Israel Matzav

Saturday, the 'Palestinians' threatened to stay home

On Wednesday, the 'Palestinians' threatened a new intifada if they don't like the results of the November 26 conference gang tackle of Israel in Washington. And on Saturday, the 'good terrorists' of Fatah threatened to stay home.

Head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmed Qureia (also known as Abu Ala), said Saturday that if a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement is not drafted before the upcoming Middle East peace conference, the Palestinian Authority may not participate in it.

Qureia, a former PA prime minister, told Saudi newspaper Al-Watan that both sides must agree before the conference on a timetable for implementing agreements.

Earlier Saturday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said the Israeli and Palestinian teams would hold their first meeting Monday to draft a joint statement ahead of the conference.

The teams are set to write down the principles that would guide future peace talks. The conference is to take place in November or early December, in Annapolis, Maryland.

I must be missing something here. If the outcome is already known at the outset, why bother having 'negotiations'? I mean, if we all know what the 'solution' is (as the 'Palestinians' think they do), why not have their lawyers draft it and we'll sign it? Obviously, the parties disagree on the solution and that's why we need 'negotiations.'

As a lawyer who is involved in them regularly, I can tell you that negotiations don't usually have timetables, and the agreements they produce aren't implemented unless each side fulfills its obligations in sequence or the other side waives fulfillment. Without measurable standards and obligations on both sides, negotiations are a farce and agreements cannot be implemented. Every major agreement I have ever negotiated has something in it called "closing conditions" which states that A is not required to do x (usually transfer money) until B does 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. In this case, item 1 that the 'Palestinians' are required to do is to get rid of the terrorists. We've been waiting fourteen years since the 'Palestinians' first committed to do that and it still hasn't happened.

The article I linked goes on to state that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen claims that thirty-six countries are going to attend, and he's hoping for forty. This is beginning to sound more and more like the UN General Assembly, and the more it sounds like the General Assembly the less I like it. It's not the 'Palestinians' who should be staying home - it's Israel.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:42 PM