Ooooh.
So, here I'm not saying "so-far,
so-good." What I don't know is if this was all that was intended from
the time of the announcement, with reports having exaggerated or
obscured that intention. Or if there has been a reversal in response
to the huge outpouring of criticism about Israel building in
E1.
We have a nerve, do we not?
Interfering with the ability of the PLO to establish a state with eastern
Jerusalem as its capital.
Herb Keinon's assessment of this
in the JPost today was that, "With these comments, Netanyahu...seemed
to signal to the Palestinians that if they go further with the type of
unilateral actions they took at the UN on Thursday, Israel would indeed build in
E1."
Maybe. But still we
hold ourselves back.
~~~~~~~~~~
I've said it before, but I will
continue to say it, because it is so critical. The world persists in
pursuing something non-existent. Anyone with a reasonable capacity for
observing behavior and drawing conclusions should be able to see
this: Abbas does not intend to be a "peace partner." He's not along
for the ride.
And yet Israel is constantly
chided and derided for interfering with that imaginary
process.
~~~~~~~~~~
Abbas returned from the UN to
Ramallah to great celebration, as we knew he would. He wasted no time in
telling a rally -- consisting of Fatah activists and PA civil servants -- that
his next step would be "restoring unity of the Palestinians and their lands and
institutions." By which he meant, of course, unity with Hamas:
"We will study accelerating moves to achieve reconciliation."
~~~~~~~~~~
There is a way in which Abbas
needs this unity in order to make a credible claim about a state -- all the
people together, Gaza and the West Bank, etc. etc.
Yet, I do not give much credence
to the possibility of a genuine reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
The historical record on this makes it rather dubious. There have been
negotiations again and again on "unity." Stops and starts and stops again
-- one side and then the other accused of being the obstacle.
In March 2007, a unity government
was announced after Abbas and Hamas politburo head Khaled Mashaal met in
Mecca for negotiations. It lasted until June of that year, when Hamas
seized control of Gaza in a coup and Abbas dissolved the
government.
In May of 2011, Abbas and Mashaal
went to Cairo and from there announced elections for a unity slate a year
hence. In the interim, a government of independent figures was to be set
in place. But there was never agreement on who would be appointed, and it never
happened.
~~~~~~~~~~
Were there to be a Hamas-Fatah
unity government for the Palestinian Arabs, Israel would refuse to
negotiate. This is in principle.
~~~~~~~~~~
But as this is moot, my
focus is elsewhere: Abbas's very readiness, indeed, declared eagerness, to join
with Hamas -- which is overtly terrorist -- speaks volumes about his
intentions. This is just one more sign that he's not along for the "peace
process" ride, while the world chooses not to notice.
I've monitored Fatah-Hamas
reconciliation talks over a period of years. And what I've seen
consistently is that such talks further radicalize Fatah, rather
than moderating Hamas. Fatah needs to present its bona fides with
regard to "resistance."
~~~~~~~~~~
Hamas, for its part, is playing
both ends against the middle, and I do not like what I'm seeing:
Ismail Haniyeh, who is referred to
as the Hamas prime minister, said yesterday that, "The time has come for
the US and the EU to remove Hamas from the list of designated terrorist
organizations. Hamas and the Palestinian groups [terrorist groups such as
Islamic Jihad] are national liberation movements that are defending
themselves against Israeli aggression on our people."
The US is not at this place
of thinking, at least not yet. Although yesterday I expressed my unease with the way Dan
Shapiro, US Ambassador to Israel, wrote, first talking about efforts to stop
weapons smuggling and then segueing into the need for peace negotiations --
as if, somehow, Hamas would be involved in negotiations.
But I can see some EU states going
along with this.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the very same time, a member of
the Hamas politburo and top representative of Hamas in Bruit, Osama
Hamdan, has declared that a
Palestinian state without an armed struggle against Israel is just an
illusion:
"The PLO has paid a heavy
political price for this representation [in the UN] because it relinquished its
claims to the lands of 1948 [asked for recognition of a state on the
'67 line]. Therefore the real achievement lies in the
liberation of the land, the return of the refugees, and achieving steadfastness
on the land."
(Emphasis added)
~~~~~~~~~~
Strategic Affairs Ministry
Director-General Yossi Kuperwasser reported to the Cabinet yesterday that the
incitement and inflammatory language in the Palestinian Authority is the worst
is has been since the Israeli government began measuring it in
2009.
Kuperwasser was asked to give this
report in the wake of Abbas's ugly and inciteful speech at the UN. Seems
this speech was not an aberration in PA terms.
Kuperwasser's presentation included examples from FaceBook pages of PA
schools that promote the narrative that all of Israel must "return" to
Palestine; one page had "I hate Israel" in 16 languages. Then there
was the quote from Abbas that the creation of Israel was "one of the most
dreadful campaigns of ethnic cleansing and dispossession in modern
history."
Did I say Abbas wasn't along for
the "peace process" ride? Hey! He's running as fast as he can in the
opposite direction.
As the Cabinet has the information
that Kuperwasser presented, they understand this. So what does it
take, when will it happen, that Israeli officials present this information to
the world, and declare the Oslo misadventure ended?
It is critical for Israel to
stand strong, firm in her rights, and making the case with
self-confidence.
~~~~~~~~~~
If there is any good news here it
is that the Jerusalem Municipality is about to give final approval to
a new Jewish neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem. Located between
Talpiot and Beit Safafa (an Arab neighborhood), it will be the first Jewish
neighborhood founded over the Green Line since the establishment of Har Homa in
1997.
Approval for the first stage of
building was scheduled for two weeks ago, but was scratched because of Operation
Pillar of Defense. Hillary
Clinton was due here and there was unease about international criticism.
(There was a furor some while ago when building in Jerusalem
past the Green Line was announced while VP Biden was here and Clinton proceeded
to go ballistic because this "embarrassed" the US.)
Now final approval for the first
stage of this new neighborhood is on the agenda for December
19.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bravo to City Councilor Elisha
Peleg (Likud), a member of the Local Planning and Building Committee, who said
(emphasis added):
"It's all connected to
Clinton.
"We need to show we're an
independent sovereign state, and we're doing what we need to do, which is build
on all parts of Israel. We need to stop playing the game when
Clinton travels here or travels there and we rush to cancel the
project.
"I don't think any European
country or the US would like it if we got involved in their internal matters.
The don't have a right to do this. These places are in full Israeli
sovereignty.
"We need to be strong and
to continue to build in Jerusalem as much as possible, in order to create facts
on the ground that we're not giving up on Jerusalem."
Credit:
JPost
Can we clone him?
~~~~~~~~~~
The first stage of Givat Hamatos
will have 2,600 housing units; the complete neighborhood is slated to have close
to 4,000 units. All in all, including plans for new housing in Gil
and Har Homa, there will be 7,770 new units for Jews over the Green
Line.
~~~~~~~~~~
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Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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