Benjamin Netanyahu has called for direct talks with the Palestinians, with no preconditions. Israel, he says, is ready to sit down right now and discuss all of the issues.
Mahmoud Abbas has said the Palestinians will not resume direct talks until… and now you get to fill in the blank, because he keeps on changing the rules. The latest? He wants Israel to set the borders before sitting down to discuss the borders. (This actually isn’t new. The Palestinians have used this before.)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told his Fatah movement he wants a more specific US commitment on the borders of a future Palestinian state before agreeing to direct talks with Israel, an adviser said Wednesday.
And here’s the best part:
Abbas was quoted as saying the US president was less specific in defining what constitutes occupied Palestinian territory than the previous US administration.
So he’s basically accusing Obama of pushing for less of a state than Bush. Counting down the outrage for this “insult” in 3… 2… yeah, not really. You will hear nothing publicly from the Obama administration about how Abbas is holding up peace talks. You will hear nothing about preconditions being an obstacle to peace—which they are. Hell, the AP boilerplate passes along the Palestinian talking points:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to move to direct talks immediately, but refuses to agree to a framework for the negotiations. Palestinians are reluctant to engage with Netanyahu, who has retreated from some of the positions of his predecessors.
They are talking about Olmert’s offer to the Palestinians, which included all of Jerusalem, and was turned down. One of the current preconditions is that negotiations must begin where Olmert left off. (It was also not a legal offer in any way as Olmert was leaving office and did not have a mandate to make the offer that he did.) Also, note the framing of Netanyahu as an obstructionist because he refuses to begin negotiations at that point—even while he’s perfectly willing to sit down without preconditions, which makes him the agreeable party and Abbas the reluctant one. But that’s not the narrative. And the narrative, you see, is paramount.
What time is it? That’s right, it’s Israeli Double Standard Time. But not to worry, because it only occurs on days that end with a “y.”
Every time the Palis reject an Israel offer the next offer should be for less than the previous one. The next offer should be Gaza and Judea and Samaria but nothing in Jerusalem. If that is turned down the offer after that should be for Gaza and Judea and samaria less ten percent of the territory of the latter two regions. Et cetera.