Comments on: What is Abbas Waiting For?

By: Jean Taylor

Jean Taylor — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:03:44 +0000

ISRAEL IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE, GODS SPECIAL CHILD. GOD ALMIGHTY REMAINS IN TOTAL CONTROL, HE WILL WIN ON THAT GREAT DAY. Feed On His Word and You Will Get an Education. God Bless Israel Hu.
gs and Prayers.

By: Harold Turner

Harold Turner — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:49:50 +0000

Marc,
Do you really think that Israel could exist in safety if the west bank were given to Hamas as a location from which to attack the rest of Israel? Don't you believe the Muslims when their stated goal is the removal of every last Jew from the land? You sound like Prime Minister Chamberlain in 1930's Great Britain looking for peace on "our time". You ignore the fact that when Abbas speaks in Arabic, he agrees with Hamas.

If you agree with making the west bank an enclave for terrorists to launch more attacks against Israeli women and children, I suggest that you walk into Gaza, announce your presence and make peace with Hamas as they drag you through the streets behind a motorcycle.

By: Jonathan Zausmer

Jonathan Zausmer — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:37:55 +0000

Olso is irrelevant today. It is used essentially as a means not for peace but for differential civil rights in occupied territory and indefinite settlement in the area known as C. Settlement is the prime issue regarding Palestinians and while they negotiated during settlement before, they will not today. If you do some research as see http://www.pcpsr.org/index.html you will understand how Palestinians (and not readers of ToI) actually relate to this issue.. Not only has the current government dismissed previous negotiations as a starting point, it has gone on a settlement rampage. In other words you have unilateral moves destroying the possibility of a Palestinian state and you expect them to smile and negotiate. Imagine your neighbor builds his son a home on your front lawn. After you have negotiated, talked, summarized, waited patiently, are you really going to sit and negotiate with him about getting your lawn back? These are not excuses. This is the way it is. I encourage you to actually read, listen and internalize the discourse and stop pontificating about what "arabs" or "palestinians" should be doing. We cannot control their actions but we can influence our own actions and take the initiative rather than leave it to the other side and a world that is becoming very intolerant. Negotiation does not mean capitulation. It means serious intent. Israel is the stronger side, it has the weaponry of a super power, yet it positions itself as a victim and no one is buying it.

By: Robert Werdine

Robert Werdine — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 22:43:35 +0000

Marc,

While Abbas thankfully lacks the bloodthirstiness of Arafat or Hamas, he fully shares their rejectionism, and I fear the answer is that he has no real interest in a putative state that comprises the West Bank and Gaza. That is why he has been so ruinously resistant to any serious back and forth for the last nine years–even before the Gaza takeover by Hamas. The issue of the settlements, substantial though though it is as an issue by itself, probably plays very little, if any real role in his continuing intransigence. It is just another alibi for inaction, and a means to avoid discussions that will inevitably lead to painful compromises that he has no mandate or authority to engage in even if he were inclined to do so, which he is not. He is trapped, a prisoner of a culture that equates compromise and peaceful coexistence with Jews in terms of surrender and shame in disturbingly wide margins of public opinion.

What, for example, prevented him from making a counter-offer to Olmert’s offer in 2008? Exactly what prevented Arafat from making them at Camp David II in 2000, and Taba in 2001: nothing. He has no reasonable counter-offer to make.

Before there can be any meaningful negotiations, there must first be a plausible entity on the part of the Palestinians with which to negotiate. As it is, they are a hopelessly divided and dysfunctional polity. No real negotiations will be possible until there is a Palestinian leader who has broad legitimacy, and is master in his own house.

As for Netanyahu, he has undoubtedly benefited from Abbas’ rejectionism, and indeed, is probably grateful for it, much as Begin undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief when the Palestinians rejected the provisions of the Camp David Accords that would have given them autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza back in 1979.

As always I hope events someday prove me wrong about all of this.

Insha’allah

By: Marc Goldberg

Marc Goldberg — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:37:13 +0000

Which is exactly my point, well said Paul

By: Paul Gross

Paul Gross — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:30:39 +0000

"no Palestinian leader will negotiate while settlements are being built on the area designated for a Palestinian state". Not true. They have done with every other Israeli government prior to this Netanyahu-led govt. A freeze was not part of the Oslo demands; Barak never froze settlement building prior to or during his negotations with Arafat at Camp David; and Olmert and Livni conducted negotiations with Abbas and Fayyad without a freeze.

I'm as critical as anyone of this current Israeli govt. but let's stop making excuses for the Palestinians as well.

By: Marc Goldberg

Marc Goldberg — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:04:37 +0000

"no Palestinian leader will negotiate while settlements are being built on the area designated for a Palestinian state" Big mistake on their part, it's about time they really started pushing for a state or their simply won't be anything left for them to get.

By: Paul Gross

Paul Gross — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:12:53 +0000

Marc – I agree 100 percent with this critique. I would add that Abbas going to the negotiating table could do a major service to the Israeli left who, presumably, Abbas would prefer to see in power, by exposing Bibi's real position on a two-state solution.

By: Jon Green

Jon Green — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:34:14 +0000

I guess when someone is throwing rockets at your home and the homes of the rest of the population, you don't really have any great need to negotiate with them. I still think that the way that Moses dealt with Amalek and his people is the most effective. Hey, but them, I'm simply a person who thinks that the rights of the Jews in Israel is greater than those of the Arabs (in Israel). Only thus will they understand that they need to leave Israelis in peace. This is the people who think that they can claim half of Jerusalem as their capital. Try Amman or Cairo. By the way, it is a simple solution, but not simplistic.

By: Jonathan Zausmer

Jonathan Zausmer — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:27:04 +0000

Marc there are very clear reasons. The first is that no Palestinian leader will negotiate while settlements are being built on the area designated for a Palestinian state. The second is that Israel and the PA are bound to the Bush roadmap which calls for the rule of law in the Palestinian controlled areas and an end to terror. The Palestinians met that criterion and cooperate daily with Israel security forces. It also calls for the cessation of settlement. Israel violates that – continually. Now we are going to hear the question "But hey, Israel froze settlements and the Palestinians didn't come to the negotiating table. Wrong. Israel did not completely freeze settlement – ever. The Palestinians met 3 times and tried to put negotiations on track. According to Sufian Abu Zaida, the first time, Molcho said he didn't have authority to negotiate (what is that?) Yet another time, Israel was not prepared to discuss borders or build on previous negotiations during the Olmert era. The longer the Palestinians wait, the more trouble Israel is getting itself into by its self destructive real estate enterprise and the more leverage they will have in the end game. A settlement freeze – a real one not a phony one, will put an end to all that. No chance I'm afraid.