It’s kind of funny. The New York Times reports, Abbas says talks with Israel will continue:
After two days of difficult peace negotiations with Israel over the issue of Jewish settlements, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, sounded a modestly positive note on Thursday, declaring that he saw no alternative but to keep talking.
(An aside: Is that orange pants suit for real? It does not flatter her.)
But of course:
There were indications of growing support, by both the United States and Egypt, for an option that would extend the moratorium for three months, during which the two sides would try to resolve their differences over border issues — a step that would help defuse the settlement dispute, because it would be easier to determine the sites for future building.
In an interview with Channel 10, an Israeli television station, Mrs. Clinton said, “Where we sit now it would be useful for some extension, it would be extremely useful, and I don’t think a limited extension would undermine the process going forward if there were a decision agreed to by both parties that, ‘Look, this is it, this is our last effort to try to do this.’ â€
Of course for there to be peace we need Israeli concessions.
The Washington Post doesn’t put such a rosy spin on things and reports, No sign impasse is resolved as Clinton ends Mideast trip:
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday wrapped up three days of intense Middle East diplomacy that produced good atmospherics but no sign that an impasse over Israeli settlement construction has been resolved.
So the Post didn’t even wait to bring up Israeli “settlements.”
Of course neither the NYT nor the WaPo mention what Israel needs from the Palestinians. What Israel needs is curiously missing from both articles. Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum fills in the missing requirements.
The Jews have been brought back into history through the establishment of the State of Israel. This was accomplished with the aid of international institutions which recognized the justice and importance of Jewish national self-determination. These institutions accepted the validity of Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jews. Today, those who deny the Jewish right to national self-determination, more than 60 years after the founding of Israel, engage in a new kind of anti-Semitism, one that calls for the elimination of a state created by the United Nations.
This cannot stand. The circumstances that led the international community to support the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state (the Arab state did not come into existence because the Arabs made war on Israel and took over the territories allotted to the Palestinians) still obtain today. The international community thus has an obligation not only to work for peace and a two-state solution, but also to stand by its previous decisions and stop the campaign to delegitimize Israel as the nation-state of the Jews.
So while the United States coddles the Palestinian Authority making “settlements” the focus of “confidence building gestures” (CBM) and CBM’s the focus of the peace process, it ignores Israel’s valid historical and legal claims.
This leads to situations where the near continuous Jewish presence in Chevron for over 2000 years is ignored.
And since nothing is demanded of the Palestinians, they offer nothing in return.
PA TV broadcast a Palestinian dance group performing and singing about conquering Israel through war. The song describes Israelis as “despicable” and an “invading enemy” and declares that “the Palestinian revolution awaits [them].” Israeli cities Lod and Ramle as well as Jerusalem are presented as Palestinian cities to be liberated through “Jihad” by Palestinians who have “replaced bracelets with weapons.” The song then calls to: “Pull the trigger.”
At some point this imbalance needs to be addressed. At some point the people who believe:
The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.
must come to terms with the Jewish state. And that won’t happen unless this silly obsession with “settlements” ends and the Jewish historical and legal rights to the land of Israel are acknowledged.
Credit for the image: Elder of Ziyon.
See previous editions: the original, part ii, part iii, part iv and part v.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
