Jonathan Tobin has a compare-and-contrast analysis of Mahmoud Abbas’ speech, followed by Bibi Netanyahu’s. In a nutshell: Abbas lied, Palestine died. You can hear (or read) for yourself.
A year ago, at this same time, distinguished leaders in this hall addressed the stalled peace efforts in our region. Everyone had high hopes for a new round of final status negotiations, which had begun in early September in Washington under the direct auspices of President Barack Obama and with participation of the Quartet, and with Egyptian and Jordanian participation, to reach a peace agreement within one year. We entered those negotiations with open hearts and attentive ears and sincere intentions, and we were ready with our documents, papers and proposals. But the negotiations broke down just weeks after their launch.
And why did they break down? Because Abbas withdrew from talks after insisting he would not negotiate with Israel without a full settlement freeze in all of the West Bank and Jerusalem. So much for the open hearts.
After this, we did not give up and did not cease our efforts for initiatives and contacts. Over the past year we did not leave a door to be knocked or channel to be tested or path to be taken and we did not ignore any formal or informal party of influence and stature to be addressed. We positively considered the various ideas and proposals and initiatives presented from many countries and parties. But all of these sincere efforts and endeavors undertaken by international parties were repeatedly wrecked by the positions of the Israeli government, which quickly dashed the hopes raised by the launch of negotiations last September.
The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.
Ah. Here we go. Whine, whine, whine, settlements, whine, whine. And yet, here is the biggest lie of all: Palestinian unity.
When division struck the unity of our homeland, people and institutions, we were determined to adopt dialogue for restoration of our unity. We succeeded months ago in achieving national reconciliation and we hope that its implementation will be accelerated in the coming weeks. The core pillar of this reconciliation was to turn to the people through legislative and presidential elections within a year, because the State we want will be a State characterized by the rule of law, democratic exercise and protection of the freedoms and equality of all citizens without any discrimination and the transfer of power through the ballot box.
Really, I’m surprised his nose didn’t grow sixty or seventy inches while giving this speech, as there is almost no truth whatsoever in it. Even the AP noticed something was off.
The speech papered over any Palestinian culpability for the negotiations stalemate, deadly violence against Israel, spurned peace offers and the internal rift that has produced dueling governments in the West Bank and Gaza. It also ignored Jewish links to the Holy Land.
That’s an astonishing admission of guilt for the AP. Don’t count on that graf staying that way for long.
And so, Palestine Day at the UN is now concluded. If you need a palate cleanser, here’s Bibi’s speech.
