So Mahmoud Abbas and co. are appealing to the Israeli people directly.
Along Route 2, which follows the Mediterranean coastline, motorists are seeing an unusual sight: a Palestinian flag next to an Israeli one.
Below the image appearing on billboards is a message in Hebrew: There’s a viable peace initiative on offer from Arab states. Reach a land-for-peace deal with Palestinians, and we will recognize you. The signature? The flags of 57 Arab and Muslim states – all except Iran.
The unprecedented ad campaign is the initiative of none other than the Palestinian Authority (PA). Late last month, the PA also ran full-page ads with the same message in Israeli papers.
The reporter notes the irony:
The campaign represents an interesting role reversal. A decade ago, it was the Israeli government that was trying to sell its own skeptical electorate on peace, while the late Yasser Arafat had trouble getting Hamas and other rejectionist groups to sign on to the Oslo deal that he had reached with Israel five years earlier.
The truth is, I don’t know how ironic it really is. When the Israeli government was trying to sell the peace process, the Palestinians, under Yasser Arafat were actively engaged in terror against Israel. Things have changed a little and Yasser Arafat is dead, but his successor Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t advocate terror the way his mentor did. However that hardly means that his actions are those of someone who is promoting peace and reconciliation.
Abbas, for example, made a point of meeting with and honoring terrorist, Samir Kuntar on his release from prison.
So what did Abbas do in Beirut? Well, we know one thing he did. He met with the demonic Samir Kuntar, one of the terrorists released to Hezbollah in exchange for the bones of kidnapped Eldad Regev and Ehud Godlwasser. Recall only one of his crimes: Kuntar is the luminary who smashed the skull of a 4-year-old girl while also murdering her father. He was welcomed by hundreds of thousands of cheering Beirutis, not an inaccurate picture of the gruesome politics now overwhelming the Arab world.
In a number of ways Abbas’s PA still denies Israel’s right to exist in its media
The denial of Israel’s right to exist has been repeated unabatedly in the PA – Abbas controlled – media, even since the Annapolis Conference one year ago. In contrast to Abbas’ pledge at Annapolis to promote co-existence, the message emanating from the PA to its public on educational documentaries, children’s programs and music videos is that all of Israel is “Palestine”.
It is unlikely that children who are brought up with this conceptual framework will ever recognize Israel as a legitimate state and neighbor.
and in its maps
Once again, we see that the definition of “Palestine”, according to “Palestinians,” is whatever territory Israel happens to control at that point in time. It has nothing to do with age-old conflict nor does it have anything to do with historical facts – the desire for a Palestinian Arab state is simply the desire to destroy the Jewish state. Otherwise, they would be pining for much of Jordan.
The Palestinian Arabs have not the least compunction about publicly declaring their desire to see Israel destroyed, using huge signs, in full view of tens of thousands of people. (This is not even mentioning the Fatah logo, the maps shown in schools, and so on, which all echo the same desire to annihilate Israel.)
In reality little has changed. The Palestinian leadership will make noises about wanting peace but its actions will show its true intent. It used to be that the Palestinians would tell the world how much they wanted peace, now they’ve changed their audience. Even though Netanyahu ceded Chevron when he was Prime Minister last time, Abbas and company have portray him as being “anti-peace.” The one thing Netanyahu did was to insist – though the Clinton administration regularly undercut him – that the Palestinians abide by their signed agreements. Apparently though that’s the equivalent of being against “peace.”
If Abbas really wants to convince Israelis of his commitment to peace here are some low cost actions he could take:
1) Petition the International Committee of the Red Cross to allow the Magen David Adom to be an internationally recognized symbol.
2) Prevail on the Arab League to stop condemning Israel in the UN and other international fora.
3) Push to cancel the Durban II conference or at least to have it focus on real racism instead of Zionism.
4) Actually change the Palestinian Charter to come into compliance with the terms of Oslo – and publish the new Charter.
5) Change the textbooks to include Israel and acknowledge Israel’s existence.
6) Do the same in the publicly supported art.
7) Stop trying to reconcile with Hamas.
8) Stop demanding the release of violent terrorists.
I figure I’ve probably left off a few other. I’m open to suggestions. But if Abbas did all these things, I suspect he’d convince a lot more Israelis of his good intentions than by some lame advertising campaign.
Of course he won’t. Palestinian nationalism isn’t about reconciliation with Israel, but about perpetuating a grievance.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.