Posted on 12/11/2010 5:48:58 AM PST by bsaunders
Between President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and Head Negotiators Yasser Abed Rabbo and Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian spokespeople have threatened every conceivable position regarding the moribund talks with Israel over the past couple of weeks. These threats include but are not limited to, unilaterally declaring an independent Palestinian State along the border of the Green Line, taking the entire negotiations to the United Nations for a final dispensation, dissolving the Palestinian Authority and throwing the whole of the West Bank back on Israel to maintain, and cutting all relations and cooperation with Israel declaring the Roadmap and Oslo Accords dead giving complete freedom for terror groups to resume attacks upon Israel and the Jews in the West Bank. All of these tirades apparently missed their intended target, as President Obama did not respond in a panic. Somebody needs to give the leaders of the Palestinian Authority a clue that President Obama is a fair degree slower on the uptake than either Presidents Bush or Clinton. They really need to slow down and give President Obama time to craft the speech for the TelePrompTer and practice getting the perfect amount of seriousness of expressions before reacting to any emergency. Fortunately, reacting slowly to these staged emergencies is exactly the best move possible, and I will give President Obama credit for not taking the bait and rushing into the trap being set for him. I do this with the reservation that he also takes time and does not bring intense pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and blame Israel for the childish tantrums thrown from Ramallah, the usual reaction to these manufactured crises.
The best option for President Obama and the rest of the world that seems so consumed with the well-being of the Palestinians would be to take a number of deep breathes, wait another week, then continue with their diplomacy as if nothing remarkable has occurred. The treatment for tantrums of two year olds and Palestinian Authority is to ignore the tantrum and carry on as usual, or if you feel a need to react, point and laugh, then carry on normally. Recognizing and rewarding such outrageous behavior will simply get you more outrageous behavior; something past reactions to manufactured crises has shown in vivid high definition consternation on the 24/7 news channels. Maybe, just maybe treating the Palestinian leaders with normal expectations and ignoring childlike tantrums will force them to take some responsibility. Probably not, but one is allowed to hope. Either way, by not rewarding, or even recognizing their tantrums and trumped up crises situations and emergency demands will finally break the thus far reinforcing rewards of such behavior. Just because they threaten to hold their collective breathe until they turn blue is no reason to make demands for concessions of Israel or to send emergency funds of million (or billions) of dollars of Americans tax monies, G-d knows we have better uses for that money right here at home, even returning it to the taxpaying public.
For those who will claim that should we not react and save the Palestinians from themselves some form of disaster will ensue, put your fears aside. No matter how much the Palestinian leaders jump up and down and threaten dire actions, they will do absolutely nothing that might endanger the billions and trillions of dollars and euros that are showered upon them for as long as they do not reach any agreement and continue to act in bad faith. The Palestinian hierarchy is pocketing too significant an amount of these funds to give up the gravy-train. These threats, as with most of their threats are empty. Even their threat to discontinue cooperation with the Israeli security agencies is not entirely true. First, they already do not honestly cooperate with the Israeli security agencies, they simply use them to gain information on those terror cells loyal to Hamas or other terror group other than Fatah that might also pose a threat to their leadership and all the benefits that come with their positions. Let them fume and stew for a few weeks, then simply ask if they are ready to return to the negotiations. Oh, and should they refuse, try pressuring them for a change; threaten to stop the flow of cash, that should panic them.
Somebody needs to give the leaders of the Palestinian Authority a clue that President Obama is a fair degree slower on the uptake than either Presidents Bush or Clinton.Well said, thanks bsaunders.
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