Israel Matzav

The true believers

There remain only two true believers in the 'peace process,' neither of whom has gotten the message yet: Israeli Justice Minister and chief negotiator bottle washer Tzipi Livni, and US Secretary of State John FN Kerry. And no, neither of them is giving up. Here's Kerry:

"There's always a way forward, but the leaders have to make the compromises to do that... if they're not willing to make the compromises necessary it becomes very elusive," Kerry said Thursday night.

Kerry, whose peace talks are set to expire on an April 29 deadline, acknowledged the talks have reached "a difficult point," reports AFP.

"We will never give up our hope or our commitment for the possibilities of peace. We believe it is the only way to go, but right now obviously it's at a very difficult point, and the leaders themselves have to make decisions," said Kerry.

"It's up to them," concluded the American secretary of state.

Yeah, there's always a way forward, but if you're going to run into a brick wall, there's not much point to it.

Here's Livni, who as usual is worried about her position in the government more than anything else. 

Livni, who is Israel's chief negotiator in the talks, told Channel 2 that "the decision to suspend the talks is the right decision, the combination of the PA and Hamas is bad." The two signed a unity deal on Wednesday, leading to the suspension.
The minister stressed that Israel is only "suspending" that talks, saying "the door has not been shut today," and that the financial sanctions on the PA were "measured" and "would not collapse the PA."

"It could be that this is a political move by (PA Chairman) Mahmoud Abbas, but Hamas is a terror organization that doesn't recognize our existence," stated Livni.

It is worth pointing out that Abbas himself has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, leading peace talks to a dead-end even before he torpedoed them by breaching talk conditions and applying to 15 international conventions at the start of the month.

When asked if Abbas is still a "peace partner" in her estimation, Livni responded that Abbas "made bad decisions in the peace process at sensitive time points; if he's a partner we'll need to see more."

Livni added "I don't like to use the expression partner, he's the representative of the other side."

...

Regarding her Hatnua party's joining of the coalition government last year, Livni commented "exactly what I wanted happened in the government. The process was stipulated by the opening of the peace talks after five years of a freeze, the contents were discussed in a manner that could lead to an agreement."

"The fact that Abbas chose a different path forces me to think about the agreement," acknowledged Livni.

However, Livni emphasized that her fellow Hatnua members agree with her not to leave the government until the end of the peace talks, which are set to expire on an April 29 deadline.

Livni declared that her fellow Hatnua MKs "are synchronized, none of them thinks we need to leave the government. They see how I represent our positions, and even the decision today in the cabinet is measured and doesn't close the door."

Let's see. She got this position because she has a spell on Netanyahu and because Lieberman couldn't be Foreign Minister when the government started. Her policy is a complete and utter failure (can you imagine Matt Lee asking Yigal Palmor to list one accomplishment of Livni's in her position?). Anyone think she should stay on? I think not.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Tzipi Livni

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:52 PM