By Ted Belman
Ambassador Dermer credits Clinton with Gaza ceasefire by Ben Ariel. I read the article and didn’t like what Dermer had to say. Unfortunately Dermer says what Netanyahu thinks.
Yes Clinton had a leading role in negotiating a ceasefire to the 2012 Gaza fighting which was what Netanyahu wanted. Netanyahu wanted to avoid invading Gaza during that conflict.
This speech was given at an event hosted by the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “A lot of lives were saved.”
The Ambassador added the talks defined “how the U.S. and Israel work together as allies.”
Not mentioned was that Israeli public opinion saw the ceasefire as the reason the operation did not fulfill the objective of destroying Hamas military capability, only leading to another round of hostilities in 2014 and making the lost lives of IDF soldiers a precursor to more of the same.
You may recall that Israel, under Olmert, invaded Gaza after Obama was elected but before his inauguration. Pres Obama made it clear to Olmert that the operation had to end before his inauguration and it did.
During his talk, Dermer also defended Israeli construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. The comments came a day after yet another sharp condemnation of Israeli construction by the U.S. State Department.
Dermer admonished the international community for criticizing Israeli building in areas that would likely remain part of Israel even after an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA), adding that residents living deeper in Judea and Samaria should, in the event of Palestinian statehood, be given the option of gaining citizenship in that state.
“When you think settlers are undermining the prospects of peace, you are saying Palestine must be ‘judenrein,'” he said, using a Nazi German term meaning “free of Jews.”
“There is no reason, concretely and in principle, why Jews should not be able to live in a future Palestinian state,” added Dermer.
This reflects a number of Netanyahu’s talking points namely our settlement construction is not an obstacle to peace as everyone agrees we get to keep the blocs and as for the rest the Jews living there can live in Palestine.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas has, in fact, several times stated that the future Palestinian state will be free of Jews.
I don’t like these talking points as he is implicitly agreeing that the Arabs get the rest of the land.
The talking points should be;
- We have the legal right to sovereignty over these lands.
- We will continue to build anywhere in Area C until such time as the Arabs compromise their position and finalize a peace agreement.
- Construction is our right and we have no obligation to hold the land on trust for the Arabs.
Unfortunately Netanyahu doesn’t act in conformity with his talking points. No only does he not build outside the blocs, he doesn’t build inside them except for some token projects.
From what I have read, he is beginning to allow more construction and he has begun to enforce the demolition orders we have regarding illegal Arab Construction in Jerusalem. But there is a long way to go.
Ben Ariel writes,
Dermer said the next U.S. president should pursue the peace process by engaging with the PA and the wider Arab world on parallel tracks. As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has suggested, Dermer said shared opposition to Iran and the Islamic State terror group could draw Israel and Arab states closer together.
“The Arab states in the region understand the dangers of Iran, understand the danger of ISIS, and see Israel as a potential ally in that struggle,” he said, according to JTA. “One of the opportunities for a new administration is to take this new realignment in the Arab world and see how to translate that into a policy that advances peace.”
It is obvious that Netanyahu wants peace rather than our land.
Just today it was reported, “Speaking on Egypt’s National Day, Netanyahu expresses his appreciation for President al-Sisi’s efforts to renew Israel-PA talks.”
Peace will never come by giving up our land.
Israeli leaders need to say clearly say how you can truly have peace negotiations when first the strongest Palestinian side is Hamas a terrorist organization. The person you say we can make peace with (Abbas) makes monuments in memory of dead terrorists and his actions do not show he wants to make peace.
We have a right to the Land of Israel from legal, historical and moral reasons. We know another people live here and have had make great sacrifices in trying the Oslo Accords, losing over 1500 citizens and more than 10,000 wounded in terror attacks. Oslo’s first premise was that all disputes were to have been solved via negotiations. This turned out to be a lie.
The Palestinians are still raising their children that all of Israel is theirs and we have no historical ties to the land. They have shown they are neither willing nor ready to have two states living side by side permanently in peace.
Land for peace did not work. We will attempt to maintain civil mutually beneficial relations with any Palestinians who do not engage in or support terror. We have a sovereign right to all the Land of Israel and have a right to live our lives in it without limitation.