In the past Israel gave up tangible things (territory) for intangible things i.e. promises of peace (which could be revoked at any time). By making the talks revolve around a final peace and not interim agreements, essentially the Palestinians have to show their hand. Unfortunately that hand is still one of maximalist demands which would ultimately lead to the destruction of Israel. By Abbas’s refusing to back down on “the right of return” of millions of hate filled Muslims and refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, the talks are destined to fail.
by Charles Krauthammer
The prospects are dim but the process is right. The Obama administration is to be commended for structuring the latest rounds of Middle East talks correctly. Finally, we’re leaving behind interim agreements, of which the most lamentable were the Oslo accords of 1993.
The logic then was that issues so complicated could only be addressed step by step in the expectation that things get easier over time. In fact, they got harder. Israel made concrete concessions — bringing in Yasser Arafat to run the West Bank and Gaza — in return for which Israel received growing threats, continuous incitement and finally a full-scale terror war that killed more than a thousand innocent Israelis.
Among the victims was the Israeli peace movement and its illusions about Palestinian acceptance of Israel. The Israeli left, mugged by reality, is now moribund. And the Israeli right is chastened. No serious player believes it can hang on forever to the West Bank.
This has created a unique phenomenon in Israel — a broad-based national consensus for giving nearly all the West Bank in return for peace. The moment is doubly unique because the only man who can deliver such a deal is Likud Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu — and he is prepared to do it.
[….]
A final peace was there to be had. It remains on the table today. Unfortunately, there’s no more sign today of a Palestinian desire for final peace than there was at Camp David. Even if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants such an agreement (doubtful but possible), he simply doesn’t have the authority. To accept a Jewish state, Abbas needs some kind of national consensus behind him. He doesn’t even have a partial consensus. Hamas, which exists to destroy Israel, controls part of Palestine (Gaza) and is a powerful rival to Abbas’s Fatah even in his home territory of the West Bank.
Indeed, this week Abbas flatly told al-Quds, the leading Palestinian newspaper, “We won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state.” Nice way to get things off on the right foot.
Read the rest: Your move Mr. Abbas
****sep 11 ‘where were you when it happened’ thread is saturday morning 0800-1200, we will collect and share some memories…write your story for everyone****
please return to your regularly scheduled thread.
Tags: Charles Krauthammer
