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if the Europeans believe that the 1967 lines with land swaps is the formula for peace, it’s hard to understand why they are upset with Israel building in places that everyone knows they would keep under such a plan.
Those looking for an explanation for why almost all of Europe backed the Palestinians in the recent vote to upgrade their status at the United Nations are blaming it on Israel’s decision to continue building homes in Jerusalem and its suburbs. As reporter Laura Rozen put it in a tweet, “Does Israel really not get how fed up Europe is w/ its settlement policies?” The upshot of this sort of thinking is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fanatical devotion to “Greater Israel” is isolating Israel and forcing even its friends to abandon its cause in international forums.
The problem with this thesis is that it is pure bunk. As Jonathan Schanzer and Benjamin Weinthal point out in their article in Foreign Policy (about which Rozen was commenting), there are a lot of reasons why the Europeans stabbed the Israelis in the back at the UN, among which their objections to “settlements” is by no means inconsiderable. But as I pointed out earlier, if the Europeans believe that the 1967 lines with land swaps is the formula for peace, it’s hard to understand why they are upset with Israel building in places that everyone knows they would keep under such a plan. After all, does anyone who is actually interested in peace–as opposed to those who think every Jewish home anywhere in the country is an illegal settlement–actually think Israel will abandon 40-year-old Jerusalem neighborhoods or the suburbs that are close to the green line? Far from the Israelis pushing the limits in their quest for settlements, it is the Europeans who are redefining the terms of peace.
For Israel’s European critics, “Greater Israel” is no longer all of the West Bank, which even Netanyahu has conceded may be ceded for a real peace deal, nor even retention of an undivided Jerusalem. They are now acting as if any Israeli government that acts as if it is going to hold onto all of the Jewish areas of Jerusalem is a foe of peace. In doing so, they are not only distorting Israel’s position — which is still perfectly compatible with a two-state solution based on the ’67 lines with swaps — but also covering up or ignoring the fact that the Palestinians have refused Israeli offers of a state and now no longer even wish to negotiate.
The idea that the Europeans — save for the principled stand of the Czech Republic — have turned on the Israelis solely because of “settlements” is a misnomer. The tilt toward the Palestinians and against Israel is not a recent phenomenon, nor is it the product of Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister. Virtually any act of Israeli self-defense is treated as impermissible. Nor can one understand the unwillingness of these governments to stand with Israel outside of a context in which anti-Zionism has become the orthodoxy of European intellectuals and the rising tide of anti-Semitism on the continent.
Moreover, as Schanzer and Weinthal point out, the decision to back Mahmoud Abbas at the UN has just as much if not more to do with the hope that giving him a shot in the arm will undermine Hamas. This is a monumental misjudgment, since Abbas cannot hope to compete in the long run with the more violent Islamists who run what is already an independent Palestinian state in all but name.
Europeans who think isolating Israel in this manner will teach Netanyahu or the Israeli people a lesson are ignoring the realities of the conflict. Though they would divest themselves of almost all of the territories in exchange for an end to the conflict, the overwhelming majority of Israelis have no intention of allowing the West Bank to become another, more dangerous version of Gaza from which Islamist terrorists will launch missiles or terror attacks. A European demand for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines including a divided Jerusalem and the eviction of nearly half a million Jews from their homes to empower a Palestinian entity that won’t negotiate is antithetical to the idea of genuine peace.
“No sane Israeli Jew is going to agree to the creation of a hostile Arab state in the heart of their country. Period.”
There it is.
NormanF Said:
Since this quote is true, Israel should retake the west bank and govern it with strength.
trump Said:
@ trump:
what kind of noodnik trusted france in the past? It is france, after all…
Europeans are reprehensible. Underneath the veneer of civility, they are really savages.
trump Said:
the garden variety antisemites and the more oh, sophisticated, and enlightened multi culti
the JEW is constantly going over each and every obstacle put in front of him by these moral degenerates that keep moving the goal posts.
a time for retribution will surely come.
for now thogh, israel is in dire need for leadership that will destroy iran, claim j&s and start mass expulsion of musloids.
france guaranteed oslo and spit on it by supporting abas unilateral move, formally forbidden by those agrements……………
Who is going to trust them in the future ?
Israel has more than it’s fair share of insane citizens for the population.
I’m not sure why? The water? Rockets?
I’d say a lack of strong leadership in the survival direction. Where exactly did the wet noodle leadership come from – that’s not the Holocaust survivor ethic – I’d say maybe some money grubbers allied with Western Financiers?
@ NormanF:
Dear Norman,
Hope to god, that you are right.
Again, it depends to whom one is talking to and how representative of the population that person is.
I spoke recently to a friend, living in tel aviv, about the entire situation (as rockets from gaza were sent to the heartland) and how Israel just fails to secure itself from within (against the rock throwing musloids in Jerusalem and how, in contrast, it arrests the JEWS that are going to har habayit, such as feiglin)
His response?
“Oy leave me alone! All these guys (feiglin et al) do is provoke them, so what do you expect?”
I submit to you Norman that after that, I did not need the telephone for he could have heard me from across the miles…
I hope to god that he is only ONE misguided idiot and not representative…
But I fear that his ‘ideology’ is prevalent: just give them, give them give them and they’ll leave us alone….
Yeah right!
“UK and France summon Israeli envoys in settlements row”
The envoys should demand answers as to why these countries enabled a terrorist state at the UN.
I have a dream of a world without Islamofascists and their enablers.
These cruddy countries and their scummy leaders know 100 percent that no Islamic leader wants peace with Israel and never will.
Play them for fools or play diplomacy or defy them but give the fascists nothing but what they take. Don’t have a single ounce of respect for them. We all know that they too will be on the butt end of Islamic Territorial and societal demands.
The envoys should take the opportunity to ask the creeps what they will do when their Islamic backers and financiers take them over?
They should offer them a safe escape to escape to Israel in the settlements when the time comes. Tell them Israel is building safe retreats for the leaders of the failed EU.
Israel is not going to cede its biblical birthright to please Europe and America.
Their wails against Israel amount to little more than the dogs barking at the caravan. And the caravan has moved on. Most Israelis know the Arabs have no interest in peace and they want to destroy Israel.
Oslo is dead and buried and the so-called two state solution has no chance of being realized in our lifetime. European threats to punish Israel for looking for its own people will backfire and have precisely the opposite effect of what they want.
No sane Israeli Jew is going to agree to the creation of a hostile Arab state in the heart of their country. Period.