US To Compromise Israel's Security For `Joint Declaration'

This gets worse and worse.

My pal Carl in Jerusalem has an astounding post on how Condi Rice and the US State Department are compromising Israel's security in exchange for hammering out a `joint declaration' between Israel and the Palestinians, based on a working draft leaked by Ha'aretz.

Not only does it formally mention a Palestinian State `with it's capitol in East Jerusalem' and an iron-clad deadline `within 8 months of the Annapolis meeting but not more than President Bush's term', it puts together a formula where Israel and the Palestinians will `jointly implement the Roadmap'...but the US will decide whether the parties are carrying out their respective ends!

Let's parse that again; if this goes through, the US State Department now has the right to decide whether or not the Palestinians and the Israelis are abiding by their commitments and how fast the `implementation of the Road Maps' will proceed. Or put another way, the Bush Administration is trying to eliminate Israel's right to decide for itself whether to trust the Palestinians and continue making diplomatic and security concessions or not.

And note the set-in-stone deadline, something the President had personally promised that Israel would not be subjected to.

Given that the Bush Administration still funds Fatah in spite of the fact that Abbas still has the terrorist al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade on his payroll, has never disarmed or put in jail a single terrorist and still continues a drumbeat of Jew hatred and incitement in its Fatah controlled media, mosques and schools, I don't place much stock in the Bush Administration's ability to put any pressure whatsoever on the Palestinians.

They've obviously decided to take sides, and that the easiest way to placate the Sunni Arab autocracies and make them `allies' is to sell out another ally and pressure Israel to make dangerous strategic concessions.

Peace in our time, indeed.