Kerry finally got it: ‘Peace process’ was a farce

It was clear to all but Kerry, Livni and some on Israel’s left that any unlikely agreement would only lead to further Palestinian terrorism.

By Moshe Arens, HAARETZ

With the breakdown of the talks so assiduously chaperoned by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, it first has to be said: Kerry put his heart into these negotiations, firmly believing that he was serving the best interests of Israel, the Palestinians and the United States. The interlocutors themselves, the Israelis and the Palestinians, may not have taken the negotiations as seriously.

The declared aim of the negotiations, to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stood in stark contradiction to the fact that President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian interlocutor, represented at best no more than half the Palestinians and that the other half, Hamas, insisted that he did not represent the Palestinians at all and had no legitimate right to negotiate on their behalf. It was therefore clear to everyone but Kerry, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and some on the Israeli left that even if the improbable were to happen and an agreement were to be reached, it would only lead to further Palestinian demands and acts of Palestinian terror in support of these demands, and not to the end of the conflict.

Abbas knew only too well that he was in no position to commit himself to concessions or the end of the conflict, which explains his reluctance to engage in serious negotiations. To him the negotiations were simply a means to please the Americans and the Europeans and to get Israel to release more and more Palestinian terrorists. Finally, he demanded the release of Israeli citizens who had been tried and sentenced for acts of murder. In this he almost succeeded.

To the Netanyahu government, the endless and fruitless negotiations were a way to play along with Kerry’s feverish quest to attempt to reach an agreement, which was patently impossible, even to the point of releasing terrorists from prison and watching Abbas feting these murderers upon their release. It was assumed that reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was in America’s best interests, and that in consideration of the strong ties between Israel and the United States, Israel should be seen as making a serious effort to oblige its American ally. Whereas, in the years before the “Arab Spring” a case could be made that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the cause of hostility in the Arab world toward the United States, and that resolution of the conflict would strengthen America’s position in the Middle East, it has become clear in recent years that there is no basis to this hypothesis. On the contrary, an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, presumably the necessary condition for an agreement with Abbas, might very well lead to the violence in Syria spilling over into the evacuated areas, and even reaching into Jordan, something that would obviously be contrary not only to Israel’s interests, but also those of the United States.

For Kerry it was a serious business, for almost everyone else it not. The process became truly comical when Kerry suddenly introduced the possibility of the release of Jonathan Pollard as part of the give-and-take in the negotiations. America was presumably prepared to release Pollard in return for Israel agreeing to Abbas’ demands for the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists.

For years many American public figures had protested the extreme prison sentence that had been handed to Pollard, a sentence for which there was no precedent in the United States in trials of other spies. Successive U.S. presidents had insisted that they could not accede to the many pleas that he be pardoned. It was said that presidents had to respect the judgment handed down by the court and the opinion of senior security officials. Now all of this was suddenly swept away in order to further the release of Palestinian terrorists. The negotiations had turned into a farce.

Kerry has now called for a reality check. That is a check that needs to be made in Washington, in Jerusalem and in Ramallah.

Kerry finally got it: ‘Peace process’ was a farce

It was clear to all but Kerry, Livni and some on Israel’s left that any unlikely agreement would only lead to further Palestinian terrorism.

By Moshe Arens

With the breakdown of the talks so assiduously chaperoned by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, it first has to be said: Kerry put his heart into these negotiations, firmly believing that he was serving the best interests of Israel, the Palestinians and the United States. The interlocutors themselves, the Israelis and the Palestinians, may not have taken the negotiations as seriously.

The declared aim of the negotiations, to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stood in stark contradiction to the fact that President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian interlocutor, represented at best no more than half the Palestinians and that the other half, Hamas, insisted that he did not represent the Palestinians at all and had no legitimate right to negotiate on their behalf. It was therefore clear to everyone but Kerry, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and some on the Israeli left that even if the improbable were to happen and an agreement were to be reached, it would only lead to further Palestinian demands and acts of Palestinian terror in support of these demands, and not to the end of the conflict.

Abbas knew only too well that he was in no position to commit himself to concessions or the end of the conflict, which explains his reluctance to engage in serious negotiations. To him the negotiations were simply a means to please the Americans and the Europeans and to get Israel to release more and more Palestinian terrorists. Finally, he demanded the release of Israeli citizens who had been tried and sentenced for acts of murder. In this he almost succeeded.

To the Netanyahu government, the endless and fruitless negotiations were a way to play along with Kerry’s feverish quest to attempt to reach an agreement, which was patently impossible, even to the point of releasing terrorists from prison and watching Abbas feting these murderers upon their release. It was assumed that reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was in America’s best interests, and that in consideration of the strong ties between Israel and the United States, Israel should be seen as making a serious effort to oblige its American ally. Whereas, in the years before the “Arab Spring” a case could be made that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the cause of hostility in the Arab world toward the United States, and that resolution of the conflict would strengthen America’s position in the Middle East, it has become clear in recent years that there is no basis to this hypothesis. On the contrary, an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, presumably the necessary condition for an agreement with Abbas, might very well lead to the violence in Syria spilling over into the evacuated areas, and even reaching into Jordan, something that would obviously be contrary not only to Israel’s interests, but also those of the United States.

For Kerry it was a serious business, for almost everyone else it not. The process became truly comical when Kerry suddenly introduced the possibility of the release of Jonathan Pollard as part of the give-and-take in the negotiations. America was presumably prepared to release Pollard in return for Israel agreeing to Abbas’ demands for the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists.

For years many American public figures had protested the extreme prison sentence that had been handed to Pollard, a sentence for which there was no precedent in the United States in trials of other spies. Successive U.S. presidents had insisted that they could not accede to the many pleas that he be pardoned. It was said that presidents had to respect the judgment handed down by the court and the opinion of senior security officials. Now all of this was suddenly swept away in order to further the release of Palestinian terrorists. The negotiations had turned into a farce.

Kerry has now called for a reality check. That is a check that needs to be made in Washington, in Jerusalem and in Ramallah.

April 7, 2014 | 8 Comments »

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8 Comments / 8 Comments

  1. David Samson Said:

    ALL American Jews should publicly advocate for Pollard’s immediate release. It is a judicial outrage, a true example of cruel and unusual punishment which contravenes numerous legal statutes

    You are right. If US was ready to release him in exchange for well known criminals, there is no excuse to keep him in prison for more years (after 30 years of imprisonment). Some may think Senator Kerry could realize the so called peace process to be a farce. I do not think so. It is hard for ‘progressives” to deal with a reality than their own imaginations. They prefer to treat imaginations as “reality”.

  2. ALL American Jews should publicly advocate for Pollard’s immediate release. It is a judicial outrage, a true example of cruel and unusual punishment which contravenes numerous legal statutes.

  3. As for Pollard, it is now firmly established that he is kept captive in his 29th year of incarceration, for a crime that carries a median punishment of approximately 3-4 years, it is time past for his unconditional release!!! It is time past to salvage the scant remains of American justice, or i should say in-justice.

    If he can be released in exchange of who knows how many (thousands) murderers, depending on Abbas’s fancy, then it is imperative that he be released after nearly three decades of unjust punishment.

    Any delay is inexcusable!!!

  4. Abbas knew only too well that he was in no position to commit himself to concessions or the end of the conflict, which explains his reluctance to engage in serious negotiations. To him the negotiations were simply a means to please the Americans and the Europeans and to get Israel to release more and more Palestinian terrorists.

    I think it is more than just pleasing the americans. I believe it is related to the US, GCC Israel relationship that has been going on behind the scenes. That this relationship governs the Israel pal talks and that any outcome we see is a pre agreed outcome even if it appears to be a walking away and a drama. I think that no one wanted any real change and most are heavily invested in the status quo. However, no street can buy that at this time. I believe that Israel and the GCC worked together on the de-Iranianization of Gaza through Qatar and that cast lead was agreed as a targeted israeli operation against Iranian gazan links in Hamas, and otherwise, with the assent of Hamas and Qatar which explained the immediate strange cease-fire as a brokered truce. The assembled jihdis in Syria never attacked israel. The prisoners are the major indication of this scenario in that none had to be given for any real peace negotiations but all knew that Abbas could not enter and walk away with nothing. He was the key to making it happen to everyone elses plan. for that, he gets the prisoners, GCC money, and he might even get gaza outright or through a unification. He got the faux state and will be the “father of Palestine”

  5. The following is a sort-of English translation of part of an article written by Dr. Guy Bechor in his website gplanet.co.il:
    Over the past two weeks John Kerry has been busy with Abu-Mazen and Ali-Baba stories as though as there’s nothing else left to do in the world, this when at the same time we have witnessed the perpetration of horrid acts of violence and ethnic and religious cleansing in Syria (of the Armenians in the town of Idlib). But who cares? Look how the Palestinians and their fellow travelers blew up Naqba out of proportion. That’s the way it goes in the Middle-East, when the US administration runs away from the real conflict and from reality, when at the same time thousands of “Naqbas” are being perpetrated in Syria, with the death toll reaching now over 150 thousand people. With this state of affairs it will of course, reach a quarter of a million or even more. There are 4 million real refugees, unlike the ones invented by the Palestinians, and 10 million people who have been displaced from their homes inside Syria. Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon are being sucked into the mess. And what does John Kerry do? Gets himself busy with Ali-Baba and his 40 thieves (Abu-Mazen and Co.)…