Israel Matzav: For the next week, at least, 'everyone knows' that it's Abu Mazen who doesn't want peace

Friday, April 25, 2014

For the next week, at least, 'everyone knows' that it's Abu Mazen who doesn't want peace

Israel's Channel 10 reports that two hours before the announcement of the Hamas-Fatah unity pact, Prime Minister Netanyahu had agreed to hold 'talks' on borders and a 'settlement freeze.'

Aides to the prime minister are denying the Channel 10 report.

According to Channel 10, while Netanyahu refused Palestinian demands to explicitly present his position on borders, he did give consent to his government's chief representatives in the negotiations - Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and attorney Yitzhak Molcho - to present maps on which both sides would then proceed to sketch the contours of the political boundary that would separate Israel and a yet-to-be-created Palestine.

The prime minister also agreed to a freeze of all new construction in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria, though he insisted that Israel would complete all construction that has already been initiated, according to Channel 10.

The Palestinians, for their part, responded that on the ground the public would not be able to differentiate between a freeze of new construction and the continuation of old project, rendering the offer moot. Aides to Netanyahu denied that the premier agreed to any freeze, according to Channel 10.

...

Just two hours after Israel suspended diplomatic talks with the Palestinians over Wednesday's Hamas-Fatah reconciliation pact, Netanyahu said he will "be there in the future if we have a partner that is committed to peace."

Netanyahu's comment came in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, after the seven-member security cabinet decided unanimously Thursday afternoon following a six hour meeting in Tel Aviv to suspend current talks with the Palestinians.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder says that the American government now 'gets it': Abu Mazen doesn't want peace.

“This is one of the times when people realize what’s really happening and there is no question about it,” Lauder said. “How can Israel negotiate with an organization that wants its destruction?” Lauder, who is well connected with many world leaders, said the overwhelming sentiment among his contacts was support for Israel.

“Last night I was calling around from country to country, group to group, also within the US, to see what’s happening. There was no one I came across that said, ‘You know, it’s a good thing.’ Even the most left[- wing] groups.”

...

Everybody, he asserted, “believes that the Israeli people want peace and that the Palestinian people want peace, and more and more they realize what the real problem is. I don’t think President Abbas could have made a stronger signal that he didn’t want peace.”

...

Israel’s reaction should be firm, but the Netanyahu administration should also handle the issue of the end of the current round of negotiations “delicately,” Lauder added.

“It is also important how Israel handles it,” he said. Israel should “reiterate what Hamas stands for and then say something to the effect that Israel is very disappointed.”

“It shows very much, I think to everybody, that at the end of the day the Palestinians really didn’t want peace, and what they really want is the UN to give it to them. They don’t want to negotiate, and I think the key thing is the politicians get it.”

They supposedly 'got it' in 2000-01 too when Bill Clinton told Arafat that he had made Clinton's peace efforts a 'failure.' That 'getting it' lasted about a week. Don't expect this one to last longer.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Bill Clinton, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Israel wants peace, Middle East peace process, Yasser Arafat