Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Palestinian Leadership Can't Be More Reasonable Than Obama
Here is something that isn't that much of a shocker, the Palestinians are now saying that they won't negotiate with Israel unless the Israelis accept the 1967 borders as the starting point of negotiations. This was never a pre-condition before Obama's speech on Thursday, but now suddenly is, as the Palestinian leadership doesn't want to be seen as less anti-Israel than Obama. This has happened before. Remember Obama's declaration that Israel must stop all settlement activity? It was soon followed by the Palestinians saying that they wouldn't return to negotiations before Israel stops all building in the West Bank. Previously, they just demanded that no new settlements were built, some expansion in existing settlements and in Jerusalem were not even mentioned. Again, I have to wonder if Obama is just incompetent or just incredibly anti-Israel.
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Max,
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation- good luck with your new project.
I think there is a valid distinction to be made between being anti-Israel, incompetent and a third path, which could be pro-peace. Let's face it borders are not the real issue here. It is legitimacy. If the Palestinians were willing shed their ugly anti-Israel-ism/right to exist, I would say it would be an enormous step toward peaceful co-existence regardless of whether the border is five miles forward or back. The border issue is only an issue because Israel lives basically under siege and as such needs to protect and buffer itself.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is that even if a Palestinian government were to shed the ugly anti-Israelism, Israel would still be one election away from having to deal with it again. So no matter what you need defendable borders because worst case scenarios often happen, especially with the Jews.
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