Nothing Left To Concede Except The Integrity of Israel And Security of Its Citizens

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UPDATES 6:30 pm Israel time Wednesday:

*Judea and Samaria are roiling. Once quiet Jewish community members, who are attacked everyday by Palestinian terrorist “rock” and Molotov cocktail throwers, are fighting back in the aftermath of the brutal stabbing murder of Eviatar Borovsky yesterday morning.

Perhaps the most ridiculous comment of the day has come from the IDF spokesman who has said that the IDF is concerned that the Jewish community members’ actions “may spark a third intifada.” One wonders where that spokesman has been throughout the last six months as a third intifada has been in full progress throughout Judea and Samaria.

*Your humble servant often points out the absurdity of alarms going off in southern Israel and men, women, and children running to bomb shelters–only to have the IDF later say that it was all “a false alarm.” In your humble servant’s opinion, there are very few false alarms–the system is remarkably accurate in detecting launches out of Gaza. I mention all of this because farmers near Sderot found a Qassam rocket this morning in an agricultural field–a Qassam that had been labeled “a false alarm” last week by the IDF.

TODAY’S BLOG:

The “peace concessions” (aka “negotiations”) quaqmire deepened today with the Netanyahu government belatedly claiming that the new Arab League non-offer is nothing new (read yesterday’s israelstreet blog about just how “un-new” it is), while at the same time apparently welcoming the offer.

By afternoon, we had Netanyahu offering the partial nonsense that the conflict with the Palestinians is not about “territory”, but rather about the Palestinian’s refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.  As any average elementary school student knows, the conflict is about both territory and the Jewishness of Israel.

This latest Arab non-offer has quickly exposed the fissures in Netanyahu’s government with Livni gushingly praising the offer, and Bennett making noises that he might leave the government should it proceed down the “negotiation” road. Yair Lapid and Bennett are now demanding that any peace agreement be approved by a popular referendum.

One last point: Israel is already being pressured with the canard that “Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to return to the ‘negotiations’ table with preconditions”. What utter nonsense.

Virtually EVERY precondition that Abbas demanded has been given him by Israel and Netanyahu:

1. Abbas demanded that negotiations be based on the 1949 Armistice Lines (pre-1967 lines). Israel has agreed.

2. Abbas demanded a halt to construction of Jewish homes, schools, and hospitals in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has agreed to a “quiet freeze.”

3. Abbas demanded a release of Palestinian prisoners imprisoned before the Oslo Accords. Netanyahu has apparently agreed to such a release.

4. Abbas asserted that he would never term Israel a “Jewish state”. Israel has withdrawn that demand.

Such is the sad state of the Israeli government–going to the concessions table again with nothing left to concede except the integrity of Israel itself and the security of its citizens.

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