Israel Matzav

EU joins 'Palestinian' threats on Annapolis

Last Wednesday, the 'good terrorists' of Fatah threatened a 'new intifadeh' if they don't get what they want at the Annapolis conference. And on Saturday, they threatened to stay home unless the 'agenda' for their gifts is worked out in advance. Now, the European Union is joining in those threats under the mantra that 'failure' is not an option.

A failure to advance the peace process at next month's conference in Annapolis could trigger worse violence than the second intifada that followed the failed Camp David talks in 2000, Neville Chamberlain Marc Otte, the EU's Special Representative to the Middle East Process, said Monday.

"The cost of failure is even bigger then in 2000," Otte told reporters in Brussels.

There were many more destabilizing elements in the Middle East now than there were seven years ago, he said.

Among those he listed were the threat of a nuclear Iran, the danger that Iraq would split, the strengthening of Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Hamas takeover of Gaza.

Otte said he agreed with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she cited a favorite quote from the movie Apollo 13: "Failure is not an option."

"We are starting on that basis," Otte said.

None of those 'destabilizing elements' has anything to do with the Fatah thugs getting what they want in Annapolis.

Iran is going nuclear because it wants to go nuclear and the West is too weakened and divided to stop it. Iran's desire has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with radical Islam's wish to spread its gospel across the globe by force. To draw a connection between Iran's nuclear program and the 'Palestinians' is absurd. Iran isn't developing nuclear weapons to 'liberate' 'Palestine.'

The splitting of Iraq (which may or may not happen and may or may not be a good thing given Iraq's ethnic makeup and the fact that it is an artificial state with artificial boundaries from the get-go) has nothing to do with Annapolis. Israel ought not to be a sacrificial lamb for US policy in Iraq regardless of whether or not US activity in Iraq works to our benefit. This is nothing other than the implementation of the discredited Iraq Study Group recommendation that Israel be made a sacrificial lamb for US policy in Iraq. It's 1938 all over again.

Hezbullah's strength in Lebanon will not decrease if Israel puts 80% of its population within range of 'Palestinian' Kassam rockets. If anything, it will increase. Hezbullah is a fundamentalist Islamic organization that will find excuses to continue to attack Israel even if the country shrinks to being the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv. Its goals in Lebanon are to support Syria and to gain control over Lebanon. Syria will not be weakened by Israeli 'concessions' to Fatah either - it will be strengthened. After all, if the 'Palestinians' can gain concessions why can't Syria?

It may be argued that if Fatah succeeds at Annapolis, Hamas will be strengthened because it would show the 'Palestinians' that Fatah is the 'good' alternative. But any 'success' that does not include the exercise of the 'right of return' for 'Palestinian refugees' - which seems to be the only point on which corrupt Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert is not willing to concede completely - will be exploited by Hamas to Fatah's detriment. And 'success' at Annapolis will not suddenly turn Fatah into an honest organization.

On the other hand, the price of 'success' at Annapolis would be enormous for the United States and existentially threatening for Israel. The 'Palestinians' have already said that what they turned down at Camp David and Taba seven years ago is 'not enough.' 92% of Judea and Samaria is 'not enough.' Less than all of 'East Jerusalem' - and the creation of another 200,000 Israeli refugees - is 'not enough.' And any solution that does not include the 'right of return' - which is anathema to nearly all Israelis because it spells the demise of the Jewish state - is 'not enough.' The 'right of return' takes precedence over the creation of a 'Palestinian' state reichlet because the 'right of return' reflects the real goal: the destruction of the Jewish state.

But all of that is ignored by Mr. Chamberlain Otte, who is perfectly willing to lend a hand to the 'Palestinians' finishing what Adolph Hitler started in Belgium and other countries sixty-five years ago:

The main question regarding the Annapolis meeting was not why would it work this time when it failed before, but rather, "What do we lose if it does not succeed," he said.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

That provides a lot of incentive for Israelis and Palestinians to find a way to break the impasse, he said, adding that there was a "sufficient convergence of political will not to let it go this time."

Of course, Otte and all the other attendees at Annapolis expect that 'political will' to come solely from Israel. None of the forty countries attending actually expects the 'Palestinians' to concede anything.

Even a small step forward would suffice, such as the issuance of a joint statement by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he said.

"How long has it been since an Israeli and a Palestinian leader have come to an agreement, even if they are rather vague [with details], even if it is just the parameters for solving the conflict," Otte said.

Such a statement might "look modest, but given what happened in the last six years it would be quite an achievement," he said.

Yes, of course. A phased plan for the implementation of the phased plan. For those who have forgotten, the original phased plan was the Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) 1974 phased plan that declared a willingness to accept the establishment of a national authority in any part of historic Palestine as a step toward "completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory." It has never been disavowed.

There's much more I could fisk in this article, but I think this is enough to give you the flavor.

This 'conference' started out as one that would be attended by countries that, in President Bush's words, "support a two-state solution, reject violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, and commit to all previous agreements between the parties." It has evolved into an 'international conference" to which every rejectionist other than Hamas has been invited. It is going to be a gang attack on the State of Israel, with the gang protecting the interests of Fatah, which itself is promoting violence. Annapolis is Munich, 2007 is 1938 and Israel is Czechoslovakia. If Olmert had either a brain or a shot of testosterone, he would announce that Israel is staying home.

And if Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu (at a minimum) were honest with themselves and their voters, they would announce that they are leaving the coalition unless Olmert announces by next week that Israel is staying home. But don't expect that to happen either.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:31 AM