Of course: 'Palestinians' blame Israel for Kerry failure

After US Secretary of State John FN Kerry departed the region empty-handed, the 'Palestinians' sent chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat out to blame Israel.

"Israel is placing 930 obstacles in the face of John Kerry," Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said, referring to plans to build 930 new housing units in Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood. "This, at a time when Israel is accusing us of setting conditions for the resumption of the peace talks."

Erekat was speaking to reporters shortly after Kerry met in Ramallah with PA President Mahmoud Abbas -  the third meeting of its kind between the two since last Friday.

"We don't have pre-conditions for the resumption of the negotiations," Erekat said. "There are obligations that Israel should fulfill - halting settlement construction, accepting the principle of the two-state solution and releasing prisoners imprisoned before the end of 1994."

An obligation is "the act of binding oneself by a social, legal, or moral tie." Where exactly did Israel commit itself to 'halting settlement construction'? The answer is that it didn't. It's not in Oslo and it's not in any other agreement signed by Israel.

Nor is the 'principle of the two-state solution' something to which Israel committed itself via the Oslo accords. Sure, Netanyahu said in the Bar Ilan speech in 2009 that he was committed to it, and yes, Peres is committed to it as well (Rabin was not). But Israel as a country never took upon itself the obligation of a two-state solution. And those individuals who took upon themselves a commitment to a 'two-state solution' never took on that the borders of the two-states would be the 1949 armistice lines as demanded by the 'Palestinians.'

Finally, Israel never committed to releasing prisoners 'imprisoned before the end of 1994.' Even if there were such a commitment in the Oslo accords, they were signed long before the end of 1994 (Yasser Arafat had moved to Gaza by the end of 1994). The fools who signed the Oslo accords never thought there would be another 'Palestinian' arrested for terrorism, so they could not have taken upon themselves to release prisoners imprisoned before the end of 1994.

That leaves aside the fact that the 'Palestinians' have breached the Oslo accords in so many ways that it is difficult to argue that they can or ought to be binding on Israel.

Erekat wasn't the only one to whine and seethe.

Senior Fatah officials Azam al-Ahmed and Mahmoud al-Aloul lashed out at the Israeli government, holding it fully responsible for the failure of Kerry's mission. The two said that Kerry's failure to achieve a breakthrough shows that the Israeli government is not interested in peace.

"This is a government of settlers," al-Ahmed said. "This government does not want to establish a Palestinian state, as some of its ministers have openly stated."

PLO official Tayseer Khaled said that Israel's position toward the resumption of the peace process remains unchanged. "Israel wants us to return to the negotiating table unconditionally," he said. "This is impossible while Israel continues to steal our land and displace our people."

Khaled emphasized that the Palestinians were determined not to resume the peace talks unless Israel halted all settlement activities, recognized the pre-1967 lines as the basis for a two state solution and released Palestinian prisoners.

"Kerry also wants the Palestinians to resume the talks unconditionally," the PLO official said. "However, the gap between the two sides remains as wide as ever. The US Administration's position is closer to the Israeli stance."

One can only hope and pray that Kerry will disclose to the world who is really responsible for the failure of his mission. But he won't. That would be 'undiplomatic' - not to mention that it might actually benefit Israel.