If you want to understand why the Obama administration is so angry with
Binyamin Netanyahu and his government, read what Netanyahu told Etgar
Keret,
one of Israel's leading young authors.
Keret spoke with Netanyahu on a recent trip to Italy. He was reporting for Haaretz, the Israeli daily, which once a year hires Israel's leading authors and poets to serve as reporters.
Keret demanded an answer from Netanyahu to a simple question: What is your government's peace initiative? What is the plan that you are pushing to end the conflict with the Palestinians? Netanyahu's reply was: "This is an insoluble conflict because it is not about territory. It is not that you can give up a kilometer more and solve it. The root of the conflict is in an entirely different place. Until Abu Mazen recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, there will be no way to reach an agreement."
Netanyahu's assertion that the crux of the conflict is attitudinal rather than territorial is both factually wrong and wrongheaded, as my colleague Lara Friedman has been pointing out since Netanyahu posed his "recognition-plus" precondition more than two years ago. And, as Keret wrote, even if it is truly important for Israel to be recognized by the Palestinians as a Jewish state, "a strategy that is based on waiting for the other to change, is one that I would not assume. Esteemed leaders do not achieve accomplishments by waiting for the other side to make a move."
Netanyahu's publicly joining the ranks of the "no-solutionists" is bound to further strain his relations with the Obama administration. In the past, similar public statements by senior Israeli officials such as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon and former National Security Advisor Uzi Arad caused a great deal of anger in Washington. Why? Not only because politicians should focus on pursuing peace policies rather than practicing punditry, but also because of the subtext. The message was that Israel's leaders are not pursuing peace. They are merely going through the motions, doing the absolute minimum so as not to alienate Israel's chief ally.
Netanyahu's statement should anger Israelis and Americans who care about Israel, as much as it angers Obama's Washington. Because a reasonable solution to the conflict is feasible, and because abandoning an active and sincere pursuit of peace for Israel is disastrous for Israel's future. Israel will not be able to exist as a democratic Jewish state without a two-state solution.
Over time, the lingering occupation of the West Bank is eroding Israel's democracy, making Israeli society increasingly violent and isolating Israel in the international arena.
Dismissing peace efforts as futile, or even putting the peace process on temporary hold, pending better circumstances, might turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. It might discourage Israelis and Palestinians, as well as their friends internationally, from striving to create conditions conducive to peace. That may be Netanyahu's goal. By doing so, he is inducing the birth of a bi-national state. He is reinforcing a devolution of the conflict from one that can be solved into the type of ethnic strife that the former Yugoslavia witnessed a decade ago.
Netanyahu is not only condemning Israelis and Palestinians to endless bloodletting. He is also inducing the beginning of the end of the Jewish state.
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The Palestinian goal is to ethnically cleanse the Jews from Israel. They state this in writing and television again, and again, and again.
The conflict can only be solved by the Jews agreeing to be ethnically cleansed, or the Jews ethnically cleansing the Arabs. As of now the Jews allow their genocidal enemies to remain on their territory, that may change in time.
How can you ignore Hamas' charter? Have you read it? Seems pretty clear to me. Was Hamas just posturing when they wrote it or do they really believe it? Obama is a naive fool. A two state solution is the obvious solution IF mutual respect prevails. "Good fences make for good neighbors". Do you feel more secure with Jordan or Syria?
the Palestinian covenant states that Israel is not to be recognised as a legitimate state. This position has never changed and meetings between the Israelis and Palestinians for peace will get nowhere until this issue is resolved.
Arabs and Jews have been fighting for 5,000 years and the U S is a mere babe of 200. There's no way the U S can resolve this conflict. I suspect both sides remember each chapter of their struggles.
IF MY NEIGHBOURS DENIED MY LEGAL RIGHT TO EXIST - I DO NOT THINK I WOULD BE WILLING TO ENTER INTO ANY AGREEMENTS UNTIL I HAD THEIR FIRM ASSURANCE OF MY INALIENABLE RIGHT TO MY OWN TERRITORY. IF HAMAS, P.A AND THE REST OF THE RABID TROUBLEMAKERS SURROUNDING ISRAEL REALLY WANT THE PEACE PROCESS TO START(I DON'T THINK THEY DO) - THEY SHOULD COMMENCE BY STATING CATEGORICALLY THAT ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO BE!!
The comments are far more sensible than the article. How the hell can Israel make peace with an implacable enemy whose only raison d'etre is Israel's destruction?
Patricia Jones said all that needs to be said.
What a pity that Lara Friedman lacks the foresight necessary to make a good journalist. WHY WOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND GIVE CARTE BLANCHE TO AN ENEMY THAT DOES NOT RECOGNISE THEIR RIGHTS TO EXIST? Can anyone clarify Lara's intent more clearly because, as I see it - she is asking that Israel goes like a lamb to the slaughter.
Time is not on Israel's side as the UN General Assembly is likely to declare a Palestinian State in September.
While it will be very difficult to obtain, a comprehensive, sustainable resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is essential . Lacking such an agreement, I fear that Israel will: (1) face a major Intifada and/or a very damaging war, as her enemies now have more sophisticated and deadly missile; (2) not be able to effectively respond to her many economic, environmental, and other domestic challenges; (3) not be able to remain both a Jewish and a democratic state.
Hamas is certainly a problem, but its leaders have stated several times that they would abide with a negotiated agreement if it were ratified in a referendum by the Palestinian people.
The whole problem began around 1948 when Zionists started to ethnically cleanse the area that is now called Israel. These Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state and unfortunately the only way to create a majority was to eliminate Muslims and Christians from the area. They murdered whole families and people that were not executed were forcibly removed from their homes. These Christian and Muslim "Palestinians" did not deserve this; they were peaceful (contrary to Zionist propaganda). The only way to solve this problem is to stop the Israel planned settlements on the West Bank and to compensate the Palestinians for the land that was stolen. Help them rebuild their economy and infrastructure. Show compassion for other human beings by allowing them to sell their goods and give them access to fresh water, etc etc.
Believe it or not....Israel has full legal rights to Judea and Samaria (West Bank), under INTERNATIONAL LAW.
See here for details:
http://tinyurl.com/jewishrightstotheland