Mahmoud Abbas has dropped the other shoe. He says the Palestinians want Israel to accede to all of their demands. And then maybe—maybe—the Palestinians might do something in return.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
[…] Abbas’ comments appeared to set the stage for tough negotiations, which are expected to include complicated arrangements such as land swaps and shared control over holy sites. Israel is seeking to retain parts of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
In a television interview, Abbas said the Palestinians want to establish a state on 6,205 square kilometers (2,400 square miles) of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was the first time he has given a precise number for the amount of land he is seeking.
“We have 6,205 square kilometers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas told Palestine TV. “We want it as it is.”
So, to be sure here, the “negotiations” are beginning with the exact same demands the Palestinians have been making since 1967, in spite of the fact that it’s obvious Israel will never accept the demands, in Abbas-speak, “as is.”
According to Palestinian negotiating documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Palestinian demands include all of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, east Jerusalem and small areas along the West Bank frontier that were considered no man’s land before the 1967 war.
Abbas said his claim is backed by U.N. resolutions. “This is our vision for the Palestinian independent state with full sovereignty on its borders, water and resources.”
Here’s the interesting thing about that tough public stance: It doesn’t appear to be what’s happening in private.
Despite Abbas’ tough public stance, aides to Abbas said he has agreed in recent talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to exchange West Bank land Israel wants to keep in a final peace deal with an equal amount of Israeli land. This would allow Israel to annex the West Bank area where the settlement blocs are located.
But I don’t see how it can be anything but counter-productive. We’ve had sixty years of Arab leaders telling their people that they can have it all where Israel is concerned, and we’ve also had sixty years of Arab refusal to make peace with Israel. That is not a coincidence. And now, the people have been so poisoned by the constant statements that Israel will be destroyed; by the incitement on Arab television and radio and the rest of the media; by the biased textbooks they raise their children on that if Mahmoud Abbas genuinely does come to some kind of agreement with Israel, it will be shouted down by the Palestinian populace, by the terrorist groups, and by the Arab and Muslim world that has been raised at its mother’s teat to believe that someday, Israel will be destroyed and the ummah will once more be triumphant.
In the meantime, Israel is making even more gestures to the Palestinians:
In a a new confidence-building gesture to Abbas, Israel agreed Wednesday to grant residency permits to thousands of Palestinians who have been living illegally in the West Bank on expired visitors’ visas.
And the Palestinians are doing what they have always done in response: Try to murder Israelis.
I hold out zero hope for this conference. I am wondering, though, what is going to be unleashed after it fails. I’m wondering if the terrorist groups (including Hezbollah) are awaiting orders from Iran to start Intifada 3, this time with new, improved rockets. I’m wondering if that’s what all the veiled threats mean. And of course, statements like this, which apportion full blame for the failure of peace talks on Israel, give me the reasons why I have no confidence in the “negotiations.”
These talks are as much of a set-up, and will be as much of a failure, as the peace talks that Clinton bum-rushed into during the last days of his presidency. But will they lead to more bloodshed?
The cynic in me says yes. After all, you just have to pay attention to what they’re saying in Arabic to hear the real Palestinian intent.