How do you resurrect something that was never alive in the first place?
For almost a half century, since Israel won Gaza from Egypt and Judea/Samaria (the west bank) from Jordan*, we have had something called “The Peace Process”.
It has consisted in its entirety of Israel making tangible concessions the Palestinian Arabs living in those areas, asking nothing in return other than peaceful coexistence…and getting nothing in return but intifadas, jihad, terrorist attacks on civilian targets and more demands.
But, that abysmal history notwithstanding, Secretary of State John Kerry continues to pressure Israel into making still more tangible concessions in an effort to…..to what? To nothing, that\’s what, because, as always, Palestinian Arab “leadership” such as it is, takes the concessions, breaks the promises, and demands more concessions.
Here is the latest example, excerpted from article in today\’s New York Times:
JERUSALEM- Defying the United States and Israel, the Palestinian leadershipformally submitted applications on Wednesday to join 15 internationalagencies, leaving the troubled Middle East talks brokered bySecretary of State John Kerry on the verge of breakdown.
Theapplications were signed by President Mahmoud Abbas of thePalestinian Authority on Tuesday evening as part
MuhammadShtayyeh, a senior adviser to Mr. Abbas and a former negotiator, saidthat the Palestinian move was a reaction to Israel’s failure torelease a fourth batch of long-serving Palestinian prisoners by March29 and that the time for additional diplomatic maneuvering had runout.
“Wewaited three days, from March 29 until April 1, to give Americandiplomacy a chance and to give the Israelis a chance,” Mr. Shtayyehsaid.
Mr.Abbas’s actions, which appeared to catch American and Israeliofficials by surprise, prompted Secretary of State John Kerry tocancel a planned return to the region on Wednesday, in which he hadexpected to complete an agreement extending negotiations through2015.
Mr.Abbas, who had vowed not to seek membership of international bodiesuntil the April 29 expiration of the talks that Mr. Kerry startedlast summer, said he was taking this course because Israel had failedto release the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners.
Israeliofficials say they are not bound by their pledge because nomeaningful negotiations have taken place since November.
To summarize: Israel is in the process of releasing groups of Palestinian Arabs from jail – including Palestinian Arabs convicted of terrorism and murder. (What you don\’t see in the above excerpt is that they get hero\’s welcomes upon their return to Palestinian Arab-ruled areas).
In return, Palestinian Arabs agreed to negotiate a “peace deal” and not to seek membership with international bodies without one.
But, after three rounds of handing back these convicted terrorists and murderers – the “heroes” who kill women, children and elderly holocaust survivors – Palestinian Arabs are not negotiating…and are now seeking the membership they promised not to seek.
In other words, Israel gave Palestinian Arabs something tangible for nothing more than a promise, and Palestinian Arabs then broke the promise. In other words, a perfect descripton of the “peace process” since it started.
But give them other things, and they\’ll promise to come back to the table. Honest.
A little reality for you: There is no “peace process”. Palestinian Arabs do not want peace, they want Israel. Not just the rest of the west bank and part of Jerusalem, but every square inch of it. They will never agree to, and abide by, any deal that gives them anything less. Period, end of story.
It is about time that this situation is seen for what it so clearly is, and dealt with accordingly. No more “peace process” until:
– Palestinian Arabs renounce terrorism for real, not for show,
– they specifically, renounce the hamas charter – which is the “constitution” of Gaza and fine with the Palestinian Arab-controlled west bank, since they signed a unity agreement with hamas and therefore are on board with it.
-sSerious efforts are made to stop artillery from being fired at Israel from Palestinian-controlled areas,
-and the people who are attacking Israel must be captured and held to account for it.
THEN, and ONLY THEN, will there be a serious reason to believe Palestinian Arab leadership wants to co-exist with Israel instead of annihilating it.
THEN and ONLY THEN can the so-called “peace process” have any meaning whatsoever.
Until that happens (and don\’t count on it being any time soon), the “peace process” is pure folly.
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*Originally I had reversed Egypt and Jordan. My mistake. Thanks, Zeke, for pointing it out.
