Netanyahu considers U.S. demands
On Saturday night Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the United States’ proposal to extend the building moratorium in the West Bank for an additional 90 days. In exchange for the 90 day extension on the construction freeze, the U.S. is offering Israel 20 fighter jet airplanes and an automatic veto of any anti-Israel resolution or decision made by the U.N.
But Israelis are fed up with demands for more Israeli concessions. Does the U.S. really believe it will solve the Israel-Arab conflict in 90 days? Why the obsession with Israeli settlements – as if they are the main obstacle to peace?
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not the reason why there is no peace. The Arab world’s refusal to accept the Jewish state as a sovereign nation in the Middle East is the real problem. Recognition of Israel — not a construction freeze in Jewish neighborhoods that would most likely end up part of Israel in any future settlement — should be the starting point for peace talks.
While Obama was in Indonesia this week he chastised Israel for building in Jerusalem, which only hardened the Palestinians’ positions. Perhaps he could have instead used this platform to tell the Muslim world in no uncertain terms that the Jewish people have a right to their own country – in biblical Israel. The peace process would be better served by empowering Israel and moderates in the Arab World, rather than publicly rebuking Israel at every opportunity.
Comments (7) »Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 1:39 PM | Amichai Farkas
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The real reason Israel is in the peace talks
After weeks of silence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his policy regarding the two month extension on the West Bank building freeze. At the Knesset’s (Israel’s Parliament) opening winter session, Netanyahu revealed that he had demanded that, in return for the extension on the building freeze, the Palestinian Authority (PA) must publicly announce that it recognizes Israel as a Jewish state. Predictably, the PA rejected Netanyahu’s request.
It is one of the sad ironies of Israel’s situation: We are Jews talking “peace” to an entity that so hates the idea of a Jewish state that it refuses to acknowledge one exists. What this tells us is that the PA has no intention of making peace with Israel. They want the U.S. and the international community to pressure Israel into giving them a state, and in return Israel will receive continued violence and terrorism.
Not too long ago when U.S. President Obama first took office, he said he would not only help Israel pursue peace with the Palestinians, but normalization with all of Israel’s Arab neighbors. He even made a list of goodwill gestures he suggested the Arab world would agree to if he simply asked. Flyover rights, opening up of embassies, and trade ties were on Obama’s wish list. Yet, a few short weeks after his Cairo address, Obama learned that the Arab world was not as interested in seeing an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israelis are starting to feel that they aren’t so much negotiating peace with the Palestinians, but negotiating to get the rest of the world off our backs. It’s clear to most of us here that the PA has no intention of ending the conflict. Yet we are constantly told by our allies that we must reach a deal with the PA immediately. What the western world has to understand is that Islamic Jihad is not going to disappear even if Israel and the PA reached an accommodation. Hamas is not going to disappear. The western world is looking for a quick fix to global jihad and is fixated on the idea that if they solve…
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