Negotiations Israeli Style
The thing that caught my eye again today were headlines from the Middle East. We have already said a lot about what is happening in Israel but there is still much to say and it really changes constantly. That is just the way it is over there.
One of the recent headlines from Reuters on the subject of Israel read “Stop seeking compromise with Israel” and was attributed to the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal.
Hamas, which means “Islamic Resistance Movement”, is the non-secular group giving Israel more than just a hard time. As the name and non-secular categorization implies, Hamas has a more spiritual, a more religious inspiration than the much more secular Fatah, which is the largest branch of the PLO. A few years back, Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections, capturing almost 60% of the open seats from Fatah. A quick civil war with Fatah sealed the deal and Hamas legitimized its political power in Palestine and now governs the Gaza section of the Palestinian area. And remember, it is Israel’s Israeli behavior in Gaza that caused the Goldstone Report controversy. (Goldstone Report articles)
I should emphasize, Hamas democratically won a democratic election. You would think that automatically gives them clout with the great democracies of the world like the U.S. but on the contrary, it certainly did not. To be perfectly clear, Hamas is not just a political organization but it also has a very strong and effective military foundation. And to be viable and effective in Israel, you damn sure better have strong a military! And if you are viable and effective in Israel, with a strong military, you can and should expect the United States to call you a terrorist organization and refuse to talk to you at ALL!
Now to my real point, and it is about Mahmoud Abbas who is the leader of Fatah, and the President of the Palestinian territories. Abbas, by the way, is the only Palestinian leader Washington will even speak to. Well Abbas recently announced that he will not seek re-election as the Palestinian President. His reason; basically he is sick of the smoke and mirrors, Middle East Peace Process game, which never benefits the Palestinians. Some reports indicate that Abbas is also “considering dissolving the Palestinian Authority and declaring the failure of the peace process with Israel”.
Obviously, Abbas is not happy about Washington’s actions which are always more “favoring” to Israel and the complete double standard applied there. Sounds like Abbas does not want to be a tool for Washington anymore. We shall see if his initial natural instincts hold. No doubt his handlers will get busy and we will see if Abbas can be bribed into remaining Washington’s go-to Palestinian or not.
Back to my point, Meshaal and Hamas are trying to assert leadership in the wake of the Abbas announcement not to run for re-election. Read what he says as it certainly echoes the sentiment of a leader attempting to assert a more aggressive role with Israel; a leader attempting to earn the respect and support of the Palestinian people. Honesty can help with that and when he says stop seeking compromise with Israel, he means it. And trust me, the only way the Palestinians are going to accomplish anything in Israel is with a strong military and a leader that will not wait around for U.S. politicians to do anything except stop arming their enemy.
In the Reuters article, Meshaal says, “Any leader who insists on the right of return for the Palestinian refugees and on restoring the land, even to the 1967 borders … must know that the way to do this is not through negotiations or betting on the Americans but through holy struggle, resistance and national unity.”
Not the kind of talk Washington likes to hear, they prefer for Palestinians to ’seek compromise with Israel’. The probability that Israel will need a lot more help from Washington, lying, and covering up atrocities, as well as paying for their atrocities, just went up. I would expect some new peace process negotiations Israeli style.
Click here for original Reuters article
3 Responses to “Negotiations Israeli Style”
Comment from BDE
Time November 10, 2009 at 5:22 pm
“what is left out is that hamas is firing missiles into Israeli civilians ” – Hamas honoured a recent (2007) cease fire until Israel violated it. Israel is the aggressor here and the real terrorist.
Comment from nordic
Time November 11, 2009 at 12:37 am
Israel has been committing ethnic cleansing for the past 60 plus years. Zionism is not Judaism. Zionist intent has been to expel the Arab population seeking a Greater israel. And the United States has been complicit in this endeavor. Historic documents show that Israeli leaders intent was to rid Palestine of the Arabs. Ben Gurion and subsequent Israeli leaders stated so (documented).
Comment from dave
Time November 10, 2009 at 2:43 pm
As always , what is left out is that hamas is firing missiles into Israeli civilians , their new albeit to date less effective TERRORISM tecnique per their inability to continue pursuing their numero uno specialty , suicide bombing .
Eventually , as the “strong military” of hamas (moron) continues to attack Israel , more Palestinian civilians will be killed , and more microscopes against Israeli military actions will be focused to brand them as inappropriate.
Hope nobody minds reality being commented .