The Obama administration and various news organizations keep insisting that Israel is going to have to talk to Hamas someday in order to make peace. Because, they say, there are moderate elements to Hamas. It’s the only way to end the siege in Gaza. It’s the only way to end the rockets raining down on Israel. Force? Didn’t work (in spite of the fact that in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, there are only tiny drips of rockets rather than the daily assaults that southern Israel had to face). And ultimately, all Hamas wants is what we in the West want, right? Their spokesliar spokesman said so in the op-ed pages of the New York Times, so it must be true.
And now, Rahm Emanuel says, is the “moment of opportunity” to make peace.
“And the President has been clear what we need to do to seize this moment of opportunity here in the region to finally make peace,†Emanuel said.
“Peace where Israel feels secure and peace that is in balance with the Palestinians aspirations for sovereignty. That is possible,†he said. “It is now the time, given where we are, to basically find that proper balance.â€
The “moment of opportunity”? Why, because Hamas is willing to make peace? Really? Because only today, Mahmoud al-Zahar said this:
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud a-Zahar called for West Bank residents to fire rockets into Israel, Israel Radio reported Sunday.
“There is no escaping from these rockets in the West Bank,” Zahar said to the east Jerusalem newspaper al-Quds. “Why should they only be in the Gaza Strip?”
He added that Hamas policy will not change no matter how long the blockade of Gaza continues, and whether or not Hamas will win the next elections in the West Bank.
That Hamas New York Times op-ed is looking more and more like, um, let me think, what’s a delicate way to put this? I know: Complete and utter falsehoods.
So is it a “moment of opportunity” because Mahmoud Abbas is looking for peace? But wait: Fatah just cancelled new local elections because their candidates can’t win. And Mahmoud Abbas says the two-state solution is “eroding.” Oh, and that anti-Israel incitement that Abbas said the Palestinians weren’t behind? Yeah, he was lying.
Or does Rahm Emanuel really mean that there is a “moment of opportunity” because the Obama administration thinks it can blackmail the Netanyahu administration with the threat of withholding a veto of a UN resolution about the Gaza flotilla incident? There is blood in the water, and the sharks are circling. Here’s where the U.S. generally throws Israel a lifeline. Let’s see what happens during the July 6th meetings (and hope that the Hezbullah false flag Mariam expedition doesn’t give the world another fake cause to bash Israel with.
I am not hopeful.