http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=5050
"In
each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us. And
The Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hands" (Passover
Hagada)
Wishing you all a happy Passover
Chag Sameach,
Isi and Naomi Leibler
Chag Sameach,
Isi and Naomi Leibler
All signs indicate that the moribund peace process has now formally collapsed.
Few Israelis will be surprised.
The Obama administration was repeatedly cautioned that pressurizing of
Israel and appeasing the intransigent Palestinians would only result in
greater demands on Israel.
That is precisely what
happened. After Israel succumbed (unwisely, in my opinion,) to US
Secretary of State John Kerry’s pressure to release 100 mass murderers
in order to “bribe” the Palestinians to merely agree to negotiate, what
did we get in return?
The Palestinians immediately
demanded that Israel consider the unauthorized offers extended to them
by former Prime Minister Olmert (which they had rejected), as an opening
benchmark for negotiations.
Throughout the entire
“negotiating” period, the Palestinians refused to make a single
concession. Instead, they intensified incitement against Israel by
hailing the released mass murderers as national heroes, providing them
with pensions and glorifying their ghoulish murders on PA controlled
television.
This month the Israeli
government became exasperated when, after having refused to make a
single concession, the PA announced that they would not extend
negotiations beyond April and would revert to the United Nations.
Pointing out that the release of the terrorists was scheduled as a
process to be executed in stages to ensure a quid pro quo and progress
in ongoing negotiations, Israel announced that it would not release the
final batch unless PA Chairman Abbas undertook to continue the talks.
Desperate to save face, Kerry
attempted to bribe the PA with further concessions in order to persuade
them to continue “negotiating”. Israel would release another four
hundred prisoners (not with blood on their hands) and there would be an
unspecified freeze on building construction beyond the green line
(excluding Jerusalem). To make it difficult for right wing coalition
members to oppose the deal, Kerry included the release of Pollard.
The Palestinian response was to
apply to join 15 international conventions, some of which were
associated with the UN - a fundamental breach of the Oslo Accords. When
pleaded by Kerry to halt these applications, Abbas responded that he
would rather die as a martyr than do so.
Subsequently, the PA mocked the
US by escalating their demands to the most outlandish proportions.
These included outright acceptance of the 1949 armistice lines as the
final borders – which would mean relinquishing the Western Wall and East
Jerusalem Jewish suburbs; a freeze on construction over the green line
including east Jerusalem; the release of 1200 additional terrorists
including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat (the assassin of Minister
Rehavam Ze’evi); extending immediate Israeli citizenship to 15,000
Palestinian refugee families under the right of Arab return; and, to top
it off, “lifting the siege of Gaza”.
For the first time on such an issue, the left and right of the Israeli government responded with one voice.
Tzipi Livni, Israel’s
negotiator at the peace talks is hardly a hawk. Yet she accused PA of
breaching undertakings and questioned their good faith. After a stormy
seven hour meeting with Saeb Erekat, who at one stage threatened to
charge Israel at The Hague with war crimes, Livni stated that there was
nothing more to discuss until the Palestinians withdrew their
applications to affiliate with the 15 international conventions.
Regrettably, she could not resist subsequently blaming Minister for
Housing Uri Ariel for “sabotaging” the talks, by reissuing tenders for
700 housing units in Gilo, an exclusively Jewish suburb of east
Jerusalem.
Minister Yair Lapid also
protested that Abbas engaged in a “deliberate provocation aimed to blow
up the talks”, making it impossible to move forward and “raises serious
doubt whether he is genuinely interested in reaching an agreement”.
The American response was
pathetic. Initially Kerry suggested that the PA application to affiliate
to international organizations was not necessarily a fundamental breach
of the Oslo accords.
Then, as he realized the need
to cover himself from the catastrophic fallout from his inept
intervention, he resumed his old and discredited routine of applying
moral equivalence to the actions of both parties.
He thus accused Israel for
being provocative in announcing building construction in Gilo - a
Jerusalem suburb which everyone is aware will always remain within
Israel. The White House also described Israel’s delay in releasing the
last 26 prisoners as “problematic”.
So far, Prime Minister Netanyahu has remained silent in order not to be blamed for exacerbating the situation.
But once it becomes clear that
no further negotiations with the Palestinians will take place, it is
imperative that our Prime Minister marshals all our resources to ensure
that the United States and democratic countries are confronted with the
facts.
The Foreign Ministry will need
to prove its mettle by galvanizing a major global initiative to promote
Israel’s position, ensuring that our ambassadors launch a full scale
campaign and actively invite support from Jewish communities and friends
of Israel everywhere.
The message to be conveyed is
that the majority of Israelis wish to separate themselves from the
Palestinians and were willing in the past to forfeit over 90% of the
territories occupied by the Jordanian government prior to 1967. Israelis
yearn for peace and are willing to negotiate with a reasonable partner
who must also be willing to make compromises and accept Israel’s need
for security in this volatile region.
We must demonstrate the
Palestinians unwillingness to concede on any issue – notably their
adamant insistence that they will never deviate in relation to the three
critical elements which are fundamental to any stable relationship and
genuine coexistence: the right of return of Arab refugees, a willingness
to accept an end of conflict and recognition of Israel as a Jewish
state.
The obvious must be reiterated.
It requires two parties to make peace and that further unilateral
concessions merely provides an incentive for the Palestinians to make
increasingly more outlandish demands. This is not merely the response of
the duplicitous Abbas who is weak, corrupt and fears antagonizing
Fatah. It is because the end of Jewish sovereignty assumes a far greater
priority to the PA than their own statehood. Indeed, Abbas has
repeatedly stated that he has no intention of retiring from office as a
traitor by compromising Palestinian central objectives such as the right
of return.
The Palestinians are now convinced that, their objective of dismantling Israel in stages can be achieved.
They will initiate an intensive
global campaign to condemn, criminalize, delegitimize and boycott us.
The combination of Islamic states, Third World, and rogue states
guarantees a permanent hostile majority against Israel in all UN
institutions. The condemnation of Israel this month by the UN Human
Rights Council on issues including alleged breaching the human rights of
Arab citizens in the Golan (the Europeans abstained) says it all.
We need the support of the
American public and Congress to discourage the Obama Administration from
abandoning us and ensuring that the Palestinian campaign is restricted
to empty resolutions. We need to confront the bias, prejudice and
political correctness and encourage global leaders to take a position
and not opt for the easy way out and distance themselves from us.
We have real grounds for
concern that the Obama Administration may stand aside, fail to employ
their veto power at the UN Security Council and unofficially encourage
the Europeans to coerce us toward further unilateral concessions.
Today, on this issue we speak
with a united voice encompassing the vast majority of Israelis and call
on global leaders to be responsible, overcome their traditional bias,
prejudice and political correctness and deviate from the easy path of
apportioning equal blame for breakdowns on both parties. This is not
merely manifestly unjust but makes the possibility of moving towards a
settlement even more remote.
In particular, this represents
the most important challenge to the American Jewish leadership who must
determine whether they are going to stand up and be counted or bury
their heads in the sand. This is not a time for ambiguity or exclusive
reliance on silent diplomacy. Hopefully, as proud American Jews they
will not feel intimidated and should the US apportion equal blame or
hold us responsible for the breakdown, they will display the courage to
confront the Administration.
On our part, we should make it
clear that we do not intend extending further concessions to bribe the
PA to negotiate with us. We remain willing to negotiate for the creation
of a Palestinian state without preconditions. When the Palestinians
signal willingness to conducting bona fide negotiations, we will respond
positively and again demonstrate a willingness to make sacrifices to
achieve a genuine peace.
The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Some of my recent articles:
The Disastrous Outcome of the “Peace Negotiations” (April 1, 2014)
The Radicalization of the Haredi World (March 26, 2014)
Putin, Ukraine and the Jews (March 17, 2014)
Bashing Israel and Journalistic Integrity (March 11, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment