Fatah.
There's no amount of maps that can trump the fact that Hamas controls territory that would ostensibly become part of any Palestinian state and that it would use that territory not to create a prosperous country and society, but to resume jihad against Israel.
Fat chance.
Once again, it's the lack of a partner in peace that is the impasse, not maps or plans.
The Palestinians have steadfastly refused to accept a Jewish state of Israel and Jewish ties to lands that include the pre-1967 borders. Palestinians continually attempt to rewrite history and Jewish ties to lands both within and outside the 1948 borders. Palestinian Authority "historians" claim that Jews don't have claims to the Temple Mount, despite a 3,000 history of documented ties.
Palestinians can't even negotiate with a single voice - Hamas and Fatah are at odds, and Hamas refuses even to negotiate with Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and Hamas controls Gaza - not Fatah.
There's no amount of maps that can trump the fact that Hamas controls territory that would ostensibly become part of any Palestinian state and that it would use that territory not to create a prosperous country and society, but to resume jihad against Israel.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Fatah; PLO Threaten To Abrogate Oslo Accords Security Arrangements
Fatah, which is the largest faction in the PLO and which is in an ongoing struggle with Hamas to control the Palestinian Authority, has threatened to abrogate security arrangements that were established under the Oslo Accords because the peace process has broken down over an inability of the Palestinians to recognize Israel's right to exist and refusal to accept a 2-state solution.
That's not how the Palestinians see it, of course. They'd like to claim that the talks have collapsed because Israel refuses to stop building housing, but housing has never been an impediment to peace. Just as the Egyptians; Israel withdrew from Sinai and destroyed thousands of homes and uprooted Israelis who lived in Sinai as part of the Camp David talks.
Moreover, Palestinian consideration of a Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state on all Palestinian territories that were captured by Israel in 1967 doesn't hold water.
For starters, Palestine didn't exist. When Israel declared independence in 1947, Arab states around former Mandate Palestine invaded and took the land for itself. Egypt captured Gaza and Transjordan (now Jordan) captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to eliminate Israeli control over East Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest sites on the planet. Israel will never accept such a situation, and it is unlikely that the Security Council will abide by such a unilateral declaration against Israel as long as the US hold veto power to stop action.
The Palestinians continue to refuse to negotiate in good faith with Israel and they have habitually shown themselves to be incapable of making a deal on which lasting peace can occur. Palestinian propaganda efforts repeatedly attack Israel's right to exist and indoctrinate new generations of Palestinians to seek Israel's destruction as a religious and political obligation, and that doesn't even get into Hamas' refusal to accept Israel's existence as anything other than aiming points for its terrorists.
It's also questionable as to whether President Obama would restart peace talks when his efforts to date have been an abject failure. It made little sense for his involvement in the process at the outset of his presidency since the conditions were not favorable to even the slightest movement on peace since the Palestinians have become more strident in their demands without making any concessions to peace. Hamas remains as it has been for years, and they have consolidated power in Gaza, which means that any peace deal would have to go through Hamas, which has not wavered in its refusal to make peace with Israel (it wont even recognize Israel). So the President cannot even acknowledge with whom Israel is supposed to negotiate when the Palestinian Authority itself lacks legitimacy to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians (Hamas and Fatah refuse to recognize the others right to control the PA and elections have not been held to reconcile the strident differences).
US efforts to restart the peace process have been a miserable failure since President Obama took office because he and his diplomatic corps have steadfastly refused to recognize the reality that the Palestinians would much rather accept the status quo - take foreign aid, including from the US, without having to build a peaceful infrastructure alongside Israel while continuing calls for Israel's destruction and rabble rousing, rather than making the tough decision to make peace. Without a partner in peace, there can be no peace. Until the Palestinians show a willingness to make concessions, there can be no peace. Until the US recognizes that its continued efforts will meet with failure until the Palestinians change their tune, there can be no breakthrough.
That's not how the Palestinians see it, of course. They'd like to claim that the talks have collapsed because Israel refuses to stop building housing, but housing has never been an impediment to peace. Just as the Egyptians; Israel withdrew from Sinai and destroyed thousands of homes and uprooted Israelis who lived in Sinai as part of the Camp David talks.
The Palestinian Authority will stop coordinating its security with Israel, in response to the US's official announcement that peace talks have failed, Al Quds al-Arabi reported on Friday.What the Palestinians want is to make their territories free of an Israeli and Jewish presence. They want to accomplish what never has happened in the course of history of the region - to eliminate the Jewish presence in areas that have historically had a Jewish presence, including in Jerusalem and its environs. To that end, the Palestinians continue to engage in revisionist history (and here), which shows just how unwilling the Palestinians are to accepting a 2-state solution. They are unwilling to admit that Israel has legitimacy and longstanding and historical claims to the land.
Khana Amira, a PLO official, told the UK newspaper that the PA is also considering canceling its other commitments to Israel, including the Oslo Accords and the Road Map, which demand that terror organizations will stop.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and an adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly plans to convene a meeting with the PLO and Fatah central committees on Friday afternoon, in order to make a new plan for the Palestinians.
Palestinian officials told Al Quds al-Arabi that they expect US President Barack Obama to attempt to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Maybe the meeting will give the American government another chance," an official told the paper.
The Palestinians are also considering seeking the UN Security Council's recognition of a Palestinian state on all the Palestinian territories that were captured by Israel in 1967.
Moreover, Palestinian consideration of a Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state on all Palestinian territories that were captured by Israel in 1967 doesn't hold water.
For starters, Palestine didn't exist. When Israel declared independence in 1947, Arab states around former Mandate Palestine invaded and took the land for itself. Egypt captured Gaza and Transjordan (now Jordan) captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to eliminate Israeli control over East Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest sites on the planet. Israel will never accept such a situation, and it is unlikely that the Security Council will abide by such a unilateral declaration against Israel as long as the US hold veto power to stop action.
The Palestinians continue to refuse to negotiate in good faith with Israel and they have habitually shown themselves to be incapable of making a deal on which lasting peace can occur. Palestinian propaganda efforts repeatedly attack Israel's right to exist and indoctrinate new generations of Palestinians to seek Israel's destruction as a religious and political obligation, and that doesn't even get into Hamas' refusal to accept Israel's existence as anything other than aiming points for its terrorists.
It's also questionable as to whether President Obama would restart peace talks when his efforts to date have been an abject failure. It made little sense for his involvement in the process at the outset of his presidency since the conditions were not favorable to even the slightest movement on peace since the Palestinians have become more strident in their demands without making any concessions to peace. Hamas remains as it has been for years, and they have consolidated power in Gaza, which means that any peace deal would have to go through Hamas, which has not wavered in its refusal to make peace with Israel (it wont even recognize Israel). So the President cannot even acknowledge with whom Israel is supposed to negotiate when the Palestinian Authority itself lacks legitimacy to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians (Hamas and Fatah refuse to recognize the others right to control the PA and elections have not been held to reconcile the strident differences).
US efforts to restart the peace process have been a miserable failure since President Obama took office because he and his diplomatic corps have steadfastly refused to recognize the reality that the Palestinians would much rather accept the status quo - take foreign aid, including from the US, without having to build a peaceful infrastructure alongside Israel while continuing calls for Israel's destruction and rabble rousing, rather than making the tough decision to make peace. Without a partner in peace, there can be no peace. Until the Palestinians show a willingness to make concessions, there can be no peace. Until the US recognizes that its continued efforts will meet with failure until the Palestinians change their tune, there can be no breakthrough.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
US Slams Palestinian Nonsensical Claims, But Ignores Underlying Reality
It's nice the Obama Administration recognizes the craziness of Palestinian Authority claims that Jews do not have any historical claims to the Western Wall and Temple Mount.
As this is the official position of the Palestinian Authority it shows that the Palestinians are interested only in revisionist history to suit their propaganda purposes and de-legitimize more than 3,000 years of Jewish ties to Israel and Jerusalem.
What this shows is that despite the overwhelming evidence against Israel having a partner in peace, the US diplomatic corps will continue engaging in pseudoreality to try to keep a nonexistent peace process alive. It's time for the US and the rest of the world to stop with the charade and expose the Palestinian Authority for what it is - and that includes it not operating with the best interests of Palestinians in mind either.
The State Department said the US rejects the claim as "factually incorrect, insensitive and highly provocative." Spokesman P.J. Crowley said statements of that kind damage US efforts to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and could incite violence.That bit about damaging the peace process is typical diplomatic speak. The truth is that these claims show exactly how and why Israel lacks a partner in the peace process and that until Palestinians accept Israel and a Jewish state at that, there will be no peace. The US can't broker a peace deal when one side - the Palestinians - refuse Israel's very existence and rights to the land.
"We have repeatedly raised with the Palestinian Authority leadership the need to consistently combat all forms of de-legitimization of Israel, including denying historic Jewish connections to the land," he told reporters.
"As the United States has long maintained, the status of Jerusalem must be resolved in final status negotiations between the parties," Crowley said. "We recognize that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue to Israelis and Palestinians, to Jews, to Muslims and to Christians everywhere."
Last week, a senior Palestinian official endorsed a study stating that the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, is Muslim property and has no link to Judaism. The study has drawn fierce criticism in Israel but Al-Mutawakil Taha, deputy Palestinian information minister, said the document is the official position of the Palestinian Authority.
As this is the official position of the Palestinian Authority it shows that the Palestinians are interested only in revisionist history to suit their propaganda purposes and de-legitimize more than 3,000 years of Jewish ties to Israel and Jerusalem.
What this shows is that despite the overwhelming evidence against Israel having a partner in peace, the US diplomatic corps will continue engaging in pseudoreality to try to keep a nonexistent peace process alive. It's time for the US and the rest of the world to stop with the charade and expose the Palestinian Authority for what it is - and that includes it not operating with the best interests of Palestinians in mind either.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Carter Continues Trashing Israel, Successors On MidEast Peace Process
Former President Jimmy Carter can't seem to get enough of the spotlight, and still revels in the idea that his foreign policy statements have merit.
He couldn't be more hopelessly wrong.
Carter was a failed presidency who failed to deal with the key issues during his Administration: the Iranian hostage situation was a major debacle, but so too was the crippling economic situation (the misery index) and his inability to get his own political party to buy into his worldview.
The one success he can take away wasn't even really his: the Camp David Accords was the result of Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat going to Jerusalem with an interest in making peace; without which no deal would ever have been possible. Carter was along for the ride.
In his latest book, he think that Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama didn't do enough to pressure Israel to stop building homes in the West Bank. Carter continues to believe in the nonsense that those houses are the impediment to peace.
Carter ignores the Palestinians' longstanding refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. He ignores that when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, the Palestinian response was not to build an economy and utilize the infrastructure left behind as part of agricultural and business improvements, but rather started a rocket war, using those very greenhouses as terror training camps.
Carter ignores that Israel has made numerous attempts to make a peace deal with the Palestinians, but successive leaders of the Palestinian Authority (Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas) have not only refused those deals, but have failed to make counteroffers to the proposals.
The Palestinian leadership has not fulfilled its obligations under Oslo to stop inciting Palestinians to violence. Indeed, earlier this year, Israel dedicated a new synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, and top Palestinian authorities claimed that this was the first step to destroying the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa mosques on the Temple Mount.
The Palestinian leadership isn't even united in an interest of carrying on talks; Fatah is pursuing talks but doesn't speak for all Palestinians and isn't even legitimate in the eyes of Palestinians given that elections haven't been held and Hamas controls Gaza and has the majority in the Palestinian parliament.
It is necessary to be realistic about the Palestinian intentions, positions, and statements - not just in English, but in Arabic and how they are shaping Palestinian opinions back home and in their disapora. If they continue calling for an unequivocal right of return, that's a signal that the Palestinians aren't interested in peace - or recognizing Israel's right to exist.
If they continue calling for Jerusalem as their capital and produce maps that do not show a two-state solution, that's a sign that the Palestinians aren't interested in peace. If they continue to mount terror attacks at every opportunity, it's a sign that they have no interest in peace and are engaging in their usual triangle offense that allows the Palestinians (Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, etc.) to cast blame on others for attacks while continuing to make demands at the bargaining table.
He couldn't be more hopelessly wrong.
Carter was a failed presidency who failed to deal with the key issues during his Administration: the Iranian hostage situation was a major debacle, but so too was the crippling economic situation (the misery index) and his inability to get his own political party to buy into his worldview.
The one success he can take away wasn't even really his: the Camp David Accords was the result of Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat going to Jerusalem with an interest in making peace; without which no deal would ever have been possible. Carter was along for the ride.
In his latest book, he think that Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama didn't do enough to pressure Israel to stop building homes in the West Bank. Carter continues to believe in the nonsense that those houses are the impediment to peace.
Carter ignores the Palestinians' longstanding refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. He ignores that when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, the Palestinian response was not to build an economy and utilize the infrastructure left behind as part of agricultural and business improvements, but rather started a rocket war, using those very greenhouses as terror training camps.
Carter ignores that Israel has made numerous attempts to make a peace deal with the Palestinians, but successive leaders of the Palestinian Authority (Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas) have not only refused those deals, but have failed to make counteroffers to the proposals.
The Palestinian leadership has not fulfilled its obligations under Oslo to stop inciting Palestinians to violence. Indeed, earlier this year, Israel dedicated a new synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, and top Palestinian authorities claimed that this was the first step to destroying the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa mosques on the Temple Mount.
The Palestinian leadership isn't even united in an interest of carrying on talks; Fatah is pursuing talks but doesn't speak for all Palestinians and isn't even legitimate in the eyes of Palestinians given that elections haven't been held and Hamas controls Gaza and has the majority in the Palestinian parliament.
It is necessary to be realistic about the Palestinian intentions, positions, and statements - not just in English, but in Arabic and how they are shaping Palestinian opinions back home and in their disapora. If they continue calling for an unequivocal right of return, that's a signal that the Palestinians aren't interested in peace - or recognizing Israel's right to exist.
If they continue calling for Jerusalem as their capital and produce maps that do not show a two-state solution, that's a sign that the Palestinians aren't interested in peace. If they continue to mount terror attacks at every opportunity, it's a sign that they have no interest in peace and are engaging in their usual triangle offense that allows the Palestinians (Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, etc.) to cast blame on others for attacks while continuing to make demands at the bargaining table.
Friday, August 20, 2010
What Kind Of Direct Talks Can These Be?
The Palestinian Authority doesn't speak for all of the Palestinians, and Hamas still seeks nothing less than Israel's destruction all while being in control of Gaza, but yet media reports will breathlessly state that talks between Israel and the Palestinians will resume in September. MSNBC is headlining that this is a breakthrough.
Abbas needs some kind of diplomatic breakthrough in order to maintain support among those living in the West Bank, but if that comes, it will be yet another sign that a 2-state solution is dead and that we're looking towards a 3-state solution, with Gaza and West Bank having separate futures.
This is yet another sign that the diplomats are living in their own fantasy world where they think that they can impose and substitute their own reality for the world around them. The reality is that Hamas and Fatah have no interest in ceding power to the other, and Hamas retains full control in Gaza despite the Israeli blockade and Fatah's own efforts to undermine Hamas. Hamas will not accept any deal that recognizes Israel's rights to any land - whether it is in the West Bank, Jerusalem, or Israel proper. It simply doesn't accept Israel's right to exist.
The United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations formally invited them to talks that are to begin Sept. 2 in Washington, NBC News reported.I have no expectations for these talks. Israel cannot and will not make an agreement with the Palestinian Authority because Mahmoud Abbas cannot speak for all of the territories, and Hamas will not let Abbas do so for Gaza. What authority does Abbas have to speak for the Palestinians when the Palestinian Authority can't operate in Gaza? Hamas controls Gaza and but for Israel's assistance, Abbas and Fatah would have been tossed from the West Bank as well.
The breakthrough marks a small but important step toward easing tensions in the Middle East. The goal is to agree on arrangements for two sovereign states, Israel and an independent Palestine.
"As we move forward, it is important that actions by all sides help to advance our effort, not hinder it," Clinton said. "There have been difficulties in the past; there will be difficulties ahead. Without a doubt, we will hit more obstacles. The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks. But I ask the parties to persevere."
Clinton said the face-to-face talks are to begin Sept. 2. She said the hope is that a comprehensive peace agreement can be reached within one year.
Abbas needs some kind of diplomatic breakthrough in order to maintain support among those living in the West Bank, but if that comes, it will be yet another sign that a 2-state solution is dead and that we're looking towards a 3-state solution, with Gaza and West Bank having separate futures.
This is yet another sign that the diplomats are living in their own fantasy world where they think that they can impose and substitute their own reality for the world around them. The reality is that Hamas and Fatah have no interest in ceding power to the other, and Hamas retains full control in Gaza despite the Israeli blockade and Fatah's own efforts to undermine Hamas. Hamas will not accept any deal that recognizes Israel's rights to any land - whether it is in the West Bank, Jerusalem, or Israel proper. It simply doesn't accept Israel's right to exist.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Pushing Israel Into A Corner?
Don't think that the New York Times' timing on the release of a report about US tax exempt donations going to the construction of housing in the West Bank wasn't purposeful on the eve of President Barack Obama's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu. There are some reports that indicate that Obama will try to pressure Israel into making some kind of apology to Turkey over the flotilla raid, even though the backers of the flotilla were intent on creating a violent incident for propaganda purposes and Israel was within its sovereign rights to defend itself from terrorists who would use running the blockade as a means to regroup, resupply, and rearm.
For starters, the tax exempt donations don't only include the West Bank - but Jerusalem as well. And as I keep pointing out ad nauseum, the construction of housing is not an impediment to peace. Housing can always be sold or transferred. It's been done before by Israel - twice. Israel withdrew from Sinai and returned thousands of houses built for settlers there in multiple communities. Israel again withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and transferred those communities to the Gazans, who promptly used them as terror training camps and destroyed the infrastructure, including greenhouses donated by US businessmen for providing an incubator for Gazan economic development.
Other reports indicate that the US will demand that Israel move to a two-state solution immediately. Such reports deny reality and again show the folly of diplomats trying to invent facts instead of taking the situation as it truly is - psuedoreality.
The fact is that Hamas and Fatah continue to refuse Israel's existence and deny a 2-state solution. That is the impediment to peace. When you have Fatah honoring a mass murderer who killed Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972 as conquering hero, your priorities are wrong.
Focusing on housing is a distraction from the real problems - that Israel simply does not have a partner in peace. It doesn't matter how many concessions Israel makes, it will never be sufficient and the Palestinians will not accept any such deal because they will always demand more.
Mind you that the PA never even bothered with counterproposals to the two Israeli peace deals made - one with Arafat in 2000 and later with Abbas.
Now, who exactly is Israel to make peace with when the Palestinians themselves can't agree on who is their representative - Hamas that continues to seek Israel's destruction openly and obviously, or Fatah, which is content to let other terror groups do their dirty work while continuing to indoctrinate another generation to hate Israel's very existence. Neither terror group can dominate the other, and each has its own territories to operate from.
For starters, the tax exempt donations don't only include the West Bank - but Jerusalem as well. And as I keep pointing out ad nauseum, the construction of housing is not an impediment to peace. Housing can always be sold or transferred. It's been done before by Israel - twice. Israel withdrew from Sinai and returned thousands of houses built for settlers there in multiple communities. Israel again withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and transferred those communities to the Gazans, who promptly used them as terror training camps and destroyed the infrastructure, including greenhouses donated by US businessmen for providing an incubator for Gazan economic development.
Other reports indicate that the US will demand that Israel move to a two-state solution immediately. Such reports deny reality and again show the folly of diplomats trying to invent facts instead of taking the situation as it truly is - psuedoreality.
The fact is that Hamas and Fatah continue to refuse Israel's existence and deny a 2-state solution. That is the impediment to peace. When you have Fatah honoring a mass murderer who killed Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972 as conquering hero, your priorities are wrong.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has euologized Abu Dauod, the mastermind of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munch Olympics in 1972 and who died Saturday. “He is missed. He was one of the leading figures of Fatah and spent his life in resistance and sincere work as well as physical sacrifice for his people's just causes,” said Abbas.Dauod's life's work was focused on murdering Israelis.
Focusing on housing is a distraction from the real problems - that Israel simply does not have a partner in peace. It doesn't matter how many concessions Israel makes, it will never be sufficient and the Palestinians will not accept any such deal because they will always demand more.
Mind you that the PA never even bothered with counterproposals to the two Israeli peace deals made - one with Arafat in 2000 and later with Abbas.
Now, who exactly is Israel to make peace with when the Palestinians themselves can't agree on who is their representative - Hamas that continues to seek Israel's destruction openly and obviously, or Fatah, which is content to let other terror groups do their dirty work while continuing to indoctrinate another generation to hate Israel's very existence. Neither terror group can dominate the other, and each has its own territories to operate from.
Friday, March 19, 2010
And the Answers Remain the Same
The diplomats are up to their usual nonsense in the Middle East. They ignore the core problems and instead focus on extraneous matters to show that they're doing something about the problem. The Quartet is demanding that Israel freeze settlement construction, which is essentially a freeze on the construction of new housing in the disputed territories - including Israel's capital Jerusalem. Vice President Biden says that the housing plan undermines the peace process.
Why freeze the construction? Because the Palestinians might riot.
Here's the newsflash.
They're already rioting and calling for an intifada, not because of the housing construction (the smarter Palestinians know that construction means Palestinian jobs), but because the Palestinian leadership is lying about Israel's intentions for the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa Mosque. They've been lying through their teeth that the dedication of the restored Hurva synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem is the first step to taking over the Temple Mount. The Hurva was destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948 after they captured the Old City and the Jewish Quarter - desecrating Jewish sites throughout the captured territory.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigor Lieberman correctly notes that you can't make an artificial peace and that Israel simply does not have a partner in peace when you've got terrorist groups that seek nothing less than Israel in pieces.
Israeli authorities are limiting access to the Temple Mount because of fears of resumed rioting as has happened in past Fridays following incitement to violence by the imams at the Friday sermons at the al Aqsa mosque.
Israel also responded to yesterday's kassam attack that killed a Thai worker just outside Gaza. They carried out several airstrikes against terrorist targets, including smuggling tunnels. Another kassam was fired into Israel today, but no one was injured.
Why freeze the construction? Because the Palestinians might riot.
Here's the newsflash.
They're already rioting and calling for an intifada, not because of the housing construction (the smarter Palestinians know that construction means Palestinian jobs), but because the Palestinian leadership is lying about Israel's intentions for the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa Mosque. They've been lying through their teeth that the dedication of the restored Hurva synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem is the first step to taking over the Temple Mount. The Hurva was destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948 after they captured the Old City and the Jewish Quarter - desecrating Jewish sites throughout the captured territory.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigor Lieberman correctly notes that you can't make an artificial peace and that Israel simply does not have a partner in peace when you've got terrorist groups that seek nothing less than Israel in pieces.
Israeli authorities are limiting access to the Temple Mount because of fears of resumed rioting as has happened in past Fridays following incitement to violence by the imams at the Friday sermons at the al Aqsa mosque.
Israel also responded to yesterday's kassam attack that killed a Thai worker just outside Gaza. They carried out several airstrikes against terrorist targets, including smuggling tunnels. Another kassam was fired into Israel today, but no one was injured.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Palestinians Riot In Jersualem
Of course, the Palestinians started a rumor that this was the first step to destroying the al Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock to prepare for the construction of a new Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.
Much rioting and violence ensued.
The US envoy George Mitchell canceled his trip indefinitely. The US hasn't exactly spoken out against the rumors, letting them continue to percolate among the Arab populations that are regularly plied with such blatherings until they can no longer discern between fact and fantasy.
With that as a backdrop, Secretary of State Clinton reiterated that the US has an unshakable bond with Israel, and that's very much like what we've heard before from both sides of the aisle in the halls of DC:Speaker Pelosi in 2007. VP Biden last week. Gen. Jim Jones in 2009. President Ronald Reagan in 1982. President Bush in 2008. That's just a random sample. It's a sentiment that goes back decades.
Of course, it also means that the Palestinians will begin their ritualistic whining about the US favoring Israel and how the US can't be an impartial arbiter in the peace process, which is rich given that the Palestinians can't even agree who is their legitimate representative and that Hamas, which won the last election held by the Palestinians wants a war to eliminate Israel.
The violence isn't being blamed on the rumors but on Israel's proposed housing projects even though the violence is directly attributed to the rumors. Any Israeli housing construction will cause problems - especially if it's in areas where the Palestinians demand a state for themselves (which is to say pretty much everywhere in Israel but particularly in the area around Jerusalem). There's more than a bit of brinksmanship going on here - and Abbas and Hamas have the violence at their disposal because that's their reliable fallback position. Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu is calling them out on it.
Bear in mind that Israel's housing industry relies quite heavily on Palestinian labor. Stop the housing, and the Palestinians will complain about Israel's refusal to provide economic activities. If it isn't one thing, it's something else that Israel does that gives arise to Palestinian demands for concessions from Israel on all grounds.
And just because Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad wanted in on the action, Gazans fired a kassam from Gaza into Israel.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Still Complaining About Israel's Housing Moves While Ignoring Palestinian Provocations
Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu says that the construction will proceed, despite US protestations to the contrary. That, of course, has got the Palestinians whining and seething.
The US policy for the past several decades regarding the peace process and Israel is to harp on housing construction at every opportunity because it somehow threatens a peace process that exists only in the minds of diplomats and not the very Palestinian leaders who are in a position to act on any policy they so choose.
The concentration on Israeli housing projects is disingenuous and plays right into the hands of Palestinians and anti-Israel types who think Israel is making a land grab all while ignoring that Israel has repeatedly withdrawn from lands and housing it has built in the name of peace and with the case of Gaza - getting nothing but a rocket war and terrorism in return.
A fair process would demand that the Palestinians fulfill their obligations under Oslo. That would include eliminating the calls for violence in the mosques like the Friday sermons at al Aqsa. It would mean demanding the release of Gilad Shalit as a good faith gesture. That hasn't been demanded by the US, even though it would be a showing of being an arbiter in good faith.
If the Palestinians don't get their way, they're threatening yet another Intifada. Egypt plays the anti-Israel card claiming that the Israelis are attempting to suffocate the Palestinians (let's just ignore that Egypt has no interest in opening its border with Gaza because they're just as concerned about Hamas terrorism as Israel).
Elsewhere, the UN sent in the EOD teams to take care of unexploded ordnance. They complain that Israel didn't let them go take care of the situation but note that Hamas maintains its own supplies of unexploded ordnance (never used, but waiting for the opportunity - as well as using their own supplies of ordnance to be used in their own IEDs).
At the same time, yet another report surfaces that Hamas used civilians, especially kids, as human shields during Operation Cast Lead. Doubt anyone at the UN lost any sleep over that as they were busy preparing to slam Israel for defending itself against these terrorists.
The US policy for the past several decades regarding the peace process and Israel is to harp on housing construction at every opportunity because it somehow threatens a peace process that exists only in the minds of diplomats and not the very Palestinian leaders who are in a position to act on any policy they so choose.
The concentration on Israeli housing projects is disingenuous and plays right into the hands of Palestinians and anti-Israel types who think Israel is making a land grab all while ignoring that Israel has repeatedly withdrawn from lands and housing it has built in the name of peace and with the case of Gaza - getting nothing but a rocket war and terrorism in return.
A fair process would demand that the Palestinians fulfill their obligations under Oslo. That would include eliminating the calls for violence in the mosques like the Friday sermons at al Aqsa. It would mean demanding the release of Gilad Shalit as a good faith gesture. That hasn't been demanded by the US, even though it would be a showing of being an arbiter in good faith.
If the Palestinians don't get their way, they're threatening yet another Intifada. Egypt plays the anti-Israel card claiming that the Israelis are attempting to suffocate the Palestinians (let's just ignore that Egypt has no interest in opening its border with Gaza because they're just as concerned about Hamas terrorism as Israel).
Elsewhere, the UN sent in the EOD teams to take care of unexploded ordnance. They complain that Israel didn't let them go take care of the situation but note that Hamas maintains its own supplies of unexploded ordnance (never used, but waiting for the opportunity - as well as using their own supplies of ordnance to be used in their own IEDs).
At the same time, yet another report surfaces that Hamas used civilians, especially kids, as human shields during Operation Cast Lead. Doubt anyone at the UN lost any sleep over that as they were busy preparing to slam Israel for defending itself against these terrorists.
What everyone seems to forget is that the peace process is something that the diplomats just love because it is job security and results are optional. They can shuttle around the planet pushing their particular version of events and how to break the logjam that exists because the peace process lacks a viable partner in peace in the form of the Palestinians who have not fulfilled their obligations under Oslo to date and which now consists of a rump state in Gaza that is controlled entirely by Hamas while Fatah controls the West Bank through the Palestinian Authority.
Who exactly is Israel supposed to have a peace process with? Fatah can't impose its will on Gaza and Hamas is opposed to Israel's existence in a most violent and base fashion. Yet, the diplomats live in a fictional world where dealing by and through the PA trumps the facts on the ground.
The US position on the peace process has been to be the facilitator and to get both sides to engage in a peace process. It's a carrot and stick thing - but Israel mostly sees the stick while the Palestinians usually see the carrot - more money to the PA (in fact - it's the flip side of the same coin as Israel is usually forced to do something to bolster Abbas and the PA, all while undermining Israel's security since Hamas is busy engaging in its regularly scheduled rocket attacks on Israel). The Palestinians are effectively engaging in a triangle offense against Israel, and the diplomats, including the current Administration are playing into it.
The Bush Administration did this to a much lesser extent, but it's been a pattern in effect since the Reagan days, when the US demanded settlement halts for Israel to get loan guarantees (repeated several times since in various forms).
The key to understanding the US position on this is that the symbolism of the settlement construction trumps the reality that the housing can be transferred to whoever is deemed to control that land after final status negotiations are carried out. Some argue that this changes the demographics, but that ignores that what the Palestinians demand is nothing less than the ethnic cleansing of areas that they seek control of all Jews (Israelis).
Gaza was going to end up in Palestinian hands no matter what - and they got it in 2005, and the result has been a disaster for Israeli communities within rocket range. Israel left housing and infrastructure intact, which promptly got damaged and destroyed by Gazans who turned them into terror training and rocket firing facilities. Most Israelis realize that land for peace isn't peace when the party you're supposed to be transferring the land to doesn't want it for any purpose other than engaging in the ongoing war against Israel's existence.
Who exactly is Israel supposed to have a peace process with? Fatah can't impose its will on Gaza and Hamas is opposed to Israel's existence in a most violent and base fashion. Yet, the diplomats live in a fictional world where dealing by and through the PA trumps the facts on the ground.
The US position on the peace process has been to be the facilitator and to get both sides to engage in a peace process. It's a carrot and stick thing - but Israel mostly sees the stick while the Palestinians usually see the carrot - more money to the PA (in fact - it's the flip side of the same coin as Israel is usually forced to do something to bolster Abbas and the PA, all while undermining Israel's security since Hamas is busy engaging in its regularly scheduled rocket attacks on Israel). The Palestinians are effectively engaging in a triangle offense against Israel, and the diplomats, including the current Administration are playing into it.
The Bush Administration did this to a much lesser extent, but it's been a pattern in effect since the Reagan days, when the US demanded settlement halts for Israel to get loan guarantees (repeated several times since in various forms).
The key to understanding the US position on this is that the symbolism of the settlement construction trumps the reality that the housing can be transferred to whoever is deemed to control that land after final status negotiations are carried out. Some argue that this changes the demographics, but that ignores that what the Palestinians demand is nothing less than the ethnic cleansing of areas that they seek control of all Jews (Israelis).
Gaza was going to end up in Palestinian hands no matter what - and they got it in 2005, and the result has been a disaster for Israeli communities within rocket range. Israel left housing and infrastructure intact, which promptly got damaged and destroyed by Gazans who turned them into terror training and rocket firing facilities. Most Israelis realize that land for peace isn't peace when the party you're supposed to be transferring the land to doesn't want it for any purpose other than engaging in the ongoing war against Israel's existence.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
US Indicates Misguided Need To Stop Israeli Housing Construction For Sake of Peace Process
The continuing inanity of focusing solely on the construction of Israeli housing again shows the power of images. Building houses is a powerful image and one that Palestinians claim thwarts any attempt at a peace process.
It's all so much nonsense when anyone with a functioning neuron would note that Israel has evacuated housing and communities twice in the name of peace - in Sinai as part of the 1979 Camp David Accords, and then unilaterally in 2005 when Israel left Gaza.
Has no one in the diplomatic corps ever bought or sold real property? Apparently not from the way that the diplomats are howling over Israel's plans to build more housing, even as it would mean new and improved infrastructure should those communities be deemed for transfer to the Palestinians as part of a final status negotiation.
Housing isn't the impediment to peace; terrorist groups that are the representatives of the Palestinian people are. Hamas and Fatah have no interest in ending their war against Israel. Neither group is willing to change their founding charters to eliminate their calls to annihilate Israel. Neither is willing to stop the incitement to violence that is a regular occurrence in mosques on Fridays (and which directly leads to violent encounters such as those outside the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem the past several Fridays).
Secretary of State Clinton and other US officials keep talking about confidence building measures and how Israel needs to take actions such as stopping construction projects for housing without noting that there are no measures being demanded of the Palestinians.
Where are the calls for the release of Gilad Shalit from the clutches of Hamas in Gaza? Where are the calls to demand that incitement to violence in mosques be put to an end (even though those calls to incitement were to be ended under Oslo 17 years ago)?
Once again, the US and the rest of the world is content to pressure Israel to stop actions that they think provokes Palestinians to violence, all while ignoring that the Palestinians are provoked merely by Israel's existence. That's the anathema to Palestinians and they aren't going to stop their violence and jihad until Israel ceases to exist - peace process or not.
A Palestinian source said Saturday that the US's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, promised to provide Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with guarantees that Israel would rescind its plan to construct new housing units in east Jerusalem.At the same time Secretary of State Clinton is busy saying that Israeli moves to announcing the construction of housing was insulting.
The official told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi that Mitchell made the promise because Abbas refused to accept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's apology for declaring the approval of 1,600 new units during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region.
Abbas demanded guarantees after Mitchell pressed him to accept the apology as a withdrawal of the construction plan.
According to the source, Mitchell vowed that Israel would halt settlement construction during indirect negotiations with the Palestinians.
He said the special envoy was likely to present the guarantee during his visit to the region next week, in which he is also expected to announce the launching of indirect negotiations between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
It's all so much nonsense when anyone with a functioning neuron would note that Israel has evacuated housing and communities twice in the name of peace - in Sinai as part of the 1979 Camp David Accords, and then unilaterally in 2005 when Israel left Gaza.
Has no one in the diplomatic corps ever bought or sold real property? Apparently not from the way that the diplomats are howling over Israel's plans to build more housing, even as it would mean new and improved infrastructure should those communities be deemed for transfer to the Palestinians as part of a final status negotiation.
Housing isn't the impediment to peace; terrorist groups that are the representatives of the Palestinian people are. Hamas and Fatah have no interest in ending their war against Israel. Neither group is willing to change their founding charters to eliminate their calls to annihilate Israel. Neither is willing to stop the incitement to violence that is a regular occurrence in mosques on Fridays (and which directly leads to violent encounters such as those outside the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem the past several Fridays).
Secretary of State Clinton and other US officials keep talking about confidence building measures and how Israel needs to take actions such as stopping construction projects for housing without noting that there are no measures being demanded of the Palestinians.
Where are the calls for the release of Gilad Shalit from the clutches of Hamas in Gaza? Where are the calls to demand that incitement to violence in mosques be put to an end (even though those calls to incitement were to be ended under Oslo 17 years ago)?
Once again, the US and the rest of the world is content to pressure Israel to stop actions that they think provokes Palestinians to violence, all while ignoring that the Palestinians are provoked merely by Israel's existence. That's the anathema to Palestinians and they aren't going to stop their violence and jihad until Israel ceases to exist - peace process or not.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Words and Deeds
The diplomats keep doing what they've always done - substituting their reality for the facts on the ground. The Obama Administration is readying yet another attempt to resuscitate a peace process that the Palestinians have repeatedly shown no interest in.
That's despite the fact that Gazan terrorists fired 10 mortars into Israel today, the largest such display in months. These particular terrorists claimed to be members of the PRC, which is a Fatah offshoot. It's comprised of current and former Fatah terrorists and members of the Fatah offshoot al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade.
So what is considered a nail in the coffin of the peace process? Not the terror attack, but the decision by Israel to build housing. Once again, history has repeatedly shown Israel's willingness to uproot its citizens from communities it built on territories it returned to Egypt (Sinai as part of the Camp David Accords) and then to the Palestinians (Gaza as part of the 2005 disengagement). If Israel had a true partner in peace, the construction of housing would not be an impediment to peace as the housing could be transferred guaranteeing infrastructure and housing to Palestinians who could use modern housing as the refugee camps are phased out. Of course, the Palestinian leaders have no intention of ever eliminating the refugee camps since it provides a ready and willing group of people who are willing to sacrifice themselves and their children in the unending cause of seeking Israel's destruction.
In a flurry of meetings in Washington and in European capitals this week and next, senior administration officials will explore new approaches to bringing the two sides together.The efforts consist of still more talking.
The new track would include preparing letters for Israeli and Palestinian leaders that would lay out the endgame and guarantee US support for a negotiated end to the conflict.
That's despite the fact that Gazan terrorists fired 10 mortars into Israel today, the largest such display in months. These particular terrorists claimed to be members of the PRC, which is a Fatah offshoot. It's comprised of current and former Fatah terrorists and members of the Fatah offshoot al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade.
So what is considered a nail in the coffin of the peace process? Not the terror attack, but the decision by Israel to build housing. Once again, history has repeatedly shown Israel's willingness to uproot its citizens from communities it built on territories it returned to Egypt (Sinai as part of the Camp David Accords) and then to the Palestinians (Gaza as part of the 2005 disengagement). If Israel had a true partner in peace, the construction of housing would not be an impediment to peace as the housing could be transferred guaranteeing infrastructure and housing to Palestinians who could use modern housing as the refugee camps are phased out. Of course, the Palestinian leaders have no intention of ever eliminating the refugee camps since it provides a ready and willing group of people who are willing to sacrifice themselves and their children in the unending cause of seeking Israel's destruction.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Abbas Wants Nothing To Do With Another Term As PA Chief
During the past week, there were reports that Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority President, did not want to run for reelection and would not seek another term. Media reports flailed about wondering what it would mean for President Obama's peace process plans and the Palestinian-Israeli relations.
All of these reports gloss over inescapable facts. Abbas was never in a position to make a peace deal with Israel because the Palestinians themselves are split between Hamas who is on the record as never accepting a two-state solution and which refuses to recognize Israel's existence and Fatah, which seeks to impose a one-state solution and is willing to destroy Israel through the thousands of papercuts of diplomatic maneuverings to force concessions from Israel without making any in return.
Moreover, this is little more than a plot to attempt to gain still more concessions from Israel - threatening the very peace process that Abbas has done nothing to advance - to gain an advantage against Israel. Abbas got President Obama to make Abbas "reconsider" his choice of not to run for office by saying that Obama would recommit to a peace process - and recent statements by the Obama Administration point to further pressure on Israel to force concessions. Other nations are pursuing a similar course of action as they are hoping to get Abbas to reconsider.
Palestinians have done nothing to advance the cause of peace with Israel; Israel has withdrawn from Gaza unilaterally, and Gazans turned the region into an armed camp from which to launch thousands of rockets and engage in war crimes in the process.
In sum, this is little more than yet another ploy by Palestinian leaders to gain concessions against Israel without having to give anything up in return. Israel would be wise to be wary to any such machinations. Moreover, who exactly is set to run for Palestinian Authority President? Is anyone going to be in a position to sign a two-state peace deal?
The answer to that question is no.
There are no Palestinian leaders who are going to sign such a deal because it would be a death warrant because of generations of Palestinians being taught and indoctrinated into accepting nothing less than Israel's destruction. They are unwilling to unlearn those lessons - to accept a two-state solution with Israel's existence alongside a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinians don't just lament the lack of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, but in all of Israel. Maps produced by the PA and much of the Arab world pointedly omit Israel altogether.
Moreover, Fatah isn't exactly in a position to sign a deal when Fatah doesn't speak for all of the Palestinians and doesn't exert control over Gaza at all. Hamas runs Gaza with an iron fist and its war against Israel is not going to end until either Hamas or Israel is destroyed; Hamas sees the conflict in religious and theological terms - jihad. They aren't alone either as Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda, and other terrorist spinoffs all seek to destroy Israel and use Gaza as a launching pad for their ongoing war against Israel.
All of these reports gloss over inescapable facts. Abbas was never in a position to make a peace deal with Israel because the Palestinians themselves are split between Hamas who is on the record as never accepting a two-state solution and which refuses to recognize Israel's existence and Fatah, which seeks to impose a one-state solution and is willing to destroy Israel through the thousands of papercuts of diplomatic maneuverings to force concessions from Israel without making any in return.
Moreover, this is little more than a plot to attempt to gain still more concessions from Israel - threatening the very peace process that Abbas has done nothing to advance - to gain an advantage against Israel. Abbas got President Obama to make Abbas "reconsider" his choice of not to run for office by saying that Obama would recommit to a peace process - and recent statements by the Obama Administration point to further pressure on Israel to force concessions. Other nations are pursuing a similar course of action as they are hoping to get Abbas to reconsider.
Palestinians have done nothing to advance the cause of peace with Israel; Israel has withdrawn from Gaza unilaterally, and Gazans turned the region into an armed camp from which to launch thousands of rockets and engage in war crimes in the process.
In sum, this is little more than yet another ploy by Palestinian leaders to gain concessions against Israel without having to give anything up in return. Israel would be wise to be wary to any such machinations. Moreover, who exactly is set to run for Palestinian Authority President? Is anyone going to be in a position to sign a two-state peace deal?
The answer to that question is no.
There are no Palestinian leaders who are going to sign such a deal because it would be a death warrant because of generations of Palestinians being taught and indoctrinated into accepting nothing less than Israel's destruction. They are unwilling to unlearn those lessons - to accept a two-state solution with Israel's existence alongside a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinians don't just lament the lack of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, but in all of Israel. Maps produced by the PA and much of the Arab world pointedly omit Israel altogether.
Moreover, Fatah isn't exactly in a position to sign a deal when Fatah doesn't speak for all of the Palestinians and doesn't exert control over Gaza at all. Hamas runs Gaza with an iron fist and its war against Israel is not going to end until either Hamas or Israel is destroyed; Hamas sees the conflict in religious and theological terms - jihad. They aren't alone either as Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda, and other terrorist spinoffs all seek to destroy Israel and use Gaza as a launching pad for their ongoing war against Israel.
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