The real reason behind the sudden “momentum for peace” meme

Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas, the organization that has murdered or wounded thousands of Israelis, is in Algeria for something called the 5th International Conference on Qods. Qods is Jerusalem; I expect this conference is yet another gathering of Arab and Muslim forces arrayed against Israel to discuss “regaining” Jerusalem—known as the City of David, I should point out—to Muslim control. Besides threatening terror attacks on any nation that attacks Iran, the exiled leader of Hamas, who runs the terrorist organization from Damascus because he knows a Hellfire missile would find him if he returned to Gaza, also said this:

Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal said that the group had not abandoned its armed struggle against Israel, and that operatives in the field were already waiting to begin another intifada, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.

Speaking at a conference in Algeria on Monday, Mashaal called on Arab leaders to take advantage of the momentum in the region to push Israel into a corner and to develop a new strategy for retaking Jerusalem.

I guarantee you will not find that quote in any other non-Israeli publication, and you will especially not find it in the AP.

You will also not find these statements in the AP and Reuters pieces. They prefer to use phrase like “Saudia Arabia suggested it would consider changes” to the peace plan, even when they know those phrases are lies from teh Saudis. And yes, the wire service writers know it. They must, because the Arab press was chock-full of stories like this:

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal reaffirmed yesterday that the 2002 Arab peace plan which offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for full withdrawal from Arab land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

“There will be no amendment to the Arab peace initiative. We have said this 20 times before in the past and this is the last time I will say this,” Prince Saud told reporters in Riyadh.

And here is the reasoning behind the sudden push for “momentum”: To force Israel into a bad agreement, and when Israel refuses, to get world opinion—already there, frankly—against Israel for refusing to agree to the “peace” plan.

The Saudi Foreign Minister also said on Monday that an Arab summit in Riyadh this week must produce a united stance on an Arab initiative for peace with Israel.

“If the Arabs have a clear and strong position on the initiative, the more the chance of it being adopted internationally and serious peace negotiations entered,” Prince Saud told the opening session of Arab foreign ministers meeting to prepare for the March 28-29 summit.

There will not be negotiations after an agreement has been accepted. There will only be the Arab and Muslim side insisting that Israel live up to its side of the agreement, just as they did with the Road Map, while providing excuse after excuse on why the Palestinians could not live up to theirs. One more time: There will be no change to the agreement. Mashaal is in Saudi Arabia to make sure of it.

”Meshaal called on Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh to adopt a strategy based on the right to self-defence,” the official Saudi news agency SPA said.

It added: “he said that conceding legitimate rights such as the right of return and the Palestinian people’s right to protection was unacceptable”.

And Mashaal is calling for more murders armed struggle:

Meshaal however said Monday that “Hamas will not renounce its armed resistance. Things are evolving in the favour of Arabs and Muslims, who should take advantage of the (current) situation” in the Middle East. The situation is not good neither for the Israelis nor for the Americans. The former are facing a profound domestic crisis of confidence while the United States is suffering one failure after another.”

You see, I can find these news pieces. There are reporters at these conferences, and you can be sure there are AP and Reuters reporters or stringers at this conference—but these quotes never make it into the main AP and Reuters pieces. Why not? It’s that anti-Israel bias. As long as you water down the threats from Hamas, you can make Israel look like the bad guy. If Hamas leaders were quoted regularly in the wire services as saying the things that they actually say, Hamas would no longer be the “reformed” terrorist group that the media is trying to make them out to be.

And last, we have the wire services, finally acknowledging the refusal to change the 2002 initiative, but still pushing it as something good for Israel.

Arab leaders arriving in Riyadh were expected to relaunch a peace initiative that offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for full withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel rejected the plan in 2002, but along with the United States has recently shown more interest.

[…] Draft resolutions for the March 28-29 summit, hammered out in only a few hours on Monday, are dominated by the Arab-Israeli conflict and appear designed to entice Israel into talks without altering the text of the 2002 peace initiative.

Israel has made clear its objections to some parts, including the proposed full return to 1967 borders, inclusion of East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel, in a Palestinian state and demands over the return of Palestinian refugees.

[…] The final draft also avoids any mention of the phrase “right of return” for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has strongly argued against. The Arab peace initiative only talks of a just solution to the refugee question.

And there you have it: Reuters is using weasel words, because the reporter knows damned well that what the Saudi initiative means by a “just solution” is the return of all UN-declared Palestinian refugees to their former homes in the former Palestinian Mandate, much of which is now Israel proper.

And as we have now entered upon material that needs a whole other post to discuss, we will leave you with one more Reuters quote:

Summit must not give refugee concessions: Meshaal
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on Arab leaders at this week’s Arab summit not to make concessions on Palestinian refugees and the Palestinians right to defend themselves, Saudi media said on Tuesday.

Does Reuters never tire of lying to its readers?