That’s what the Arabs are telling Israel. And this is how it’s being spun.
Arab leaders urge Israel, world to take peace offer
Mar 29, 2007 — RIYADH (Reuters) – Arab leaders endorsed a peace plan to end decades-old conflict with Israel and the Palestinian president warned of more violence if the “hand of peace” was rejected.Speaking at the end of an Arab summit in Riyadh, Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel not to waste the chance for peace, and called for a committee led by Saudi Arabia to pursue it.
“I reiterate the sincerity of the Palestinian will in extending the hand of peace to the Israeli people … We should not waste more chances in the history of this long and painful cause,” Abbas told the closing ceremony of the two-day meeting.
“The entire region will be under renewed threats of war, explosions, as well as regional and international confrontations, as a result of the absence of a solution or the impossibility of implementing one.”
Please note that in the very first paragraph, Reuters says the Arabs warn of violence if Israel does not accept the “peace” offer unconditionally. And yet, the headline is not “Arabs threaten Israel over summit deal,” it is about the Arabs “urging” Israel to take the “peace” offer. How is it peace if it offers no end to the terrorism? How is it peace when it is used as a threat, a prelude to war?
Arab Leaders Agree on Appeal for Israel
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Mar 29, 2007 (AP)— Arab leaders at their summit Thursday agreed on a call for Israel to accept their land-for-peace offer and open direct negotiations with the Arabs. Unlike past summits that at times saw overt feuds break out, the gathering of Arab kings, emirs and presidents showed unusual public unity as it revived the peace offer, which they first made in 2002 only to meet rejection from Israel.But still unknown is how the Arabs will persuade Israel to accept the initiative, which the United States and Europe hope can help build momentum for a resumption of the long-stalled peace process. Israel has said it could accept the offer with some changes, but the Arab leaders refused the amend it.
The AP utterly downplays the threat aspect. Well, actually, they leave it out completely from their reporting of the summit. Instead, they push the idea that “working groups” will be able to change the plan after Israel accepts it. Once more, I ask: What kind of negotiation is it when one side says “Accept this agreement as is and then you can negotiate changes”?
That is called “negotiating in bad faith.” That isn’t even a negotiation. It is an ultimatum. And once again, the Israelis will refuse it. The history of Israel is full of agreements made by other people without any Israeli input that she is expected to accept and then live by. Name any other sovereign nation that is expected to go by an agreement it had no input in making. You can’t. There are none. None that are accepted as legal, anyway.
And finally, we have the Israeli point of view, written from AP reports:
Abbas warns of violence if ‘peace’ rejected
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Thursday of violence if Israel rejected a Palestinian “hand of peace”, and called for an international conference on reaching a final peace agreement with the Jewish State.Speaking at the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, Abbas accused Israel of evading peace by demanding that Arab states alter a land-for-peace initiative.
“Demanding that amendments be introduced to the Arab peace initiative, is seeking to avoid the realization of peace,” Abbas said at the summit’s closing ceremony.
Funny how nobody else seems to have captured that last quote from Abbas. By insisting that the Arabs actually negotiate, Israel is “avoiding the realization of peace,” or, in other words, choosing war. Which, in the bad old days of Yasser Arafat, would mean the terrorists are ramping up for Intifada 3. I wonder if that’s what this summit is really all about: Cover for the Arab world when Hamas, Syria, and Hezbullah start launching rockets into Israel as “retaliation” for not agreeing to the Saudi initiative.
After all, they warned us. If Israel doesn’t take “the hand of peace,” she will be under “renewed threats of war.”
Renewed? They’ve never stopped.
They want to make us an offer we can’t refuse…
I think that they are already doing all they can to attack isarel, so it should be more called posturing rather than threatening.
The Kevorkian Peace Plan is what I call it.
How about if the Arabs accept the Israel peace plan? As I understand it that is “Recognize Israel, make a true peace treaty, stop the attacks on Israel, and you can have all the land back except East Jerusalem that we captured in the genocidal war you started against us in May 1967.”
It’s like I always say, when the Arabs say “Peace in the Middle East” they mean the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Israel’s Jews. When they whine for “American evenhandedness” they mean we should help them do this. No, nay, never.
It is an old Arab ploy-peace on their terms and after that (they hope) Israel disappears.