Netanyahu: ‘I don’t have a mandate to negotiate anything until you accept the Israeli security concept,’” . I find this heartening. Security first. It would appear that the Palestinian track has reached a dead end. That’s why there is a new focus on the Syrian track Using Turkey. Which is another way of saying Iran first.
16 Hours in September- exclusive details
Newsweek
Washington’s decision to stop pushing Israel for a settlement freeze could well mean no direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians for months, even years; a stalemate is likely at least until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reconfigures his coalition or leaves office in 2013.
But would face-to-face talks between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have made a difference? Details NEWSWEEK has learned about three negotiating sessions the men held in September—16 hours of talks—suggest not.
The negotiations took place in Washington, Jerusalem, and Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt—with more meetings between advisers. A Palestinian official involved in the talks and an Israeli source familiar with the details say the gaps were wide. The sources, who didn’t want to be named discussing private negotiations, say Netanyahu told the Palestinians they had to accept Israel’s “security concept” before he would discuss other issues, including borders. The concept involved keeping Israeli troops stationed along territory on the Palestinian side of the barrier Israel has built in the West Bank to protect what Israel calls its “narrow waistline.” That strip would be several kilometers wide at some points, says the Palestinian negotiator, and run along much of the seam line. Also, to protect itself against the possible rise of a hostile Islamic state in Jordan, say both sources, Netanyahu insisted Israeli troops would remain posted in the Jordan Valley for years.
Though Netanyahu didn’t present maps, Abbas and his negotiators calculated that Palestinians would be left with just 60 percent of the West Bank. (The Israeli source describes 60 percent as a “subjective Palestinian view,” not necessarily an accurate summary of Netanyahu’s position. Israeli and U.S. government spokesmen declined to comment.)
Abbas found the proposal offensive. Previous Israeli leaders had offered 90 to 95 percent of the West Bank and land from within Israel to compensate for the annexation of some Jewish settlements. Abbas countered in a position paper that Israel cede 98.2 percent of the West Bank, say the sources. He also offered to allow U.S. or other third-party troops to be stationed on Palestinian territory after Israel withdrew.
But Netanyahu refused to read the paper. “He told [Abbas], ‘I don’t have a mandate to negotiate anything until you accept the Israeli security concept,’” the Palestinian official says. The discussions broke off when Israel’s moratorium on settlement expansion ended days later.
No he’s not, because where did I write anything about peace agreements with the Arabs? In case you didn’t know, Yamit doesn’t even have a peace agreement with the US, without whom Israel would be toast. There could conceivably be a two-state solution without Israel’s acquiesence. Besides, who died and made Yamit the PM and spokesperson for Israel, which would be a disaster, believe me?!
Everyone who belongs in a padded cell believes as you do. In fact, you are so smart you couldn’t get elected dog-catcher.
You left out at least three other options. There are probably more than three but a brain like yours would have to be spoon fed to see and even understand them.
I’m smarter than BB, better educated and have had more experience than him but I as opposed to him am honest and had no ambition to be in politics.
You on the other hand……………. 😛
AE,
Yamit is right. Israel needs no peace agreements with the Arabs, and the Jewish nation has more to gain in the absence of any such agreements. It’s our side that’s settling Yehuda, Shomron, Golan and east Jerusalem. At recent demographic rates, the Jewish populations of all the lands taken back from the Arabs in 1967 will double in about 14-15 years from 550,000 to 1.1 million. Then do it again in another such jump to more than 2 million in the following 15 years or so. In fact, the Jewish growth rate in all these lands has been about triple the percentages for Israel as a whole.
Nor do I think the Arab demography threatens Israel in the long-term. I’ve seen some of the population research done at the Technion, and cited by Yoram Ettinger, who’s fairly savvy about demographics. I think, as he does and a lot of other people who take the time to research this kind of data, that the Arab population in Yesha is closer to about 1.5 million, and shrinking per capita as the women get more schooling and take jobs. The only way this could be turned around now would be for the leadership of Israel to turn soft and stupid and admit some millions of Arab descendents of the ones who ran away in 1948. As for me, I wouldn’t even let them visit the country.
All things considered, I learned some 36-37 years ago in Israel that the settlement of the territories depends as much on urban development (urban sprawl, we would call it in the USA) as it does on Zionism. And as a trained regional planner I can tell you it doesn’t take long to settle a place that’s only about the size of two southern Wisconsin counties. But that’s okay by me. Whatever it takes, that’s what I’m for.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Was there a change in Israel that made you Israeli PM? Who cares what you want or need, other than yourself?
Israel’s current options seem to be a stalemate or a two-state solution or a decisive war to achieve a one-state solution.
Except you.
We can live with stalemate such as we have forever. We don’t need or want peace agreements,nothing in it for us.
No one tap dances better than Binyamin Netanyahu. There is no possible solution to this conflict without an all out military victory by one side – the alternative is for the stalemate to continue indefinitely.
Okay, put a halt to your global mosque building and allow the Jewish people to build a Third Temple on the Temple Mount, then we’ll negotiate.