No country would accept Netanyahu's conditions for peace
Refusal to freeze settlements and resume talks exposes PM's Bar-Ilan promises as a ruse.
By Akiva Eldar Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Middle East peace Israel newsThe decision to add the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb to the list of historical heritage sites up for renovation was not made with the intention of inflaming tempers and sabotaging efforts to revive final-status talks with the Palestinians. It was merely a routine move by a rightist government, further proof that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "two states" speech at Bar-Ilan University was a milestone on the road to nowhere. The only difference between "the rock of our existence" that launched the Western Wall tunnel violence in 1996 and the 2010 model is that this time Netanyahu is wearing a mask, trying to pass himself off as peace activist Uri Avnery, with the generous help of Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The prime minister, as we all know, simply can't wait for renewed final-status talks to get underway, but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to back down and is setting "conditions that predetermine the outcome of the negotiations," as Netanyahu told Haaretz a week ago. Indeed, the Palestinians have made their participation in indirect talks conditional on, in part, a construction freeze during the talks in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem. They have the audacity to claim that it is Netanyahu's demand to expand settlements during negotiations along with the assertion of Jewish ownership over sensitive sites which are the conditions that predetermine the outcome of the talks.
The Palestinian demand for a total freeze on settlement construction, including that required for natural population growth, is not, in Netanyahu's words "a condition that no country would accept." Israel accepted that condition in the road map seven years ago. In an article in the journal of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in December 2009, Prof. Ruth Lapidoth, recipient of the 2006 Israel Prize for Legal Studies, and Dr. Ofra Friesel write that the Netanyahu government is obligated by the road map, which was ratified by the Sharon government. A former legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry, Lapidoth stresses that the 14 remarks (not reservations, as they are usually termed) that Israel appended have no legal validity. And since the U.S. government promised no more than to relate "fully and seriously" to these remarks, they don't have any diplomatic validity, either.
Netanyahu argues that Sharon reached an oral agreement with George W. Bush that the construction freeze would not apply to the "settlement blocs" and that the United States would take into account natural-growth requirements. The prime minister therefore expects the Palestinians to honor not only formal agreements to which they were a party, but also informal understandings reached behind their backs between Israel and America. Yet when the Palestinians demand an acknowledgment of understandings they reached with the Olmert government on a number of final-status principles, Netanyahu says this is a "precondition that predetermines the outcome of negotiations."
The prime minister also contemptuously rejects the Palestinian demand that the talks be resumed where they were halted in December 2008. He is not prepared to even listen to the parameters for a final-status agreement proposed by Bill Clinton in December 2000. Netanyahu insists he has the right to start negotiations from square one, ignoring every agreement already reached with the Palestinians. He has even forgotten the Wye River Memorandum of 1998, under which he undertook, in Clinton's presence, to transfer 13 percent of Area C to the Palestinians.
Netanyahu sticks only to those clauses in the interim agreement (Oslo 2) that removed responsibility for the Palestinians' welfare from Israel's hands and left Israel in control of Area C (60 percent of the West Bank). And of course, Netanyahu is totally committed to those clauses that require the Palestinians to combat terrorist infrastructure and incitement and refrain from asking the United Nations to condemn the injustices of the occupation.
Netanyahu is setting conditions for negotiations that no country would accept. His opposition to a settlement freeze and his refusal to resume talks where they left off expose his Bar-Ilan declarations as a cunning diversionary tactic. As his chief spokesman, President Shimon Peres, is wont to declare, "You have to tell the people the truth." The dismal truth is that, behind the mask, Netanyahu is still the same old Bibi.
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How far can we go with this insanIty of Netan & Arafat cronies' BS. Enough is enough hand over some land to your cousins, Palestinians and get over with this Zionism BS that has no recognition for anyone's dignity. remeber, you Jews thought Arabs how to commit act of Terror and vilence. Who bombed the Bits' hotel first, you the jews so get over this nonsense, give some rooms to Palestininas and learn the word COEXISTENCE............ SHALAM
Everything you mentionned are totally to the points, only people without vision can see a different future for the country. If we are not careful and COMPROMISE we will be one day the BIGGEST LOOSER,our few millions in a SEA of BILLIONS, will be just a memory.
Our Millions Cannot be pushed around anymore as when Partition took place in 1947, etc. We are Here ,THERE, but one day we are going 2B back, where we belong, and them where they belong. Yasser Arrafat was wise to refuse crumbs/ bantustans, where to reach one bantustan to another one have to travel OVER BRIDGES or UNDERGROUNDS, so He refused to negociate "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" It may take a bit longer to achieve the GOAL of creating The State of PALESTINE, but it will come, with our POPULATION MASS DESTRUCTION."PMD" President Abbass should keep away from FALSE NEGOCIATIONS that only the US can be duped to believe that Bibi is a PARTNER to PEACE. History will one day condemn Bibi for THE lost of OPPOTUNITY,to give Israel, "PEACE/SECURITY"
Netanyahu has no vision on Peace Netanyahu is treating the symptoms of the disease and not its causes as THERE WAS NEVER A GOOD WAR OR A BAD PEACE... I PREFER the risks of peace to the agonies of war..... The old misconception that :THERE IS NO ONE TO TALK TO... IT?S THE WRONG TIME TO TALK.... THERE IS NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT......means that a war with Syria is immanent. With Syria, there are no essential disagreements, there are no historical quandaries, there is no holy land or Syrian refugees awaiting repatriation, The Syrian army has about 1,000 ballistic missiles of the Scud B, C and D models, whose ranges are between 300 and 700 kilometers. These missiles can reach anyplace in Israel (the distance from the southern Golan Heights to Tel Aviv is some 150 kilometers). The Syrian missiles are armed with chemical warheads, and Syria is also thought to have experimented with biological weapons. To these must be added Syria's SS-21 missiles, which have a shorter range (about 80 kilometers), but are much more accurate. The Ramat David airfield, for instance, is within range of these missiles. And, having learned a lesson from the Second Lebanon War, the Syrians have protected their missiles by putting them into concrete bunkers. Even more problematic, from the Israel Defense Forces' perspective, is the Syrian army's store of rockets. Faced with thousands of rockets, both 220mm (whose range is about 70 kilometers) and 302mm (with a range of 90 kilometers), the IDF has no real answer - just as it had no answer to the thousands of rockets launched by Hezbollah. And to these must be added Hezbollah's approximately 20,000 rockets, which they will use if war breaks out: Cooperation between Syria and Hezbollah has grown even closer since the war. Netanyahu has no vision on Peace and will use any trick in the book to shatter the peace process with Syria. First ,the Turks can not be the brokers so why not the French.. if this trick is not working lets have a referendum to replace the cabinet and the Knesset... and with this "strategy" he shatters the process.. All he does is to delay any deal with Syria or the two state solution with the Palestinians... His referendum idea was proposed in 2005 ,then it was the disengagement (Gaza)- in order to torpedo it. He believed that the right and religious public would go from door to door and invest millions in propaganda, while the center and left would doze quietly, expecting that the government would do the work for them. He hoped that until the referendum question was formulated and the appeal processes completed, many months would pass and Sharon would lose his momentum, status and majority. But then, Netanyahu had to face Sharon who was not afraid of his party rebels and did not consider holding onto his chair... Sharon rejected the idea of a referendum and carried out the withdrawal from the treacherous and bloody quagmire of Gaza. David Ben-Gurion acted same ,in the 1950s when he rejected pressure to hold a referendum over reparations from Germany. Netanyahu doesn't want to give up an inch. Anything else is mere tactics and maneuvering vis-a-vis the U.S. and " rescuing" his coalition. Assad doesn't stop offering Israel negotiations; he even dropped the demand that Israel give up the entire Golan Heights in advance. This is causing Netanyahu sleepless nights. He realizes that the price of peace is giving up the Golan, and this is precisely what he is not willing to pay, such a move would endanger his chair - and that's the last thing he wants..... Arie Raif
These are our enemies, who when confronted with simple facts simply lie through their teeth. Can't trust these people! All MEMRI does is translate what the Muslims say - actually the good and the bad (unfortunately over 90% is bad) and when Muslims are confronted with what they say in Arabic in translation in English - they start using TAQIYA just like the Koran teaches.
Is that you barking again?
Eldar, a cabinet decision is not an international treaty which must be submitted to and approved by Kennnest. A cabinet decision made by a previous government may be changed or even reversed by current government.
Why does Akiva Eldar waste his time and words on a loser like Netanyahu who is a model for the many losers who respond to his article? Nothing good in deed or word ever came from israel's worse PM in history- a gutless, lying sociopath who has brought the country to its worse position ever? And many of the responders applaud him and just repeat the same nonesense he does. We'll see what they have to say in a year or two.
"God gave the Holyland to Israel=read the Bible" Irrelevant in 2010...
One highly neglected point in all this "two state solution" talk is that the Arabs have already had their Palestian state, established at the exact same moment as Israel in May of '48. It wasn't enough--- they had to have everything, resulting in nothing. What makes anyone believe that two states would resolve the territory issue now?
not being challenged on translation grounds even by the Arabs.
to adhere to the law, who keep ignoring UNSC resolutions, the Geneva Conventions, the Laws of War, the UN Charter, who keep illegally acquiring other folk's territory, illegally annexing, not annexing at all, illegally settling, illegally instituting their Civil law in "territories occupied"? Who'd wouldn't want rid of such a neighbour?
haaretz is unable to distinguish the word peace for the word concessions !
...Ever since he got elected, both Bibi and Peres have been talking peace. Bibi came to Wash DC and gave a speech at the North America Jewish federation and mention the word: "PEACE" 31 times; but still he doesn't act or takes steps heading in that direction. His failure to act not only so apparent, but he is also becoming pethetic person.
to accept Israel's right to be, to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and this despite the fact that as early as 1917 the international community called upon the setting up in the country the Jewish national home, a call reiterated by the League of Nations in the early 1920s and one that was resolved by the United Nations to establish in the country a "Jewish state"?
I can understand Arabic (actually it is similar to Hebrew in some respects) because I wored in the Middle east for a number of years. I assure you the subtitles on MEMRI are reasonably accurate although they sometimes do not report all the hatred expressed for Jews. You can also watch PA television programs for children to learn what sort of indoctrination Arab children are getting to ensure the hatred for Jews continues
What we have at present is what could be described as a very serious case of cancer who is being treated by a witch doctor. If we contiue on the same path the result may be either a horrible death (complete destruction and annyhilation) or a permanent invalidity. the only way left for us is 1- get rid of the witch doctor and his stuff 2- execute a deep chirurgical operation though very painfull it might be In any case the first thing is to is to send BIBI, Lieberman et al home and try some thing more constructive in place, based on cold logical and human considerations, leaving religious and historical considerations aside, to be resolved calmly in relaxed enviroment.
Lisa 33, your language is interesting for that of a "peace lover". Your use of the word peace is a good example of why I try to avoid the word when discussing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As far as I know, the 67 borders are indeed those under discussion, as stated in United Nations resolutions. And Israel is the creation of the United Nations.
Israel has no obligation to go bk to 67 borders . The arabs said no to the partition plan and started a war in 1948 which they lost. They again started the 67 war with every intention to anhilate Israel, again Israel offered peace for retreating to 67 borders and received the absolute 3 No's of Khartom. In 1993 Israel welcomed Arafat bk and in Oslo offered greater than 95% of West Bank and again Arafat declared war and murdered thousands of Israelis and moderate Arabs. Today Israel can only offer half of the WB. If the Arabs again refuse there will be a lot less to offer in the future. Israel cannot, and will not take down Maale adumim, ariel, ofra, Kiryat arba, beitar, Efrat gilo and the other beutiful jewish towns in Yehuda and shomron . There is also no chance that these towns will become part of the future PA state, SO TELL THE ARABS THE TRUTH THE LIKUD IS OFFERRING ABOUT 50% OF THE WB - TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. THE WB ARABS WILL NEVER BECOME iSRAELI CITIZINS.
I think the same way brother! If the PA were to dissolve and force the responsibility onto Israel it would have no choice but to embrace democracy, then we can slowly get everything back. In all honesty most Jews would leave..i.e..the racist Americans who move there, they would just go back to the US. This will never happen though the PA is working with the Israelis and there livelihood depends on the average Palestinians misery...
No other nation has been attacked more often than Israel. No other democracy is faced w/ opposition by Hamas thugs. Bibi is a hero politically. he's managing to keep the dogs behind a fence of protection.
question When the Memri translations are corroborated I'll help you spread the news.....go ahead.
bar ilan was a milestone to a place i don't want to go
in a perverse slow dance of self strangulation. And the rope is the Bi National state.
in a perverse slow dance of self stangulation. And the rope is the Bi National state.
Strangely enough that's not the Arab line but you know better,give some examples.
Talking about peace is ignoring the reality of this conflict ! The palestinians never wanted peace. Their agenda to finish Israel. Any conditions of co-existing with the enemy will never satisfy any one who wants to finish the Jewish State. Blaming Israel is a foolish dialuge. The palestinians made that clear in their charters were the palestinians created a none acceptable reality. Blaming Israel is an insult to reality !
I may add that binational solutions DO work better than the current stalemate in Israel. Check Belgium. Also similar "heterogeneous" formulas work as well, and more than what people think: Check Lebanon (when Israel does not try to sabotage it as they have tried to over the past 50 years).
Eldars love of the old PLO is nauseating - if Bibi is not serious why is he trying to bring Kadima into the government?
Israel needs to stand up for its HISTORICAL AND PRESENT JEWISH VALUES.
gets everything they want. Those that want peace negotiate, those that do not sit back while others dream up reasons for them to avoid negotiating a solution. Nothing new in Arabic,all that's changed is what is said in English for fellow travellers who do not want to know about Trojan horses and Qeiresh peace etc etc.
Like the Palestinian allegedly dancing in the streets, handing out sweets in celebration of 9/11, we don't know what they said at all. We only know what the reporter told us. There's NO Palestinian dialogue. So unless you can speak the lingo, Memri's subtitles need corroboration.
Excuse me Mr Eldar. Pecisely what have the Palestinians offered Israel for the sake of peace? Or does this not count at all? (as seems to be the case with you over years).
Do you prefer Gaza? Saudi Arabia? You apparently can't abide your homeland, Israel so, move. Israel doesn't need you and you don't need or appreciate them. Move!
We will not be wiped off the face of the map.
With a big smile Israel gives only a finger and takes with two hands. In that way there will never be peace in the world.
If you really do not want peace then you do not negotiate. Thats the Palestinian peace plan.
One of the big obstacles to peace is that people like you rely on Memri and the NYT for authoritative information. Dare to look beyond the ghetto walls.
"Bibi" It just makes the skin crawl. Sounds so much like an endearing nickname. Just like "Arik". That one drove me nuts. Why do Israelis fetishize their nationalist leaders. Other countries call them "The Monster" and "The Butcher". Much more appropriate.
Any Israeli/Diaspora Jew left, who seriously wants to dispute, that right-wing Israels policies and conduct are massively strengthe- ning old anti-Jewish stereotypes around the world...????
No country would accept the conditions on offer for peace you say---I propose that no country except one led by Palestinians would refuse every, all and any condition for peace.
... because he now has an unprecidented retinue of goaders-on and nay-sayers... it's called a 'coalition'... and the set-up is hermetic...
I'm not sure if Jews don't know the truth or they know it and they are all extreme nowadays. I, as a Palestinian, uded to support the Two-State solution, But the Israeli governments have been trying to waste time, please, let me clarify: 1. Time is not in the favor of Isral, Palestinian Population growth rate is the double of the Israeli. 2. The Two-State solution is not workable any more; Binational state is the workable solution. 3. The Palestinian Authority should dissolve itself and transfer the responsibility of the 1967 occupied territories to the Israeli side just to support the Binational Country. 4.We, Palestinians, have no problem to name the Binational Country by Israel, at least for the time being, then when Democracy is applied. The name Palestine will be used. after a while, jews will be minority in Palestine in 2030. 5. I don't believe in wars, in violence . . . The binational country is the best solution for Palestinians who should impose the solution.
Eldar thinks that he can have it both ways. He holds that Israel is forced to comply with decisions by previous governments that were never brought to a vote in the Knesset and simultaneously that the present government is not empowered to make it's own decisions now. Funny what happens to logic and integrity when blind ideology is at stake.
Heard of the Arab Peace Initiative? Here: http://www.jordanembassyus.org/arab_initiative.htm
eldar and sovereign states needs revision ! the arabs have nothing to offer for concessions !
...Israel's sovereignty and will include, in addition, Giv'at Zeev, Ma'aleh Adumim and Etzion Bloc suburbs. 2) The Jordan Valley must be viewed in the widest possible way of its definition and remain under Israel's rule. 3) A future Palestinian state will not be a state in the full sense of the words. Rabin stated the above at the Knesset in October 1995 when addressing his view of a peace agreement with the Arabs. Rabin and Netanyahu, despite political differences, have perceived the future eye to eye and both have been part of the Israeli consensus.
I presume that Akkiva Eldar is from Ashkenazi extraction, as well as PM Netanyahu is. Nevertheless, I noted that among Jews of Ashkenazi origin the fraction of those who have not not the capability to understand the Arab-Jewish conflict is quite higher than with oriental Jews. Although the Ashkenazi Jews constitute the smarter ethnic group, as asserted by the biologist James Watson (he is co-discoverer of the DNA structure in 1953). The point is that even attending their entire demands, the Arabs will never sign a peace deal with Israel, which is an usurper. Their struggle is eternal. The Jews should manage to live forever, "side-by-side", with this insane people.
It's most probable that the reason the Netanyahu coalition refuses to accept the Palestinian demand of recognizing the understandings they succeeded with PM Olmert through the Kadima government on final-status issues, is because it affirms the political stance of the centrist-left Israeli policy. This applies within Israel and the Jewish community abroad. It's called the game of politics. If indeed, as Akiva Eldar proclaims, PM Netanyahu sought a serious peace engagement with the PA, he'd already have accepted this fundamental request throughout last year, since the construction freeze in the West Bank was also objectionable by this government for the time being. Not only has President Abbas spoke of this previous government achievement, but also the EU and U.S. Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.
... is the hatred the Arabs teach their children Just go to memri dot org and see what they say in their own languages. MEMERI is quoted by The NY Times quit frequently as an authoritative source.
for preserving Israel, for the whole world.
Only some Israelis and some extreme right wing zealots are fooled by Netanyahu. Mr. No-Peace, Never is not fooled by the Palestinians. He's pushing for a third intifadeh. I personally hope it's denied to him. Maybe even Obama is done being fooled by his perfidy. Abbas is even willing to accept Israel as a Jewish state and Hamas already acknowledges its permanency and is willing to live in a Palestine along side of Israel. But Bibi and his right wing zealots are looking for their own Masada. Israel should not be forced down this same path.
as a state where Jews have sovereignty. End of story. It isn't Bibi, Sharon, Peres or anybody else. The sooner Jews realize that they should find their way back to some basic convictions, the better. Otherwise, time is not on Israel's side if the One who has granted Jews the theoretical right to possess the land determines that most Jews living in the land do not deem it to be a special connection that reaffirms historical, legal and moral rights to the land in which Arabs are granted more rights than Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab World does to its citizens.
...so at the worst we are even. Would anyone accept millions of members of an enemy population flooding your country. And that is just one demand. We could go on and on.