Comments on: Question for the center/left: what do you do if there really is no one to negotiate with?

By: Dana Meijler-Gross

Dana Meijler-Gross — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:12:44 +0000

Great post. I do think it is going a bit far to say that we don't have a negotiating partner in Abbas. I think we do, I think the right pushes this idea because they need it as a justification for Netanyahu to do nothing. Anti Israel speeches are not a deal breaker to negotiations, if that were true, we would never have negotiated with Sadat or Arafat or King Hussein. What's missing right now is a true peace partner in Bibi and not enough action from the quartet to push the parties back to the table, probably also because Bibi is, while paying lip service to a 2 state solution putting roadblock after roadblock in the way. Not that the Palestinians are not without responsibility, they absolutely are as well but we also need to look to ourselves.

By: Levi Kofman

Levi Kofman — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:14:25 +0000

Pseudo-intellectuals and their ability to use sophisticated labguage to speaks lots of nonsense that completely defies logic and realtiy, is certainly a remarkable phenemnon. It's one of the wonders of the world.

By: Sam Lightstone

Sam Lightstone — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:37:22 +0000

Any suggestions for getting the parties back to the table?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:03:16 +0000

Ami Ayalon? Are you serious? Great in the navy and in Shabak but a complete disaster in politics. Why does everyone think that ex-generals know more about the middle east than any other intelligent well informed person. Almost all have been complete failures in the world of politics and negotiations. Remember Uri Sagi? Constantly lectured us as to how important it is to give the golan back to Assad. We all know how all that worked out. I don't trust any of them.

By: Will Erickson

Will Erickson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:36:28 +0000

When I was a small child, I was told Hans Christian Anderson's story, 'The Emperor's New Clothes'. Apparently, there are many people that are not familiar with the story.

By: Will Erickson

Will Erickson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:34:44 +0000

One thing that modern academia has apparently accomplished is the formation of the pseudo-intellectual. That is a person that can write or speak using lots of sophisticated sounding words and phrases, like 'ab-initio condition', and use them to support the most completely inane point of view.

By: Will Erickson

Will Erickson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:26:35 +0000

To err is human. To be so confused as to not be able to see the obvious, requires a college education. With all respect to Ms. Fares, who seems to have her head on straight.

By: Will Erickson

Will Erickson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:10:11 +0000

Only an 'intellectual' is stupid enough not to understand that, if one party refuses to recognize the right of the other party to exist i.e. 'wants to wipe them off the map, or believes they are descended from apes and pigs', negotiations are impossible. As, in fact they have turned out to be, entirely fruitless.

By: Emanuel Shahaf

Emanuel Shahaf — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:42:08 +0000

Fact was that the settlement freeze was not a "nonstarter" since it is reasonable to expect that while negotiations are going on, the subject matter of the neogtiations is not permanently changed. The nature of "recognizing Israel as a State of the Jewish people" is a major concession, not something to show good faith. That's why it was never even brought up by previous governments – the other reason it wasn't brought up is, is that it is also quite stupid – to ask another side to recognize you as something you would like to be recognized as. You can call yourself anything you like but you can't force another side to recognize you as that. Why should you ? It doesn't change anything. Next thing you ask the other side to undergo a lie-detector test to prove that they meant it…

By: Emanuel Shahaf

Emanuel Shahaf — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:34:03 +0000

Ah these evil Arabs who have deciphered our psyche and are now bombarding us with choice messages to brainwash the confused and emotionally imbalanced Westerner. I love it. That must be it. The Muslim cultural milieu is becoming as confused and unbalanced and the changes that are imminent there are a lot bigger than we are able to whip up…

By: Shawn Ruby

Shawn Ruby — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:38:03 +0000

Great piece. The thing is, as Emanuel Shahaf has pointed out in the comments, that there is a partner right now. We have had 5 years of quiet, cooperation and institution building in the West Bank. Negotiations could still fail, and I agree we need a Plan B, but right now the key thing is get the sides back to the table. While formally both Netanyahu and the opposition have offered negotiation without pre-conditions, Abbas looks at Netanyahu's coalition and knows it's a non-starter – he is better off building up international support and biding his time for a government he can work with. Unfortunately, that does not look like it is on its way any time soon.

By: Elad Elkayam

Elad Elkayam — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:35:46 +0000

I agree with you on the humane approach, simply because we share similar core values which are Judeo-Christian based. The other interpretations to which you are referring to, I suspect, hail from the same Western Cultural approach. If not, and if they are not simple Arab Propaganda especially made for the consumption of emotionally imbalanced westerners, I will be happy to review. Otherwise, not taking fully into account the Muslim Cultural Milieu and bias in which we are in, and from which we are viewed and our actions judged, is an arrogant and subsequently terrible mistake.

By: Emanuel Shahaf

Emanuel Shahaf — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:28:23 +0000

What you wrote is an analysis based on a selective interpretation of the facts. There are other interpretations, less selective and more in tune with what is happening on the ground. As long as human beings are involved any deterministic judgement is simply not applicable.

By: Josh Feigenbaum

Josh Feigenbaum — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:46:30 +0000

To be fair, Emanuel, was a settlement freeze a condition for talks before 2009?

By: Lynette Nusbacher

Lynette Nusbacher — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:25:23 +0000

A means to an end: spot on.