Posted on 08/29/2010 6:56:31 AM PDT by bsaunders
Rumors in the news speak of Prime Minister Netanyahu trying to find an unhappy medium whereby we have a freeze on building but do not really have a freeze in building beyond the Green Line. The claim is his government is looking for a magic combination that will allow enough building to keep the coalition together while restricting the building sufficiently to keep Mahmoud Abbas happy and sitting at the negotiating table. Despite the obvious problem that any building will cause Abbas to throw a fit which will require some unwise concession to placate him free of any return of actions from the Palestinians side. How do I know this? I know this because it has happened this way since Oslo in 1993. The world powers that be led by the UN, EU, US and Russia demand that Israel do whatever it takes to gain direct negotiations with the PA. As the date approaches for the start of said negotiations, representatives of the PA get cold feet while increasing “incidents” and accusations against Israeli intentions etcetera, etcetera. Israel is then called upon to make further gestures and assurances to appease the savage beasts while the PA is coddled and stroked with assurances that they will not have demands or reciprocity required; they just have to name the price Israel should pay.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, what do you expect to gain from this next round of negotiations? What signs have you divined that have escaped us mere mortals? Honestly, do you actually expect this next act in the endless melodramatic farce that these negotiations have become to produce anything short of acute pain to the people of Israel and further demands for unrequited Israeli concessions? I have a simple idea that you might wish to implement. When Abbas and company make their inevitable demand that the building freeze be extended, try something novel and unexpected, ask what he is offering in return? If he acts all put out and shocked, which he most certainly will, simply tell him he has to give something to get something. Then demand that he, in writing with all the appropriate signatures and protocols, relinquish any demand for the “Right of Return” or you will walk away from the negotiations since obviously he is unwilling to negotiate in good faith. Israel has tried the nice victim approach; it is time to try the aggrieved party approach. Why should the Palestinians be the only ones allowed to make demands and threaten to walk away? I say, it is our turn and turning the tables might just force a much-needed change.
I believe in the Palestinians Right of Return....to their ancestral homelands in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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