Israel Caves In - Announces 10 Month 'Settlement' Freeze

Israel's Security cabinet voted to approve a 10 month 'settlement freeze' on building in Judea and Samaria ( AKA the West bank)as a peace offering to try and get negotiations between Israel and Fatah started:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced a ten-month settlement freeze at a Jerusalem press conference on Wednesday evening after the security cabinet approved the plan, and said the move was a "far-reaching and painful step."

"We authorize it from a deep desire to move forward toward peace," he said, adding that Israel hoped it would lead to "meaningful negotiations" toward a "historic peace agreement" with the Palestinians." {...}

The plan, which applies only to the West Bank and does not include Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, will now go to the full cabinet on Sunday for final approval.

This is a monumentally stupid decision and a major mistake.

For starters, as the Palestinians,even supposed 'moderates like Abbas and PM Selim Fayad have made clear again and again,there are no 'negotiations' to be had in the way normal people understand the word - only capitulation to their demands. Unless Israel retreats to indefensible borders, uproots half a million Jews from their homes, turns the area of Judea and Samaria over to Fatah including half of Jerusalem and allows the rest of Israel to be flooded with genocidal Arab 'refugees', there is no deal. That is the Saudi Peace Ultimatum in a nutshell,and both Fatah and the other members of the Arab League are committed to accept nothing less.

Since Israel is unlikely to commit national suicide by agreeing to these terms, there's simply nothing to negotiate.

Secondly, because this goodwill gesture does not include Jerusalem,the Palestinians have already refused to accept it as an opening to talks:

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, announced that the Palestinians rejected the plan because it did not include Jerusalem.

"For the Palestinians and Arabs, Jerusalem is a red line that can't be crossed," Abu Rudaineh said. "We can't accept any settlement construction freeze that does not include Jerusalem."

Abu Rudaineh said that the Palestinians would resume peace talks with Israel only after Israel freezes construction work in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

You see, the Arabs are not even willing take a gift unless it's exactly in accord with all their demands!

And finally, this is a huge mistake because it legitimizes the racist idea that Israel should reject out of hand - that there are areas where Jews aren't allowed to live or build homes simply because they're Jews. And it puts a transitory label of 'settlements' on communities that have existed for over forty years, and in many cases even longer. It signals that the Jews are so desperate for terms that they would sacrifice their fellow citizens and their own national interests.

In view of the Arab non-response and lack of even basic courtesy, I would hope that Netanyahu would withdraw this offer, or at the very least that the full Israeli cabinet vetoes this out of hand.

Down on your knees is not a successful negotiating position, and especially not in the Middle East. I would have thought the Israelis understood that by now.