Why Abu Mazen won't negotiate with Netanyahu
Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren points out yet again why 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President What had spurred the Palestinians to turn their backs on a sympathetic U.S. president and a strong Israeli statesman capable of leading his skeptical people to peace? How could the Palestinians risk all they had achieved in recent years—a thriving economy, restored law and order, and significant U.S. aid—in a reckless bid to snatch the statehood that they could easily have earned?We can try to rationalize the 'Palestinian leaders' behavior by saying that they fear for their own lives. Or we can accept the truth: That they are unwilling to accept a Jewish state nor are their constituents. Either way, peace is not going to happen any time soon. If the United Nations votes in favor of the 'Palestinians' unilateral declaration of independence, it is far more likely to lead to war than to peace.
Confusing, perhaps, but the answer is simple. The Palestinians came to the U.N. to get a state, but without giving Israel peace in return.
Understanding the Palestinians’ decision requires a review not only of this past week’s events but of one that occurred nearly 64 years ago at the same U.N. On Nov. 29, 1947, the General Assembly voted to partition British-controlled Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, that would live side-by-side in peace. The Jews accepted the agreement, but the Palestinians rejected it and joined with five Arab armies in an ultimately thwarted attempt to destroy the Jewish State of Israel.
Forty six years later, in 1993, the Palestinians received another chance to accept the two-state solution. In the Oslo Accords, which the U.S. co-signed, Palestinians and Israelis pledged to resolve all outstanding issues through face-to-face negotiation and to achieve an historic peace. In fact, these discussions produced two Israeli peace proposals, in 2000 and 2008, that met virtually all of the Palestinians’ demands for a sovereign state in the areas won by Israel in the 1967 war—in the West Bank, Gaza and even East Jerusalem.
But Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected the first offer and Mahmoud Abbas ignored the second, for the very same reason their predecessors spurned the 1947 Partition Plan. Each time, accepting a Palestinian State meant accepting the Jewish State, a concession the Palestinians were unwilling to make.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel is a Jewish state, Michael Oren, Unilateral declaration of independence (UDI)
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:13 AM
2 Comments:
The Palestinians refuse to make peace because they want to destroy Israel.
That is the unpleasant truth no one wants to face. And as long as they continue to cling to this single objective, peace in the Middle East is in fact impossible.
Only one side wants peace. But Israel won't get it because the other side wants a state without peace. That is the reality Israel faces in the foreseeable future.
Well, that's the obvious part. When haven't they rejected a Jewish state?
Abbas is scared of the Arab spring coming to Ramallah (and Iran has had a lot to do with the uprisings). On top of that, Abbas made a unity pact with Hamas who are gaining ever more support in the West Bank. Instead of Hamas coming closer to the West - and Abbas hasn't moved closer to Iran - Iran has isolated Abbas after the West distanced itself from the unity pact partners.
Therefore, in order to get the people behind him, Abbas is using the age-old excuse of Israel... Then there is Iran, Turkey and the Saudis all vying for patronage of the 'Palestinian cause' but for a very different reason.
Anyway, just wrote it all up in my latest blog post.
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