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Israel's Choice is Settlements or Peace, say Palestinians
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories - Israel must chose between "settlements or peace," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Monday ahead of the September 2 restart of negotiations in Washington.
Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, pauses as he speaks in the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. Israel must chose between "settlements or peace," Erakat said on Monday ahead of the September 2 restart of negotiations in Washington.(AFP/Abbas Momani) "The choice of the Israeli government is settlement or peace, they cannot have both," he said at a news conference in Ramallah, the political capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But he also said he believed agreement could be reached within one year.
"We think it is doable."
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, in a letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton dated August 21 and seen by AFP on Monday, also warned that the talks would be cut short if Israel resumes settlement activities.
Both sides agreed to relaunch direct negotiations after a 20-month hiatus, even though the Palestinians had initially insisted they would not hold face-to-face talks unless the Israelis freeze settlement activity in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
But Erakat made it clear on Monday that settlements remain a major issue, and that it now remains to be seen whether Israel will renew a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction it imposed in November last year.
"If Mr Netanyahu decides to renew settlement tenders come September 26, he will have decided to stop negotiations," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated in the past the moratorium would conclude on that date.
And Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom reiterated on Monday that the moratorium was unlikely to be renewed.
"I don't think the freeze will be extended," he told public radio.
"The Palestinians cannot use this as a pretext to suspend negotiations," he warned.
The international community has pressed Israel to halt settlement activity while Netanyahu is under pressure at home to allow construction to resume.
The Palestinians have urged the US administration to demand guarantees from Israel on the issue, which has been a major hurdle in past peace efforts.
"We heard from the Americans that if we entered into direct negotiations we will be in a better position to have the moratorium extended, whether you call that an assurance or not," Erakat said.
"We hope Mr Netanyahu will choose reconciliation and not further confrontation and that's up to him," he said.
In his letter to Ashton, Abbas said: "I fear that ongoing settlement activity, especially in east Jerusalem, along with other Israeli violations of international law and the roadmap will further undermine the credibility of negotiations in the eyes of my people."
He also told Ashton he had warned US Middle East envoy George Mitchell that the talks could be scuttled by a resumption of settlement activities.
"It should be noted that I have stated to Senator Mitchell that if Israel resumes settlement activities, including in east Jerusalem, we cannot continue with negotiations," he said.
Both sides have traded accusations of holding up the peace process and each has said it is now up to the other to make it work.
"We are seeking to surprise the critics and the sceptics, but in order to do this we need a real partner on the Palestinian side. It is possible to succeed with a hand extended in peace, but only if someone on the other side likewise extends one," Netanyahu said on Sunday.
A string of interim agreements have been reached since the 1993 Oslo accords gave the Palestinians limited autonomy pending a "final-status" settlement on an independent state but they have failed to bear fruit.
A relaunch of negotiations amid much fanfare at Annapolis in Maryland in November 2007 had produced no visible results by the time the talks collapsed when Israel launched its devastating military 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip just over a year later.
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Show All"It is possible to succeed with a hand extended in peace, but only if someone on the other side likewise extends one," Netanyahu said on Sunday.
His vice prime minister has already predicted the resumption, five weeks from now, of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. "The Palestinians cannot use this as a pretext to suspend negotiations," he warned.
This is exactly the policy that Israeli governments have displayed for decades in "negotiating" with the Palestinians. It has used those decades to continue grabbing new territory.
And every American president has tolerated it, to stay on the right side of AIPAC.
Can anyone hope for a different outcome this time?
Here's what I want to see happen:
The Palestinians will demand a return to the pre-'67 borders.
Period.
End of very sad, very bad story.
Settlements or Peace?
As a Jewish American I can surely say that the Israelis will never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Where have I heard that before?
Anyway, I won't be holding my breath, at least not when that war mongering scum sucking parasite NetanAsshole is in power.
If they're going to negotiate the logistics of removing all the "settlements" (i.e. illegal Israeli colonies) from Palestinian land, and the timetable for Israeli reparations to the Palestinians for Israel's 60+ years of ethnic cleansing and state-sponsored terrorism against the Palestinian people, then fine.
It would be even better if they would negotiate the logistics of packing up and removing the state of Israel and all its dual citizens from the Middle East.
But there is no point in more "negotiations" that are nothing but a fig leaf for Israel to hide behind as they continue their slow-motion holocaust against the Palestinians.
Actually, if you were Israel, this would be the way to do it. Pretend to negotiate peace while constantly raising the stakes or changing the rules of the game, in the meantime, continue the slaughter and land theft, when it all finally falls apart, blame the Palestinians. It's simple but it's been working for 60 years.
i agree w/ your anaylisis reverend boomerang. there's nothing new here just another hollow title for an article about continued settlements and continued genocide.
'Choice is Settlements or Peace, say Palestinians'
israel's sudden desire to negotiate peace (and maintain the creation of settlements, while imposing racist laws in israel and denying the return of refugees) is a hoax. the international community should continue to apply economic pressure on israel (bds movement) to force israel to make sincere concessions - including reparations, returning confiscated land and extending civil rights to palestinians in israel.
...peace...
What a pointless farce. This situation has been festering my entire life. There will be no peace, there will be no justice. The Israelis will continue their slow motion genocide while the whole world watches and the US funds it. Take away the Israelis money and maybe then you can get them to the negotiating table.
So, nu, what if Israel and Palestine are moving towards resolution in spite of all of our cynicism, hatred, hopelessness, outrage, etc.? Would you all really rather the negotiations break off than bear any fruit at all??
So, nu, is there a Yiddish term for "straw man"?
Sorry, "nu" is about all the Yiddish I know.
Let's just say that a lot of people will believe that when they see it.
ramallah puppets are not the, do not represent the palestinians, it is all a show a la rabin, as anthony cordesman of csis advised the israelis to do a month or two ago. it is all a political show. the colonial injustice, thievery, and murder continue, though in ramallah it is u.s. trained palestinians who do the dirty work,..
That should be an easy choice for Israel: settlements while pretending to pursue peace. Let's face it, if they were ever to strike peace with the Palestinians who would they blame for their woes? Who would they massacre? Whose land would they steal? Yeah, I know, I know...there are always the Lebanese.
the folks that killed count folke bernadotte in 1948 will never find morality.
Oh sure, I would love to see more peace talks and negotiations, if they're productive. But as 'Mr King' says, this shit's been going on all my life, and let me add to that that Netanyahu is avowedly not interested in peace while a single Palestinian lives. He is a murderous, psychotic Nazi thug, and I wish to Christ someone in the media with access had the guts to say it to his stinking face.
Fuck Netanyahu, and fuck Israel.
They will not even suspend their blatant theft of land while negotiations commence. Yes, it is a farce. There will not be actual peace and resolution under Netanyahu, emboldened further as he is by the U.S. and U.N. kissing his arse over the Gaza flotilla murders.
This bullshit insult to humanity of Israel receiving endless immunity from prosecution of its war crimes has to fucking end, but exactly how is that going to happen, while there is this Jewish stranglehold over the world financial system - and that out of Netanfuckface's own mouth, and while there's this bullshit respect and lipservice paid to this goddamn evil Judaeo-Christian 'religious' crap.
I read that Anne Frank's Chestnut tree fell over . The reason was said to be rotting wood. Hmmm, could this be a sign from god that Anne's Tree of Life has given up the ghost?
That seems like a sign Mr. Netenyahu. The TREE has been smited!
However, as long as some people in Israel believe that only they are the chosen people, I don't seem too hopeful. After all, one of those "books" did say that god gave them the land, up to the Tigris-Euphrates and down to the Red Sea.
Wow, that's a lot of land, just about the whole Middle East. Mr. Netenyahu continues to "bear false witness, " it seems against the entire world.
The conspicuous absence of Hamas in "negotiations" reveals this to be nothing less than a US midterm elections PR ploy from Rahmbo's playbook: Behold, Israel agrees yet again to hold the football for the Palestinians, like Lucy for Charlie Brown---a tired ritual of betrayal lasting as many decades. Palestinian "leaders" must finally end their predictable role in providing Israel false cover while Israel's twisted road map of settlements expands toward Armageddon and the Whore of Baybylon. There's little time left for a different game plan.
"The conspicuous absence of Hamas in "negotiations" reveals this to be nothing less than a US midterm elections PR ploy from Rahmbo's playbook"
Certainly possible, especially considering these talks would have been far better last year. But as pointed out, Hamas is not involved so it will go nowhere.
Hmmm... the two sides to participate in PEACE TALKS after 9 pacifists in the Gaza Peace Flotilla were killed trying to break the illegal Israeli blockade, after the 'inadvertent' announcement of settlement building approved while Biden visited Israel, after obama had declared that settlements should be stopped, after he mentioned (long ago, early in the election campaign) that Hamas should also be included in any peace negotiations...and after the AIPAC conference, but before the elections...aside from being a farce, is this going to be another ploy to show how the US supports Israel's tactics no matter what?
considering also that the "talks" are with completely discredited ramallah based puppets...and that a while ago, anthony cordesman of CSIS advised the israelis to be more circumspect in the style of rabin...
If I may, I predict that the "mask" is soon to be removed. The Chosen people of God will come to be seen as they are; the master builders, the architects and designers of this world. They are the Majestic Lords and we are their subjects. They have been kind to (most of) us thus far. One day they will tire of the charade and the world’s people will come to witness the complete power of the chosen! The day will come when they exercise their full rights and every knee shall bow.
It’s important to understand the magnitude of what you’re messing with.
TrueToo:
You left out the most important part of your post, the little [sarcasm] symbol.
Waubuno that's true too.
Sooner or later, the world will force Israel to give up West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as control of their waters and air space, and their settler movement, and allow the Palestinians reparations in the form of their own independent, sovereign nation-state alongside Israel.
independent, o.k., i can't disagree with this, but the Right of Return, as a Right, cannot be ignored. the palestinians were pushed off their land by terrorism, conscious and planned. furthermore, the state, similar to a modern corporation, which hides itself behind the name "israel" and which has corrupted and destroyed the jewish spirit across the world, must fall, and a healthier structure take it's place.
In November 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of the partition of Palestine, proposing the creation of a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a UN-administered Jerusalem. Partition was accepted by Zionist leaders but rejected by Arab leaders, leading to civil war. Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948 and neighboring Arab states attacked the next day. Since then, Israel has fought a series of wars with neighboring Arab states, and in consequence occupied territories, including the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, beyond those delineated in the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts by elements within both parties to diplomatically solve the problem have so far only met with limited success and some of Israel's international borders remain in dispute.
Did the United Nations allow a Jewish land grab from Arabs?
If this is true, then I now understand why Arabs and Jews in this region are at each others throats.
They are both fighting over what they believe to be their homeland.
What a mess. Is it any wonder violence and he who holds the bigger stick is calling the shots.
Pretty good description.
I would point out that most of the land within the original boundries of Israel were purchased by Jews/Zionists/whatever they were. The contention is in the land they control now after the attacks, outside those 1947 boundries (as I understand it)
Its quite clear that Israel will not, under any circumstances give up Jerusalem.
Nor will they agree to a "Right of Return"
Only children and fools would think they will ever agree to either of these. The Palestinians will in the end have to give those demands up or stay where they are.
Israel will not engage in suicide.
"Israel will not engage in suicide" -- Oh, but it already does. Illegal settlement expansion, pre-emptive attacks on civilians (Lebanon, Gaza and the flotilla), using chemical weapons against civilians, land theft, home demolition--and a host of other destructive policies really are political suicide. Israelis are despised throughout the world for their disproportionate, illegal actions against unarmed civilians. This is political suicide. There was a time when Israel had the sympathy and goodwill of the world. Now, the world realizes that Israel is the poster child for how the oppressed becomes the oppressor.
You misunderstand... I mean literal suicide as in the "right of return". If Israel agreed to that it would cease to exist. Thats why I said they will NEVER agree to it.
And as far as Jerusalem goes, at this point, that also is non-negotiable.
My point being that discussing things that will never happen is a waste of time.
I would also say, I doubt Israel is as concerned with how the "world" views her as she is with her survival. So I don't expect she will worry overmuch about that at this point. I believe thats the reality. (and the real danger)
Mightymite,
“discussing things that will never happen is a waste of time.”
The fact is you are going to die. Discussing when and how could be speculative but not irrelevant, especially if and when there are people both planning and calculating your demise.
Israel’s “agreement” is not the problem or the necessity. It’s present regime is the problem and that, like all things will eventually change.
Saddam Hussein and his Baat Party no longer control Iraq, but Iraq still exists, and now the Kurds and the Shiia have an important voice in running that country. Hopefully the Iraqi people will succeed in rebuilding their country with and including the Sunni minority once the interference of the American occupation has been eliminated or made irrelevant.
These terms like “wiping Israel off the map” and “Israel will cease to exist” are ideas full of hyperbole (or bull). What people who use them really mean is that the regime which fronts the Zionist project based on a mythical racial/tribal/religious colonization and ethnic cleansing using terrorism and draconian military methods, and funded by Zio-Fascists, and their ignorant or innocent followers throughout the world will have to be changed to become one that includes what is now a majority of the people over whom that regime and the state is directly responsible either by citizenship, occupation or has directly caused their loss of land and status, namely Palestinians in Palestine, in Israel proper, and refugees who were forcibly or otherwise removed and not compensated as well as the present Jewish citizens who have now become a minority in what they purport to be a Jewish state, be it with undefined borders.
In short instead of being a fascist anti-goy hegemony threatening its neighbours and the word with a WMD Armageddon, Israel will have to become a real country obeying the international laws established by civilization’s history and experience (the Jews not least).
Agreement is not the only way “change” will come to Israel, but there is the hard way, and then there is the harder way! And as the Karma dictates, the Israelis seem to prefer the latter.
Lucitanian
Well, I was hoping to last forever!
Do you believe that the Israeli will ever agree to the "right of return"? I am absolutely certain they will not, no matter who is in charge. That is what I mean by “discussing things that will never happen is a waste of time.”
"Israel’s “agreement” is not the problem or the necessity. It’s present regime is the problem and that, like all things will eventually change."
This I find confusing. Without Israels "agreement" nothing will be solved, nothing will change, I would think it would be an absolute necessity.
“wiping Israel off the map” and “Israel will cease to exist”
I have heard that suggested and read it. The problem is the Israeli seem to believe it as stated.
"Agreement is not the only way “change” will come to Israel, but there is the hard way, and then there is the harder way! And as the Karma dictates, the Israelis seem to prefer the latter."
I see no other way change will come. What or how do you see it? Not militarily I'm sure, so I'm darn curious???
"ever" is a big word and a long time. Regimes change is my point. Regime change means a government where the majority Palestinians are represented proportionately under which could be imagined a right to return or compensation being "agreed" by such a new comprehensive "Israeli" government. True it wouldn't be a "Jewish" state any more; it might be a secular or a multi-ethnic state. What is needed is an end to Zionist racist (or religious, or ethnic or whatever) fascism.
You used the term "Israel will cease to exist". Nothing ceases to exist but some things are transformed and transfigured or renewed. Not impossible, once you get the ZioNazi fascists out of the picture and behind bars where they belong. We, as much as we would like to “last for ever”, just turn to dust in the wind.
What I mean is a simple agreement between two opposed parties, a two state solution, etc. is not the only way. It is part of the Zionist polemic to see everything as “them” and “us”, as a conflict and dichotomy. A changed Israel accepting the future demographic, incorporating the Palestinian population has to agree with itself to exist. This however is what the Zionists see as "Israel ceasing to exist" as a Jewish state. Can the lion sleep with the lamb?
"True it wouldn't be a "Jewish" state any more"
I see. But thats why it will not happen. No Israeli will ever allow that majority to happen. Thats exactly why I said 'right of return" is an impossibility.
"Can the lion sleep with the lamb?"
I believe it can. But I don't brelieve you will ever see an incorporation of the Palestinian population into Israel. It will remain a Jewish state. Can you see Iran becoming a Jewish state? Same difference.
I understand you frame of reference, I just cannot see that ever happening. But I can see the two states. But the US and the rest of the Arab states are going to have to get out of it. We are not exactly helping in my opinion. I'd be surprised if you didn't agree with me.
Mightymite: We will agree to disagree, I think. You say:
“But I don't believe you will ever see an incorporation of the Palestinian population into Israel. It will remain a Jewish state.”
I disagree as more than 20 percent of the citizens of Israel are Arabs and another 4% or so non-Jews. Then there are a not so insignificant and growing number of non-Zionist Jews, socialists, humanists, activists, and other rational people who realise that as Guernica quotes below : Norman Finkelstein has said of Israel," a lunatic state" that is, guilt-ridden and guilt-driven thieves/serial killers--nothing but thieves… This kind of state cannot last for very long and in any case the demographic clock is ticking. Such a state of affairs cannot go on existing for very much longer and certainly cannot be solidified by the likes of Netanyahu or Lieberman.
So the demographic clock still keeps ticking, 1/3, lets say, of the Israeli citizenship would be for an integrated society, and at least another ½ or more of Israel’s Jews are more or less indifferent when weighed against their primarily concern, establishing a status quo where by they can get on with what they think is more important, “it’s the economy, stupid” and are perfectly capable of working, living and getting on with Palestinians, and many have been doing so without difficulty for many years. The present drain on finances for “defence”, diminishing investment, the crippling budget and fiscal policy, the present DBS does have a profound effect on these people and their reason for being in Israel, and these people are getting tired of the failed logic of the Right, which is not working and will not work. This is no longer a small group.
Remember the American cultural anthropologist, Margret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
So faced, with the impossibility of continuing with the present insanity; faced with the inevitability of the demographics of citizenship; faced with a growing demand for a reasonable and balanced policy which brings economic stability and all of which is not being offered by the present political camps; Likud, Labour and the minority extremists, it is inevitable that a major and dramatic shift will come. And although many people would say the Israeli Jews are crazy, and I sometimes may agree, few who know anything would say that they are stupid.
Therefore when (not if) pragmatism will win the day, it will be in a single state solution, integrating Palestinians, their lands, their labour and their enterprise, providing them with all their rights including the right of return or methods of compensation for those who were made refugees; A constitution will be born of a new federalised state of Palestine and Israel with Jerusalem as its capital, being recognized by, and living in constructive peace with all its neighbours.
It has to happen because it is the only thing that solves the problems for the greatest number of interests and not just the pipe dreams of some elitist Zionist loonies with nukes and an attitude.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
True, though they may not be able to hold the world they made and thats happened often.
We will just disagree, I simply don't believe for a moment that the Israeli want to become an Arab state. And thats what it would be.
I will look forward to more of your posts on this.
there is no "Israel", there are the individuals living under a state which has stolen that name. if collectively they refuse to open jerusalem or admit the Right of Return, then they are, as Norman Finkelstein has said," a lunatic state" that is, guilt-ridden and guilt-driven thieves/serial killers--nothing but thieves...
The reality is that there is a State of Israel. They built Jerusalem did they not? It was rheir capital before they were conqured was it not? How does anyone else lay claim to it under those circumstanses?
The Nation of Israel was pomolgated by the United cNations as the nation of Israel.
There is no turning back from the creation of Israel. It is here to stay. All this fighting is due to people who refuse to accept it. Land aquired by Israel since it's declared independance was aquired defensively due to being attacked. Had they been left alone the borders would still be the same as they were originally.
Israel has the right to existance and until everyone accepts that there will never be any lasting peace agreements. If Israel could somehow receive guarantees that they would no longer be attacked by palestinian, hamas, or other arab terrorists then they would not have any problems with giving back land.
However, they and everyone else know that as soon as they give any land back that land would be used to launch further attacks against them.
Hysterical comments alluding to some phantom desire to annihilate Israel are red herrings meant to divert attention from the real issue: Israeli settlers are illegally squatting on land that was illegally annexed during wartime. There are clear international laws against building permanent settlements on land captured during war. Throughout history, land theft has generally been met with defensive attacks against the thieves. Hence, Palestinians are not "terrorists" but defenders of their land and families--which are under constant attack by the Israeli state terror machine. Progressive groups inside Israel fully support pulling back to the 1967 borders; right-wing reactionary groups do not. Americans who want to support Israel can do so by supporting the progressives in Israel, rather than their enemies.
Robw24, you are trying to turn the truth on its head. Israel is invading and occupying Palestinian land, not vice versa. Since Zionists cannot accept that basic truth, they can never live peacefully with the rest of the world.
Sure, Israel has a right to exist, but only as a secular state, and only if it renounces the expansionist, racist, Zionist project. That means allowing the return of Palestinian refugees, for starters.
Right now, Israel is just South Africa redux, except with a large nuclear arsenal and an insatiable appetite for land that makes it the most dangerous country extant. We toppled South African apartheid with a BDS movement, and we’ll deal with Zionism the same way.
Ostrogoth, I stand by my statement. Israel is only occupying land that was used to attack it. An poor analogy would be a child (Palestine territory) with a crayon (some land) writing all over the walls of the house. The parent takes it away and the child cries, accusing the parent of being abusive and stealing. The parent seems to be the aggressor (to simple minds), however that is not really the case. If the crayon was given back the child would continue to write on the walls again, so why give it back? Only when the child apologizes and could promise not to do it again (and mean it) should the crayon be given back. And even after that, when the child breaks his promise and writes again on the wall again, it should be taken back permanently, or at least for a long duration.
I try to keep an open mind about things going on in the world, but it seems pretty obvious to me that Israel is not the aggressor that people try to make them out to be. It is the people of the palestine territories (or whatever it's called) that are being aggressive. If they would just settle down and back off and try to live at peace, i'm sure Israel would be more than accomodating. I'm afraid that will not happen, however, as the ultimate intentions in that region is for Israel to cease to exist and the entire region becomes Palestine. Anything Israel gives back to the Palestinians in a peace deal would be just the first step toward their own elimination, thus I do not blame them for being reluctant to do so.
Whoa there! Yes Israel was attacked, yes she is occupying lands taken in wars not of her making for the most part,yes there is plenty of blame to go around, especially to the other Arab nations in the area.
But the Palestinian people are attacking no one. They are certainly not the aggressor at this point, in fact they wren't the ones that attacked her at all. Missles fired from Gaza into Israel? Anyone can do that. Its not a Ghetto and they are not hauling them off to death camps, but I doubt that anyone would describe Gaza as anything but a detention camp. Can they come and go at will? Trade freely? Bring in what they please?
"Anything Israel gives back to the Palestinians in a peace deal would be just the first step toward their own elimination, thus I do not blame them for being reluctant to do so"
There are many ways they can reach agreement. While there are some things that are going to be non-negotiable, there are many other things they could agree on
Robw24: “Israel is only occupying land that was used to attack it.”
Rob, surely you’re aware that Israelis are not temporarily occupying Palestine in self-defense, but have been permanently forcing Palestinians from their own land since the beginning of the nakbar in 1948. Resistance to ethnic cleansing can never be aggression except in the realm of pure propaganda.
No nation has ever had a 'right' to exist. Not one of them. Not now, nor in the past, nor shall any country ever have a 'right' to exist.
The ongoing occupation of land taken by force is causing more problems for the israeli government than getting rid of that land would cause.
I no longer believe that israel desires any sort of peace. I think they do want a piece of land here, and another piece there. But their government doesn't want peace at all.
Saeb Erekat is a respected and an intelligent man who has made a lot of sense in past statements but as a negotiator of experience he must really feel the pathos of this situation.
“Settlements or Peace” is not even an offer. (You’d think also that AFP could spell his name right in the text)
Firstly AFP and this article continues to contribute to the farce by calling Mahmud Abbas, Palestinian president, whereas he is the “ex” president of the Palestinian Authority, who’s mandate expired on January 9th 2009. The council and he DO NOT represent Palestine or the Palestinian people, and the present arrangement of excluding Hamas is in breach of their own constitution.
Of course America and Israel have no objection to negotiating or establishing agreements with a bunch of puppets that they designate and on terms they dictate, but to say that this in some way represents Palestine and the Palestinian people, and that these quislings can deliver a compromise of the Palestinian people's rights when they cannot even reach agreement with the rightful representatives of those people, namely Hamas, and furthermore cannot even call or face an election because they cannot establish a quorum in Parliament because of the number of representatives either killed or, conveniently for them, in Israeli jails… is nothing but ridiculous farce.
Asides from the obvious fact that the “peace” is not being breached or threatened by Palestinians, all the violence and aggression is coming from, or orchestrated by Israel. There is no conflict, there is a violent oppression of state terror on people by an occupying colonial government using draconian military methods to acquire and ethnically cleans land to which the Zionists have no legitimate claim in law.
From Israel’s point of view, it seems that they cannot afford peace. Just like all previous fascist governments they depend on a threat true or imaginary of a constant enemy, an insipid and ever changing menace to be hyped, turned on and off, up and down, and to divert attention from the failings of their regime and the myths on which the entire Zionist plan is built. So why should Netanyahu and his fellow ZioNazis see a choice in Erekat’s offer?
These talks are a win-win, for everybody but the Palestinians; for America to play-act to their political galleries that they are doing something, anything about the Middle East, while collecting filthy lucre from the Zionists for their coffers; to Israel to pretend peace while they continue killing and ethnically cleansing, and to the sitting ex-PA to pretend their legitimacy and continue their corruption. That Americans and Europeans allow their governments to support this farce, is if anything, the most pathetic of all and shows how Fascism is creeping over us with our complacency.
We are all Palestinians now!
A "peace treaty" that cedes to Israel some or all of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza seized and occupied in 1967, is, for Israel a "piece treaty" made possible by the US.
Lucitanian addressed the article with comments I'd have liked to express and did so very well indeed.
Saeb Ereket is a respected Palestinian diplomat well experienced in dealing with the Israel leadership. Where has it taken his people? How can such men play their assigned role in such a farce? Hamas are necessary for Palestinian unity. That much is clear.
In collaboration with Israel and its CIA spy spooks it has been Abbas with his phony government's security forces and his representatives who have been bought and corrupted on Israel's behalf to ensure division is perpetuated and the Palestinian population is kept under the cosh!
The sheer hypocrisy of political elites is astounding to-day. Never before were the Palestinian people so essentially divided. Arafat at least understood this had been Israel's long standing goal.
That the attempted coup was promoted and sponsored was bad enough but that Abbas was rewarded with all the trappings of power and support by the same people was criminal. Abbas spewed hatred out upon Hamas and became the assumed leader whose only role has been collaboration as the West Bank shrinks and Gaza remains imprisoned. He took the trappings of power and is a pathetic figure for show on the MSM.
What disappointed me most was the EU following US government's lead and declaring Hamas 'a terrorist organisation'. Europeans countries became fully complicit in the ensuing outrages. Hypocrites!
The Middle East envoy is Tony Blair for crying out loud!. Is not such humiliation extraordinary? The Quartet demands three things of Hamas before they will be permitted to enter talks? The condition about acceptance of previous agreements is a total farce!
Just because Abbas and his representative Ereket accept such conditions? Why should such agreements be upheld now? What is the rationale? The conditions of the previous agreements are broken, unenforced and have been ignored. Facts on the ground have rendered them inoperative and utterly broken. Its all being conducted on Palestinian land.
The refugees are the most numerous and important component of the Palestinian population. Does Abbas speak on their behalf? Palestinians who are citizens of Israel are being subjected to overt racist laws and enforcement.
Oh yeah! RoBW24 where exactly does Israel have a right to exist? If it has that right where exactly are you talking about? Because, if it has a right to exist it must exist somewhere presumably? Maybe it has a right to exist in a dream or a vision? An idea or in imagination perhaps?
There is only one people who can give Israel its right to exist to all intents and purposes and that is the Palestinian
people on whose lands Israel has expanded in illegal Occupation and who have largely been ethnically cleansed.
Ask them what they feel about Israel's right to exist? It matters not that the USA the EU or any other body recognises Israel's right to exist. Only when the Palestinian people grant that will Israel become established as it seeks by such recognition.
I suggest a simple referendum among all eligible Palestinians and particularly their refugee population to vote on this 'right to exist'. If they vote for Israel's right to exist well and good for Israel. If they vote against it then Israel doesn't have a legitimate right to exist.
The Palestinians are the people who must decide and their decision should be final.
So, lets ask them! Fair enough?
Not a chance right? These farcical negotiations are to be conducted for media consumption with strict conditions set out before hand shrinking the parameters of movement for Palestinians. Netanyahu is rightly pleased to hear that no conditions are set and that Israel's security is the paramount concern. But Hamas the elected Palestinian government is under imposed conditions that if accepted ensures their people's future becomes rapidly exiled in a futile accommodation and collaboration with Zionism.
While we are at it lets ask the refugees if they are prepared to give up their right to return to their home land?
Of all people they should be asked to respond to such requests and indeed forthcoming demands.
Are they then prepared to share Palestine with Jews who are prepared to share Palestine with them as equal citizens?
They might turn out to be a wonderful gracious semitic neighbour yet for Jews to have alongside as equal citizens in a new democratic and secular Palestine. Goodwill is all that is really required for that Holy Land to recover and prosper properly for all inhabitants and neighbours alike.
No more Jewish State!
Lbanus, Thank you for your comment, I think you point to the only kind of Israel that can exist over the long term, one in which all its citizens, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, be they Palestinian, Arab, Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Yemenite, Ethiopian, Oriental can live together as equals with mutual respect of human rights and dignity under the protection of the laws that they make, uphold and maintain.
This would mean that Israel would be truly a democracy. Something lost in America and in European countries these days. When you say that you were disappointed that “..the EU following US government's lead and declaring Hamas 'a terrorist organisation'. Europeans countries became fully complicit in the ensuing outrages. Hypocrites!” I agree, but you have to realise that the EU is also being dragged into the international Fascist arrangement of the New World Order.
As a European citizen under the Lisbon Treaty I have lost control of my representation governing the creation of such hypocritical policy calls. There is little meaning left to the word “nation” or “state” especially in this respect of foreign policy. The democratic structures of European countries have been seriously compromised. Democracy has been gutted in fact. We are under the power of councils and committees of bureaucrats that report to no one but themselves, drawing up policy in back room deals between elites for elitist interests. The European people have been sold a pig in the poke (with lipstick), and they were not even asked for their consent. (Well, to be honest they started asking, but then when the powers saw such consent would not be forthcoming in referendums they just changed the rules, and bound us all by treaties of state) It is a sad prospect we now face. I’m sure if Hitler had succeeded in conquering Europe, he could not have invented a better way to make irrelevant the voices of descent or even plurality. Americans, have about as much freedom and representation as we do to elect Twiddle Didi or Twiddle Didum, and it matters little when the banks, corporations, AIPAC and the Pentagon run their country.
Yes, we are all Palestinians now.