Israel Matzav

Reactions to the 'Palestinian' 'unity government'

MEMRI translated highlights of the 'Palestinian' 'unity government' platform from the 'Palestinian' daily al-Ayyam.

a) The government undertakes to preserve the interests, rights, and achievements of the Palestinian people, and to act to implement its national goals as they appear in the Palestinian National Council, the Basic Law, the national agreement documents, and the decisions of the Arab summit conferences. On this basis, the government will honor the U.N. resolutions and the agreements signed by the PLO.

b) The government will oppose a state with temporary borders.

c) The government adheres to the right of the refugees and their right to return to their land and property.

d) The government will stand up to measures by the occupation, such as "liquidations," arrests, and the policy in Jerusalem towards the lands, the Palestinian people, and the holy sites.

e) Peace and stability are conditional upon the end of the forms of the occupation, the removal of the fence and the settlements, and a halt to the "Judaization of Jerusalem and the policy of annexation."

f) Resistance is the legitimate right of the Palestinian people, and it has the right to defend itself in the face of the Israeli "aggression." Ending the resistance is conditional upon ending the occupation and actualizing freedom, return [of the refugees], and independence.

g) Nevertheless, the government will act to establish tahdiya (calm), and to expand it, such that it will be comprehensive and mutual, in exchange for an Israeli commitment to stopping the measures of the occupation: "liquidations," arrests, destruction of homes, stripping of lands, excavations in Jerusalem, and the removal of roadblocks, the opening of crossings, the removal of traffic restrictions, and the release of prisoners.

h) Conducting negotiations is under the authority of the PLO and the president of the Palestinian Authority, based on the national Palestinian goals and their attainment.

i) Any fateful agreement will be submitted for the ratification of the new PNC, or will be put to a referendum before the Palestinians in the PA and in the diaspora.

j) The government will support and encourage hastening the end of the affair of the kidnapping of [Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit, in the framework of a respected deal of release of prisoners.

Note the items I have highlighted above. Honor UN resolutions and agreements but not accept them. The 'Palestinian' 'right of return' - the 'right' to demographically destroy the Jewish state. D, E and F, which testify to the 'Palestinians' continued expressed intent to resort to violence.
The removal of roadblocks to facilitate the violence. 'Ratification' of agreements by 'Palestinians' in the 'diaspora' and by the Hamas-dominated PNC ought to remove any illusion created by allowing 'moderate' 'Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen to handle 'negotiations.' An 'end to the affair' of Gilad Shalit, not with his release but 'a respected deal of release of prisoners. Not even an exchange. And note the stress on the 'Palestinians' honor.'

A wise Israeli government would treat this document as a declaration of war and use it to show the world that the 'Palestinians' are not interested in living in peace. We don't have a wise Israeli government. We have a government of dhimmis. Foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev mouthed the right words:

Unfortunately the new Palestinian government seems to have said no to the three benchmarks of the international community. Accordingly, Israel will not deal with this new government and we hope the international community will stand firmly by its own principles and refuse to deal with a government that says no to peace and no to reconciliation.

But the government is - amazingly - still going to deal with the Holocaust-denying Abu Mazen, whom it continues to characterize as a 'moderate' against all evidence to the contrary:

Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines [a candidate for the Labor party leadership in May. CiJ] said in response to the new agreement that Israel "can only hope that the establishment of a unity government will bring peace and calm to the Palestinian people." [Recall that Labor is part of the coalition. CiJ]

Still, he said, as long as the government continues not to recognize Israel, the only address for negotiations is Abbas.

According to Pines, Abbas "is the one on whom we can hang our hopes to bring [kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl.] Gilad Schalit home."

And there's that phenomenon I described this morning again. It would be nice to have Gilad Shalit home, but he is not should not be the ultimate goal of Israeli policy. And since unpopular Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert was too busy saying he would lead tonight to talk about the 'unity government,' I'll let his dhimmi friend Avigdor Lieberman talk for him:

Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) has consented to Hamas' desire to destroy us. We must therefore sever connections from him. I am familiar with the prime minister's stand on this and his views are different from mine.

Meanwhile, the Eurodhimmis are all over themselves trying to find ways to assist the new 'government':

... diplomats said the union was studying the option of funneling funds through a pro-reform official due to head its finance ministry as a first step towards restoring direct aid.

"Another possibility being studied is broadening an existing mechanism for delivering purely humanitarian relief to include direct payments to the Palestinian government," they said.

...

"One possibility is giving aid to the minister of finance. We think the EU will have to work selectively," said one EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

These conniptions occurred just one day after the 'Palestinian Authority' admitted that 'some' of the $100 million in 'tax revenues' that Israel released as aid money last month went to pay the Hamas militias.

The US view remains unchanged:

White House spokesman Tony Snow indicated Thursday that there would likely be no change in the US administration's refusal to deal with the Palestinian government unless its platform changed.

"Our position has been consistent, which is, you need a Palestinian government that is going to, in fact, abide by the Quartet conditions," Snow said, referring to the EU, US, United Nations and Russia.

But the US is not going to be more Catholic than the Pope, and if Israel continues to deal with Abu Mazen, the US will too.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:21 PM