The Palestinian Authority wants the return of all Palestinian refugees for Israel’s 60th anniversary. I say that’s a great idea, provided you also extend the return call to the Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim lands since the founding of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air.

The plan, drawn by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and Deputy Minister for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, states that the Palestinians have decided to implement United Nations Resolution 194 regarding the refugees.

Article 11 of the resolution, which was passed in December 1948, says that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”

The initiative is the first of its kind and is clearly aimed at embarrassing Israel during the anniversary celebrations by highlighting the issue of the “right of return” for the refugees.

Entitled “The Initiative of Return and Coexistence,” the plan suggests that the PA has abandoned a two-state solution in favor of one state where all Arabs and Jews would live together.

“The Palestinians, backed by all those who believe in peace, coexistence, human rights and the UN resolutions, shall recruit all their energies and efforts to return to their homeland and live with the Jews in peace and security,” the plan says.

Yeah, sure. I believe that. Of course.

However, since half of Israel’s current population is made up of refugees from the Arab and Muslim nations and their descendants, and I doubt their countries of origin want them back, let’s just call it even-steven. No Palestinians need apply.

Res ipso loquitur. It’s a done deal.

Go listen.

Michael Goldfarb was recently in Israel, among his observations:

The land for peace paradigm is dead. It didn’t work. The Israelis gave up southern Lebanon and got a war with Hezbollah. They gave up Gaza and they now have a hot war in the south with rockets hitting Sderot daily. There is no chance that the Israelis give up the West Bank only to see the same thing happen, especially given the West Bank’s proximity to the economic heart of Israel. Which only further contributes to the paralysis–the old paradigm is dead, but nothing has yet developed to take its place. Even the country’s peaceniks are horrified by the turn of events in Gaza–they are no longer pushing for a similar withdrawal from the West Bank.

The people we spoke with painted a very bleak picture, and yet life goes on in Israel. The economy is booming, the bars and clubs are full, and the country, outside of Sderot at least, is enjoying something resembling peace. We drove around the West Bank and saw almost no evidence of violence. The security fence has had the desired effect, and despite all the talk about checkpoints and their impact on the daily lives of Palestinians, we moved relatively freely from one end of the territory to the other. I was also struck by how empty the West Bank is. Despite the attachment some settlers have to the land, most Israelis seem willing to cede the area in exchange for peace. That just isn’t possible given the current fractures in the Palestinian body politic.

Yet Ha’aretz goes on promoting more active American involvement (even pressure on Israel) in the “peace process.”

The senior official saw fit to explain that when it comes to the peace process, Bush does not intend to behave like a lame duck. We can hope that he will follow in the footsteps of the three presidents who preceded him: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who did not end their involvement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict even after the American people had elected their successors. Pressure to put an end to the bloodshed and guarantee the Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic country is welcome pressure.

Yes, that involvement from President Clinton really helped matters didn’t it?

I think that his comment really hit much closer to the mark though.

If the Palestinian extremists were only willing to throw stones and tear down the occasional structure, then I am sure that more Israelis would be willing to negotiate with Hamas. Until that time, Palestinian extremism will be a much more significant obstacle to peace.

If Israel thought that ceding land was safe there’d be peace. No amount of American involvement though, is going to move the peace process forward unless there’s a significant change of heart from the Palestinians. Ha’aretz, though, is only capable of blaming Israel first and not of any measure of critical thought.

Crossposted on SoccerDad.

History is being made in Israel with Angela Merkel’s visit. On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli time, she’ll address the Israeli govenment. She’s already visited Yad Vashem and other sites. A few MK’s are boycotting her speech.

However, not everyone at the Knesset is interested in hearing a German-language speech at Israel’s parliament. One of them is MK Arieh Eldad (National Union-NRP.) Fellow party member Yitzhak Levy also told Ynet that he will not be entering the plenum to begin with.

“It is very very difficult to hear the German language at the Knesset. We want to remind people that even though Germany certainly displays friendship towards Israel these days, we still remember what happened,” he said. “I do not want to come in and then leave, because there is no reason to hurt her personally. Therefore, I won’t come in at all.”

Likud Knesset Member Yisrael Katz said he also intends to stay away from the special session.

“I have no intention to take part in an event in the presence of German figures in light of their responsibility for the massacre of the Jewish people,” he said. “I do not intend to forgive or forget. I do not take part in any ceremony that includes the participation of a German figure.”

Another Likud MK, Limor Livnat, will also stay away from the Knesset.

One MK is a Holocaust survivor, who isn’t boycotting:

“It does not bother me at all that Merkel chose to deliver her speech in German,” Marom Shalev said. She added that she will not be present at the Knesset because of previous obligations, but said that the objection to a German-language speech is “no more than populism.”

I think that the MK’s who are boycotting are missing the real point: Angela Merkel represents the current incarnation of the nation that Hitler tried, in every way possible, to use to eliminate the Jews. He’s long since turned to ash and dust.

We’re still here.

And we have a nation.

If Hitler were in a grave, he’d be setting the record for most number of spins in a single week.

One other note: The enemy isn’t in Germany. It’s right next door, with the Holocaust-denying heirs of the Nazis in the Arab and Muslim world. Perhaps the MK’s should stop pissing around boycotting Angela Merkel’s speech, and instead, work on the current leadership to stop kowtowing to the terrorists. That would be a much more worthwhile project.