Bibi: 'Shall we dance?' 'Palestinians': It's too warm
What's scary about the current situation is that even I cannot be sure whether Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to put on a show for the Americans, or whether he seriously believes that there is peace (without scare quotes) to be had with Abu Bluff. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says he would like to meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas every two weeks in the framework of the direct diplomatic talks that are to begin next week. PA negotiator Saeb Erekat responds that the freeze is the main issue now, not the scheduling of the negotiations.Memo to the 'Palestinians.' I can guarantee you that if the only thing you are going to discuss is extending the freeze, it won't be extended.
The Associated Press reported that “the Israeli leader's proposal appears to indicate that he is serious about the talks and won't allow them to fizzle out after next week's meeting in the U.S.”
Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat refused to commit himself, however, and said he would not accept it at the present time. "We are not against this in principle, it's just premature to talk about this now," AP quoted him as saying. Other reports said that Erekat emphasized that no progress could be made until Israel agreed to continue the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:51 PM
2 Comments:
Call Abu Bluff's bluff. You win either way. If he comes to the table really willing to talk substantively, you win. If he avoids the table or comes with preconditions, you turn it into a PR win.
Either way you win.
So call the bluff. It costs you nothing, except time in DC.
We all know they aren't serious about, nor interested in peace, never mind the larger issues. This is jihad. They want us all gone and dead. So shine harsh daylight upon them, what they say in english and contrast that to what they say to their people. Tell the world what they say, what they do.
Unless you fail to inform the public of whats happening, in english, so the world can hear and understand, you will win this.
So call the bluff.
The reason you want to call their bluff is that it gives you ammunition for the future. When you need to go into gaza to clean out the hamas infestation, you can point to their failed brinksmanship as a reason to avoid serious consideration of restraint. You can make the argument that until they come to the table, without weapons, with a population ready to agree to painful changes to their vision, they aren't a serious and responsible partner.
Which should, for the foreseeable future, prevent them from hitting you over this. It will also give you ammunition to tell the UN where to go if they try to intervene, apart from pulling UNRWA out, and getting the refugee resettlement coordinator in. And it will give you a chance to tell the euroweenies to bugger off.
So many wins. Just by being serious, being transparent, being open.
Because if the 'palis' genuinely want peace, and are committed to the hard decisions and efforts required to get there, then you win. But we both know they aren't.
We know they will not manage to screw this opportunity up. So make sure you capitalize on their failure, specifically to prevent the issue from coming up again.
They need to learn the cost of their failure and rejectionism. That cost has to be real, harsh, and permanent. It has to be made plain to every meddling entity that there is a shelf life to the process, and a finite extent of time and willingness to work on this. So if they miss their opportunity, and we already know they will, they don't get another one for a generation or more. On a smaller parcel of land.
The Palestinians want Israel to concede everything to them before talks even begin. And if Israel doesn't agree, they will take their marbles and walk out.
Peace in our time. If there is an agreement, one can be sure there won't be peace for long.
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