UPDATE 7 am Israel time Tuesday:
Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired five more rockets attempting to kill southern Israelis yesterday: in the early morning one hit Sha’ar Hanegev; in the mid-morning one hit near Nahal Oz; in the evening two hit around Sderot; and at night one misfired and hit northern Gaza. The IDF, as usual, did not respond–preferring to let southern Israelis spend the day, as usual, running to and from their bomb shelters.
TODAY’S BLOG:
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "strongly urged" PM Netanyahu on Monday to offer more Israeli concessions to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Does anyone remember that Netanyahu froze construction in Judea and Samaria for 10 months? Or that he called for a "two-state" solution? Or that he has released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners? Or that . . .? What concession have the Palestinians ever made for peace?
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s whirlwind visit to Israel is over, and it went much as predicted in yesterday’s israelstreet blog. While focusing on Iran, she muted her criticism about construction of Jewish homes, schools, and hospitals in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria–and completely dodged questions about whether President Obama had badly bungled “peace negotiations” by focusing on the so-called “settlements”.
But Clinton did have time to say once again that the U.S. puts the onus on Israel to restart negotiations with the Palestinians. And how is Israel supposed to do that? By making more concessions to the Palestinians. And which concessions is Israel supposed to make? Precisely the latest ones that Mahmoud Abbas has been harping about for the last month: releasing more Palestinian prisoners and allowing the Palestinian “security forces to import more weapons” into Judea and Samaria.
Demanding such concessions is flabbergasting in its sheer gall. In the first place, the concessions are not even being advertised by Clinton as being “for peace”. Astonishingly, the concessions are merely meant to get Mahmoud Abbas to come to the negotiating table so that he will then supposedly talk about peace. By next week, the United States will be asking Israel to make concessions so that the eternally depressed and infantile Mahmoud Abbas will be able to get out of his bed in the morning and eat his breakfast, so that he will then be able to think about coming to the negotiating table to talk about peace.
But what is more is that Clinton also mentioned that the concessions are “necessary to support Mahmoud Abbas” whose Fatah (PLO) Party poll numbers in the upcoming Palestinian municipal elections are fading badly.
Can you believe this? It is now the U.S. view that Israel needs to prop up the PLO and Mahmoud Abbas–the same Mahmoud Abbas who has steadfastly refused to negotiate with Israel for the last three years, the same Mahmoud Abbas who has been handed concession after concession by Israel, the same Mahmoud Abbas who defied the U.S. and Israel by unilaterally seeking Palestinian statehood in the United Nations last year, and the same Mahmoud Abbas who is about to fly off to Iran to engage in “discussions” with Ahmadinejad.
And speaking of concessions, does anyone remember the Israeli concessions of the last month alone–the release of prisoners and the return of the bodies of dead terrorists (all of whom were “honored” as nationalistic martyrs in a special PLO ceremony in Ramallah). Or what about the concession of today? Believe it or not, as of this morning, Israel is now allowing the Palestinian terrorist prisoners from Gaza to have prison visits with their families.
Think about that. As rockets are raining down on southern Israel–5 were fired in the last 20 hours alone by Palestinians in Gaza–Israel is now going to grant concessions to Palestinian prisoners from Gaza by relaxing restrictions. It is simply, totally, and absolutely unbelievable.
But Clinton and the United States want even more concessions.
On Sunday, President Obama gave an interview to ABC News in which he lamented that he had “failed” to bring the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians forward “the way he wanted.” Obama then proceeded to insultingly lump Israel in with the Palestinians in saying that “the truth of the matter is that the parties, they’ve got to want it as well”–as if Obama wants peace more than we Israelis who have made concession after concession for peace over the last 64 years (more on this in tomorrow’s blog).
Of course Obama has failed, and he has failed because he still does not understand the issues here–and perhaps, even more importantly, he has failed because he does not understand the Palestinians.
The old Israeli expression about the Palestinians has never been more true: offer the Palestinians your little finger, and they will try to take your whole hand–offer them your hand, and they will try to take your whole arm. No matter how many concessions Israel makes to the Palestinians, they are never enough–because the Palestinians are not interested in peace–they are only interested in the elimination of Israel.
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