T. Belman.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently declared he was ready to resume direct talks with the Palestinians.
“I believe there is a chance and I think it is imperative we have not lost sight of that issue,” Kerry said Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC.
What are we to make of this?
There is only one two-state solution envisaged by Kerry and the world, including AIPAC, and that is the one based on ’67 lines plus swaps and the division of Jerusalem. Nothing else is on the table or in the back rooms.
When Netanyahu and his negotiator Silvan Shalom invite talks, they understand exactly what any deal would entail. Therefore they simply focus on our security requirements and on recognition as a Jewish state. They have thrown in the towel on keeping more land and they accept the “land for peace” formula. This is one of the reasons that he doesn’t embrace the Levy Report.
Netanyahu knows that the right in Israel rejects this formula so he keeps pandering to them in words but not deeds. It is easier for him to capitulate to such a deal when he heads a right wing coalition, as history has shown, so he forms right wing coalitions.
Now that the Iran Deal looks certain, there is no way that the PA will even accept such a deal. Both Iran and the PA are dedicated to replacing Israel with Palestine. Surely Kerry knows this but continues with the process. The one good thing with “playing the game” ie envisioning a peace agreement, is that it forestalls other actions by the PA or the UN..
In the absence of bold moves by Israel to change the situation, it will continue. Israel insists on playing defense. Without an offense she cannot win.
Evelyn Gordon wrote about the stalemate recently and argued that “ Israel should instead seek to negotiate over smaller issues on which agreement is reachable.”. Netanyahu, Bennett and Lieberman, among others, are similarly on record. So perhaps, is the US.
The one hope, albeit a slim one, is to cut a deal with the next administration for a different deal. Such a deal would have to be unilaterally imposed as the Muslims/Arabs would never agree to it. For instance if the US would agree to getting Jordan and others to absorb 2 million Palestinians now in the territories, Israel could annex all the territories and that would be the end of the “occupation” and the “resistance”. At the same time the US should get rid of UNRWA.
Where there is life, there is hope.
@ watsa46:
Not exactly, it is the Obama bear hug, again. Israel is not to be defended, not by this sob and crew of mutants, a bunch of ugly scum bags united in their desire to see Israel go down the tubes. Contrary to Babushka, Netanyahu is doing okay. He was sure correct on Iran. (AIPAC iIs a dung organization. Taken over by the enemy UN Jews.The ZOA under Morton Klein and Barbara Tuchman, ESQ. are by far a more legitimate organization. )
Bibi’s new gov’t has passed some valuable initiatives and it will continue. He deserves your strong support mixed with critical analysis marked by fairness. Enough sniping and back seat driving. It is repugnant.
Now O & K will defend Israel against Iran only if Israel makes ENOUGH concessions to the Palestinians!!!!
Bear Klein Said:
Looks like they need more Pals to keep it a majority population of Pals… I suggest they institute a Law of Return for the pals in other nations.
Bear Klein Said:
such numbers are relative… how does the population density compare with gaza, PA and Israel… I would wager its still much lower. Perhaps the west bank pals would raise the GNP
Jordan now has 600,000 plus Syrian refugees. This is enormous as Jordan is poor.
@ bernard ross: I have no problem settling people who make aliyah in Judah/Samaria if that is what they want. Any Israelis who want to move into Judah/Samaria is also fine with me. There many small Jewish Towns that need larger populations, including the Jordan Valley.
@ Ted Belman: I wish you were right. Jordan second largest city now is all Syrian immigrants.
Israel should stop looking to the US… It should approach jordan and the GCC and sell the deal…. if they dont buy the deal it should precipitate a destabilization of Jordan. why should abdullah and his imported tribe sit on all that land when that land could solve everything? The US has proven to be more of a spoiler than a player as it seeks to maintain the dispute between the arabs and Israel where it can remain the only “broker”. This was the same philosophy of the euros with the sykes picot conflict borders and the brits of the mandate… its a conflict of interest. today, stability might be more important to the hashemites and GCC than to Israel and this is what Israel should sell or precipitate. Let the others desire stability… Israel never has it even in “peace”.
Ted Belman Said:
the EU, UN and GCC could also make it happen. If all the billions going to the pals was restricted to Jordan and they had to move there to get it then they would go. If billions was invested in Jordan then the jobs would bring them. If YS and gaza was a poverty stricken swamp then they would have incentive to go to jordan. carrots and sticks. Unless the hashemite open up and the GCC pour money into JOrdan to attract pals then the hashemites are an obstruction to any practical solution. As you say it is a huge country with a small poplation and it is only willful obstruction of the imported hashemite stooge and the compliance of the GCC which maintain Jordan as banned to pals AND jews. Israel should think seriously of destabilizing Jordan and seeing the monarch deposed and then afterwards going in to maintain stability and installing your friend zahran as the gov, then they openimmigration to pals, with citizenship. If Israel then bans the UNRWA from west bank and gaza and obstructs all funds except those for emigration that would help also. its time that Israel stopped worshipping the idol of stability. One should not be seeking stability in a war with enemy’s. the arab spring has already disproved the paradigm of stability in the neighboring enemy lands as being beneficial to Israel. Israel has been misled by decades of status quo seekers not of the mentality of those who engineered the 6 day war.
Bear Klein Said:
If the GOI finds it impossible to settle jews in YS according to international law and treaty then what is the point of focusing on buying out arabs. the land is vacant, settle Jews, no one else needs be convinced. I rather pay the money to a jewish family to settle in YS from europe.
I suggest a homestead Act like the US did in the 1800’s whereby free land grants are made to diaspora jews willing to settle in YS and work the land. they need not even be granted Israeli citizenship and then the GOI cannot be said to be settling their citizens in contravention of GC. Immigrating and settling Jews was the prime international mission statement of all the treaties related to the mandate and state of Israel. It is foolish to keep blaming others for jewish Israelis achieving government and then obstructing the main purpose of the creation of the modern state of Israel. Israel and the Jews are to blame, forget everyone else and concentrate on what Israel and Jews can do unilaterally without anyone elses agreement. Until the GOI opens up YS to Jewish settlement we must assume they do not want Jews in YS and are therefore in this regard no different than the british mandate and the Jordanian occupation.
when the jews had less power they fought to settle jews in Israel, now that they have the power they obstruct the jews and nobody notices the irony. Everyone is always talking about the foreigners responsibility but it begins with Israel and Jews to settle YS.
Bear Klein Said:
Nobody wants to go to Jordan. It is many times bigger than Israel with a smaller population. Obama just bailed them out to the tune opf $1 billion. The US could make it happen.
Israel should draft its plan given that the PA has rejected Bibi’s offer of negotiations, as he knew they would. His real intent is make the PA the bad guys and keep the heat off of him and Israel in his management of the conflict.
It should change the parameters of the two state solution to a modified Israel Stability Plan drafted by Bennett. Mix in trial portions of Sherman’s buyout of Palestinians to help their relocation starting in Area C and East Jerusalem. This way small groups could get visa’s and have some money to make them attractive immigrants and this would be a gradual strategic effort. First empty Area C of Arabs as much as possible and East Jerusalem.
Ted, The world is awash with millions of Muslim migrants no one wants.
We need plans that have even a bit of chance to succeed or we will just waste more plans. Granted no one’s plans (Glick, Sherman…..) have been adopted by any broad segment of the right.
I believe a group of thinkers ( including politicians from Bayit Yehudi and the Likud) must get together and endorse a plan. These then need to be sold to the public at large. Then to the international community.
Netanyahu’s response to the Obama betrayal is to reward BO, which guarantees more of the same. Under Netanyahu, Israel has become a sacrificial vassal. My closepersonalfriend y82 claims that Bibi is to be respected because “at least he is here”. The same could have been said of Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold. They were also at Ground Zero, and they were also collaborators with evil.
Continuation of illusions (Two State Solution) is counter productive to finding a real solution. Bibi is just trying to manage the conflict. It will not work.
Bibi is delirious. Every which way he turns he faces some kind of enemy…from within and without. Friends are few and far between. His statement quoted here is a standard line of his to avoid more problems with more enemies. We know how he feels and we know how he was broadsided for expressing himself honestly, so he walked it back, for the good of the nation. It must have been painful and difficult for him, but it was probably the only rational thing he could do, at the time. At this time, he is focused on The Iran Deal and does not wish certainly to be drawn into any rehashing of creating a terrorist state in Israel’s pericardial sac, so he recites the line. Kerry is a different story. That has to be the subject of a different post.
Ted raises some interesting points of a different deal with Jordan absorbing 2 million from Judea and Samaria. I do not believe that is ever ever going to happen. These moves by Obama with Kerry and so on is precisely what the State Departments wants to see, not to mention Central Intelligence, DIA and others within the community. They want to see AIPAC go down. They hate Netanyahu and all of his partners. They will demonstrate upon demand their inclusions of “Jews”, within their ranks. Sure, J Street “Jews”, Traitor Jews or however you wish to characterize them. Some have a name like Soros or Boxer. They are overjoyed, they want the quick creation of Palestine, where they can send their young naive daughters to be raped and gee hopefully not murdered, they will be. No favors from anyone. Jordan would never do it. No one wants to see Israel survive, okay. If the world had it’s way, Meretz would form the next government, Palestine would be created fast with all of the trimmings and a compromise on the right of return would result in loopholes which would allow a current of non-Jews to enter Israel where they will kill and torture the men and rape the women. Probably soon it will be be the end.
I think Israel will have to act to regain it’s deterrence otherwise Iran will up the ante and start now to seriously toy with Israel and may even make a major missile attack in her heartland. No one is going to help, on the contrary they will try to stop Israel from retaliating. I think Netanyahu has more important things on his mind these days Ted, IMHO.