As I predicted, Haaretz is reporting that by Saturday, Fatah will meet and decide to abandon U.S. brokered Israel-Palestine peace talks due to Bibi Netnayahu’s refusal to extend a settlement freeze. It’s the only way this could’ve gone.
Now, what I’m wondering about is whether a clamor from the world community on the death of the talks may rouse Bibi from his torpor to graciously offer the Palestinians a two month moratorium. I note that the Arab League plans to bring the issue to the Security Council hoping to exert even greater pressure on Israel. The urgency of such an action was exacerbated by the breathtakingly obtuse UN speech delivered by Lieberman in which he essentially offered the world community a warmed over Kahanist solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict: move the borders so that most of Israel’s current Palestinian citizens will be forcibly expelled to Palestine, thus allowing Israel to absorb all of the current settlers squatting on privately owned Palestinian lands, of course including his own settlement “hometown,” Nokdim. The idea that an Israeli prime minister would send his foreign minister to such a world forum to spit in the face of every Arab or Muslim nation in the body is simply…astounding.
While this far-right government is almost deaf to international criticism, it does retain some residual sense of hearing when the din grows especially loud (cf. Goldstone Report). So perhaps Bibi will acquiesce after a suitable interval. If he does, he will, of course, do so with an exaggerated bow in Obama’s direction as if doing it only for the sake of memsahib. And this will be revolting.
for 9 months the PA authority didn’t even consider talking to Bibi, moratorium was in place.
in the last month everyone around the world is going crazy because Israel doesn’t want to extend the same moratorium the Palestinian didn’t care about in the first place.
its nothing but an excuse to get out of talks they didn’t want to conduct in the first place.
Analyzer:
Quick on the trigger to shift the blame onto someone else.
Nothing new here, typical
Yeah, because during that time all he could shrey about was that the PA would have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as a condition for talks. And when he wasn’t doing that he was killing Turks on the high seas. Not terribly auspicious for peace talks. Stop giving us the hasbara talking pts would you. We’ve seen this lame argument scores of times & it doesn’t hold water. Either Bibi wants peace talks or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t then don’t renew the freeze & there won’t be any. As simple as that.
You’re full of it. First, the moratorium wasn’t much of one because so many hundreds of tenders were approved BEFORE the freeze went into effect that the rate of building DURING the freeze didn’t go down. Second, the Palestinians would’ve welcomed a real freeze, which this wasn’t. Third, prove yr claim the Palestinians “didn’t care” about the freeze w a single piece of evidence that this is so. Real evidence. If you can’t then stop making bogus arguments.
What utter nonsense. I know that your set of prejudices is very comforting to you because it allows you to place all blame on the Palestinians when Israel’s huge level of blame & responsibility is sitting there staring you in the face. People like you are amazing. You have a 900 lb elephant sitting in the room right in front of you & you choose to pay attention to the flea bouncing on the floor. Denial is a powerful force in human personalities.
@ Nessim, it happens to be the truth you know.
the moratorium was voted on November 09 (25) it took Abu-Mazen only 9 months to agree to talk to the Israeli government, during that time the Palestinians dismissed the moratorium as an insignificant gesture.
so if it was so insignificant then, why all of the sudden it became such a significant issue ?
one reason,in my opinion the Palestinians abounded the two state solution and moved to something else, it may be new intifada, it may be waiting for the world to impose a one state solution. i think it’s the later.
Abu-Mazen doesn’t behave as someone who really wants to talk, and achieve peace agreement. Israel didn’t back down from the talks when the Hamas committed the terror attacks a month ago, Abu-Mazen (if he really wants peace) shouldn’t do that because of the end of the moratorium.
As ALWAYS Israel/is is/are ALWAYS IN THE RIGHT
Why should ANYONE trust what any Israeli leader/government do/es I CERTAINLY DON’T –
Netanyahu’s coalition has no intention of anything except stretch the status quo ad infinitum while land grabbing forever.
Having lived in 2 wars, one internal revolution and one semi-revolution I have come to the conclusion that the AGGRESSOR is ALWAYS THE ONE who screams bloody murder the loudest
Spare me the hair splitting it’s beneath contempt and you’re insulting my intelligence
You’ve completed misinterpreted the Palestinian view. They said the freeze was a joke because it was insufficient. Now Bibi has peeled away even that fig leaf. And you think the Palestinians should say: big deal, when even that fig leaf is removed? Now there is nothing except naked Israeli land grabbing w/o a freeze.
You’re so naive it’s unbelievable. You think the world will impose a 1 state solution? Your own prime minister & your settler friends are imposing that fate on you. Soon enough, the Palestinians will demand citizenship in a single state & you will have no serious argument against them because you will have stolen so much of Palestine that there can’t BE a Palestinian state there.
I do SO love Israelis who have such strong opinions about what Palestinians have a right to do or not do. Are you listening at all when Palestinians tell you what your PM has a right to do or not do? Of course you’re not. You could give a fig. So can you give me one good reason anyone should care what you think Abu Mazen should or shouldn’t do??
Richard
Spare your breath in counter-pointing the endless israeli propaganda repeaters –
There never is any rime or reason to propaganda – that’s the point propaganda –
People who refuse to use their god given brain to differentiate between the whey and chaff do not even understand the meaning of “propaganda” –
Sorrily this is the status of app 80%+ of israelis
your hair would stand on end to hear derogatory comments made by “10” graduated lawyers in every field that i hear day in day out
Only EXTREMELY STRONG ARMING will bring ANY result between the parties – these guys only play with force and force is the ONLY language they understand BOTH –
Forced diplomacy WILL bring a solution – the only thing missing is the man with the cojones to do it and damned be AIPAC/J street/ADL and congress
its the ONLY WAY
The talks were born dead. Israel would not even do the minimum required for viable negotiations. How can anyone take Israel seriously while it continues to illegally gobble up the very land it is pretending to negotiate over. It’s Alice in Wonderland thinking.
As for the so-called “moratorium”, please! Israel never stopped stealing land and illegally colonizing it during that so-called “moratorium”.
More info from our friend AL @ IMRA. Since he is one of the prime warriors of the trade Pollard brigades, his creative [editing] could be regarded as wishful thinking. Or not.:
“Friday, October 1, 2010
Senior Israeli official: Even if he wanted to Netanyahu couldn’t pass extension freeze (without Pollard release)
Senior Israeli official: Even if he wanted to Netanyahu couldn’t pass extension freeze (without Pollard release)
Israel Radio correspondent Shmuel Tal 6:06 AM 1 October 2010
http://www.iba.org.il/bet/bet.aspx?type=1&entity=678406
[Translation by IMRA]
Israel rejected the American offer to provide security and diplomatic guarantees in exchange for the extension of the freeze by two months.
A senior source in Jerusalem assesses that even if Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to extend the building freeze in the settlements, he would not have a majority in the cabinet to approve it [AL: a deal that does not include the
release of Jonathan Pollard].
Our Diplomatic Affairs correspondent Shmuel Tal reports that Israel rejected the American proposal to provide security and diplomatic guarantees in exchange for the extension of the freeze for two months. The proposal was
discussed in the meetings of Minister of Defense Barak and of the prime minister’s representative Attorney Yitzhak Molho with officials in the administration in Washington and the two announced that Israel could not accept it.
Israel offered that the new construction be only in the large settlement blocs, under government supervision and with a low profile. U.S. Envoy Mitchell is to meet this morning with Netanyahu to give him the Palestinians
reply to the Israeli proposal. In Jerusalem it is expected that Abu Mazen [AL: Mahmoud Abbas] will reject the offer.”
Even the Times (or was it Haaretz) is raising the Pollard issue as if it’s viable & credible. I find the whole thing nauseating. Israel will give us 1 month of freeze if we turn over to Israel one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history. There will be a HUGE stink if Obama does this, not to mention that it is Election season & he’s doing bad enough as it is.
It is wonderful to read your posts – and many of them I share.
Freeze-Schmeeze…
Nothing short of a permanent freeze is sufficient. This so-called freeze had so many exceptions it was meaningless except that it gave Obama and Clinton a means for pretending Israel was making painful sacrifices for peace. What is needed is a complete end to all settlement building, with no exceptions. Only this will signal to the world that Israel might be sincere in seeking peace.
the peace negotiations will bear fruit only when the palestinians start now with “actions irreversible” (IRREVERSIBLE) that not only change facts on the ground but also radically change the way they talk about their positions. they should play netanyahu’s old and perpetual game. in all fora, both private and public (e.g, universities and work offices) , both national but more especially international, they should continue the boycott, start systematically referring to Abbas as the president of the Republic of Palestine, call the “PalestinianAuthority” by the new name “Palestine National Authority”, refer to the israeli government as the israeli authority, call the WestBank Eretz-Ishmael (Ard-Isma3eel), give ArabicPalestinian names to all israeli jewish settlements and locales, and refer to Eretz-Ishmael (Ard-Isma3eel) and Gaza as the “Republic of Palestine (JumhuriyyatFalasteen)”. … It might not be much or enough to change many facts on the ground today and for the near future, but looking ahead to the day when they unilaterally declare the establishment of their Republic of Palestine, it’s perhaps all and the best that the palestinians, in and out of palestine, can do for now … only if they put their mind to it, take the pain, and stick with it …