Arabs to Obama: 'We like the Saudi plan just fine as it is'
On Wednesday, I blogged a report from al-Quds al-Arabi that claimed that Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be making some changes to the 'Saudi plan' to vitiate the existence of the Jewish state to make it more palatable to the potential victims. This was to be done in response to an entreaty from the Obama administration.But the two entities that the Americans would like to have sign treaties with Israel - Syria and the 'Palestinian Authority' - said later on Wednesday and Thursday that they are just peachy keen on the 'Saudi plan' as it is, and that they are not willing to see any changes to it. Here is the Syrian reaction.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Thursday there was no justification for amending a 2002 Saudi peace offer to Israel after reports earlier in the week that Arab states were revising the initiative.And here's the 'Palestinian' reaction:
...
Moallem also told reporters before meeting two U.S. envoys that Damascus was still testing American intentions toward his country.
The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman, and National Security Council member Daniel Shapiro were in Damascus for the second time since March, signaling the Obama administration's efforts to explore ways to improve relations with a country Washington has criticized as a state sponsor of terrorism.
On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he and his Egyptian counterpart planned to present the Obama administration with a complete formula for resolving the Middle East conflict.No, there's no real flexibility there either:
The Palestinian Authority and several Arab states are developing a plan to be submitted to U.S. President Barack Obama that would provide for gestures to Israel in return for Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. The plan is designed to show Arab flexibility in the face of what they view as anticipated intransigence on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Elaborating, Abbas noted that he and Mubarak also discussed aligned positions vis-à-vis the Isralei government and an approach to any further peace talks. ”We discussed what we are going to say to the Israeli government especially about the road map and both efforts done by the Israeli and Palestinian side,” he said.Change? What change?
He affirmed that the Arab side would be submitting the Arab Peace Initiative to Washington when he met with them, and that all sides were in agreement over its soundness. “We will not be bringing a new document,” he said.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:43 PM
3 Comments:
When I heard about the initial report about "Change" (!), I smirked. Yeah, right. Tell me another meisse.
BTW - The editor (I prefer, chief propagandist) for al-Quds al-Arabi is the insufferable Ba'athist flunky, Abdul Bari Atwan, a factotem of UK TV (Sky, BBC) political roundtables. Always take anything this Saddam/Papa Assad/Baby-Doc Assad butt-kisser says with a massive dose of salt.
Of course they do. They are the victims after all and the Israelis are the aggressors. And one does not reward the latter for their aggression.
What change? The Saudi plan is never going to be amended. It will be a flying pigs moment if it really happens!
For Carl - who will no doubt be reading this - a New York Times blog post today underscored how much distance there exists between the fanciful talk of a Palestinian state and the facts on the ground.
The West Bank Archipelago
The money quote at the end is quite instructive:
"That history, unfortunately, does little to support the idea that a similarly divided Palestinian state will have an easy time developing into one country."
The history the author refers to is the history of Pakistan and India. The Palestinians are divided between the PA of the so called West Bank and the Islamists in Gaza and odds are good a single country will never emerge between the two disconnected pieces of territory (ruled by rival movements) discussed as the basis for a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The point is such a discussion has no basis in reality and so will go nowhere.
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