Since the photo-op in DC there have been a number of developments in Barack Obama's poorly written sitcom, otherwise known as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Let's recap briefly:
For months, the Palestinians have resisted any kind of direct talks. And why not? The aid money was pouring in thanks to Obama. And the way the indirect talks were structured, the Israelis were negotiating on their own with Barack Obama, his State Department, the Quartet, Obama's Arab-American envoy George Mitchell and the EU, all of whom were essentially on the same side representing the Palestinians.
As a carrot to the Palestinians, the Israelis agreed to a 10 month unilateral building freeze on all construction in Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank. All they insisted on was no pre-conditions for direct talks.
Mahmoud Abbas finally grudgingly agreed to direct talks with Netanyahu, and then promptly assured the Israelis that he was not about to make even a single concession to Israel, and making constant threats to walk out.
Netanyahu, for his part made a fairly concessionary speech, in line with his earlier one to the Knesset about accepting a Palestinian state provided the Palestinians accepted Israel as "the national state of the Jewish people" and that a strict security measures were instituted to prevent a repetition of what happened in Gaza and South Lebanon.
The response of the Palestinians? They will never accept Israel as a Jewish State. And ditto to any security arrangements that involve cooperation with the Israelis...which is tantamount to saying that no matter what Israel gives up, the war is going to continue.
In an unintended bit of related comedy,Egypt's foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit commented that "If the international community defines Israel as a Jewish state – such a decision should be approved by the UN."
I suppose he, like most of the Arab world, would like everyone to conveniently forget that the UN already made that decision - in 1948.
After Netanyahu left Washington, Obama hit him at a subsequent presser with something he'd likely worked out with Abbas beforehand. Since the talks were going so-oo well and Abbbas was being so reasonable and all, Obama called on Netanyahu to make that temporary building freeze..well, permanent.
Obama said he told Netanyahu that “it makes sense to extend that moratorium so long as the talks are moving in a constructive way.
“Because, ultimately, the way to solve these problems is for the two sides to agree what’s going to be Israel, what’s going to be the state of Palestine. And if you can get that agreement, then you can start constructing anything that the people of Israel see fit in undisputed areas.”
Except Obama isn't asking the Palestinians not to build in disputed areas, or to make any other concessions, is he?
The Israeli response was delayed until after the holidays, but when it came it was pretty straight forward and unequivocal. The way the Israelis see it, they already made one huge unilateral concession in approving a temporary building freeze in their own country just to get Abbas to the table. They're not going to make another one to keep him there, especially given his attitude.
The freeze is going to expire September 26th. What will likely happen is that the Israelis will do a moderate amount of building in Jerusalem and other areas like Ariel and Gush Etzion that Israel has no plans of reliquishing in any peace settlement anyway, but will avoid building in outlying areas.
They're silly if they do so.
As I've pointed out before, the entire Palestinian ethos is based on the idea that someday, the jihad against the Jews will be successful. There are a great many reasons why the status quo suits the Palestinians just fine.
What they're really shooting for is to abandon the talks at the first opportunity and try to make it look like Israel's fault. Given the current state of the UN and who's in the White House, that probably won't take much effort on their part.
The Palestinian plan, I think, is to get the UN to pass a resolution recognizing the Palestinian occupied areas of Judea and Samaria an independent state within the next two years...which Obama will make sure the US doesn't veto, in spite of what the Road Map says and the guarantees to Israel contained in it. That way, Abbas and the other Fatah mafiosos get their fiefdom without giving up anything at all..including the right to continue the 'struggle' using the army we've had General Keith Dayton building for them at the cost of millions of of American tax dollars.
please donate...it helps me write more gooder!
The two headed snake,I like that.
ReplyDelete