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Palestinian Obstructionism

(Israel Hayom) David M. Weinberg - The letter that the Palestinians handed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday is a prime example of everything wrong with the current Palestinian leadership. The letter (according to drafts leaked to the press) mixes fact with fiction, is maximalist and threatening, and indicates no real desire to negotiate, only to place Israel in the international dock of criminality. As they have done for the past three years, the Palestinians set impossible and outrageous preconditions for entering real peace talks with Israel. Basically, they want Israel to concede every point of contention such as borders and settlements in advance of the talks. Otherwise, no talks. Furthermore, the letter expresses Palestinian maximalism. This includes a state on all of the pre-1967 territories, with only "possible minor and mutually agreed upon land swaps of equal size and value." Note the new phraseology "possible" and "minor." And of course, the "right" of return to Israel for refugees. The bottom line is that the current Palestinian leadership (never mind the Hamas leadership) has no intention of truly entering realistic peace talks that involve compromise with Israel, or ever signing a piece of paper that recognizes the legitimacy of a Jewish state and therefore end the conflict for all time. Instead, Palestinian leaders know how to threaten: That unless Israel bows to their demands, the Palestinian Authority "will seek the full and complete implementation of international law" to criminalize and penalize Israel's presence "as an occupying power in all of the occupied Palestinian territory." To seek to further isolate Israel internationally. In truth, this is what the Palestinian national movement has always been about: the delegitimization of the Jewish state. The writer is Director of Public Affairs at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
2012-04-18 00:00:00
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