Israel Matzav

Why the 'peace talks' are being held in secret

Silly me. I thought that the reason that the 'peace talks' were being held in secretive locations without a media presence and without press briefings was so that we wouldn't realize that Netanyahu, Livni and Netanyahu's attorney, Yitzchak Molcho, were giving the country away until it was a fait accomplis. I was wrong.

Khaled Abu Toameh reports that the real reason that the talks are being kept secret is that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen, and his sidekick, 'Palestinian' chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat, can't have any more pictures of themselves in the media with Israelis.

A photo of Erekat and Livni standing together in Washington has since been exploited by Facebook and Twitter activists to hurl insults and profanity at the chief Palestinian negotiator.

Palestinian sources in Ramallah said that Erekat felt so offended by the insults and obscene language directed against him that he decided that there was no need for "photo op" with Livni or any other Israeli.

Both Abbas and Erekat are fully aware of the growing opposition among Palestinians and Arabs to the resumption of the peace talks with Israel under the terms of the US Administration.

That is why the two men do not want to be seen sitting in a room with any Israeli representative. They know that any photo of Erekat and Livni shaking hands or sitting together would provide their enemies with additional ammunition.

Those who think that the opposition to the peace talks is coming only from Hamas and other radical groups are either ignorant or turning a blind eye to the reality.

When Abbas agreed to resume the peace talks with Israel, he went against the recommendation of the PLO leadership, whose members rejected Kerry's attempts to force the Palestinian Authority president to abandon two of his pre-conditions -- namely, that Israel accept the pre-1967 lines as the basis for negotiations and freeze all construction in settlements and east Jerusalem neighborhoods.

...

But there is another reason why the Palestinian Authority leadership does not want media coverage of the peace talks. For many years, the Palestinian Authority has been supporting boycott campaigns against Israel, as well as organizations combating "normalization" with Israelis.

If Palestinian children are condemned for playing football with Israelis, why should it be acceptable for Erekat to be talking with Livni?

Abu Toameh goes on to argue that the 'Palestinian Authority' has only itself to blame because it has not prepared the groundwork for peace. And while the 'Palestinian Authority' certainly has no right to blame anyone else for its own lack of readiness to make peace, there's also a lot of blame to go around the West - including Israel itself - for continuing to feed 'Palestinian' bank accounts and to coddle the 'Palestinian' leadership when we all knew well what was going on.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Barack Hussein Obama, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian education to hatred, Saeb Erekat, Tzipi Livni

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:02 PM