He’s just not that into you … Israel

At the same time that the Obama administration decided to make a city planning decision into an international incident, the Palestinian Authority was preparing to honor a vicious murdereress.

Palestinian Media Watch has been exposing the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing policy of glorifying terrorists and presenting them as role models. The PA has been focusing lately on terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who committed the worst terror attack in Israel’s history when she and other terrorists hijacked a bus in 1978, killing 37 Israelis.

This week it was reported (though the PA denied it) that it was naming a street after the infamous “engineer,” bombmaker, Yahya Ayyash:

In its complaint, Israel seeks a harsh condemnation of the Palestinian Authority’s intention. However, Palestinian officials dismissed the reports and said there were no plans to name a government building after Ayyash, a notorious Hamas bomb-maker known as “the Engineer” responsible for hundreds of Israeli deaths before his assassination by the Shin Bet.

“Commemorating – and not for the first time – an arch terrorist is an act against the spirit of the peace process and against Israel,” UN Envoy Gabriela Shalev wrote in her complaint letter. “Given that the Road Map for peace explicitly states that ‘all official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel,’ what message does the Palestinian Authority send by honoring terrorists?”

The Palestinian plan “fuels the future of terrorism as Palestinian children now walk down streets and through squares that honor terrorists,” Shalev wrote.

As Solomonia observes:

You can tell a lot about a nation by the people and the values they lionize.

Now Barry Rubin reports, that another terrorist is getting his due:

A third terrorist being honored is also of special interest. Abdallah Daoud, former head of Palestinian intelligence in Bethlehem, was one of those who seized the Church of the Nativity in 2002 and turned it into a fortress from which to fire at Israeli soldiers. He and the others were eventually allowed by Israel to leave the country and he died recently of natural causes in Mauritania.

Why is this particularly shocking? Because it is a slap in the face of all Christians. Here’s a man who took over what might be considered the single holiest shrine of all for Christians, intimidating the monks at gunpoint.

Keep these honors in mind when you read this take on the Obama administration’s considerations of imposing a settlement on Israel (and the PA):

Advocates of an American plan say the two parties are incapable of making such concessions themselves; the current Israeli government, for instance, won’t halt Jewish construction in East Jerusalem despite intense U.S. pressure. But detractors say such a plan is only a recipe for putting pressure on Israel, while even some supporters caution that the timing must be right — such as in the midst of viable peace talks — or else the impact of the gesture might be wasted.

Note the dishonest shift. First the reporter mentions “two parties,” but then only offers the example of Israeli actions that supposedly harm the cause of the peace “despite intense U.S. pressure.”

And yet, the only reason that Israeli building in Jerusalem harms the cause of peace, is because the Palestinians say so. But ask any sentient being outside of the fields of politics, diplomacy, journalism or academia which activity – building apartments or celebrating the killings of innocents – makes peace impossible and the sentient being would choose the latter. To the administration’s credit, a State Department spokesman did condemn the naming of a building after Ayyash, but the administration has not exerted “intense pressure” to end these travesties.

Of course there’s a more troubling possibility than that the administration ignores these displays of contempt for peace. Barry Rubin has seen signs that the administration is looking to engage Hizballah. And Benny Avni of the NY Post sees other troubling signs:

America’s long-stated policy is it won’t talk until Hamas fulfills three conditions: recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and abide by all agreements previously signed by Palestinians and Israelis.

Yet Hamas can’t meet those conditions without rejecting its defining goal, which is to assure that no part of Palestine is controlled by infidels — Jewish, Christian or atheist. The best it can promise — but not necessarily deliver — is a limited cease-fire.

State officials tell me that Pickering and Malley are “private citizens,” and that the policy is unchanged. And another Clinton-era Mideast negotiator, Aaron David Miller, insists there’s no reason to fear: “What good could possibly come from an officially-sanctioned meeting with Hamas? Nothing, just a headache,” Miller told me.

But in the region, very few people buy the administration’s line. Hamas officials say Obama is different from all his predecessors. As its deputy “foreign minister,” Ahmed Yussuf, told the Journal, “We believe Hamas’ message is reaching its destination” — the White House.

Maybe the White House isn’t refusing to judge the “moderate” PA; maybe the White House really thinks that these guys (Hamas, Hizballah) aren’t so bad. And as InstaPundit wryly observed (in a different context):

Face it, Israelis — he just doesn’t like you that much.

Crossposted on Yourish.