The news that Time forgot … part IV

1) There is a campaign, financed by U.S. tax dollars, to convince Israelis that Palestinians want peace.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) — which is supposed to help countries raise their living standards — gave a $250,000 grant to the H.L. Peace Education Program of the Geneva Initiative. (I wonder if the U.S. Congress considers this to be within AID’s mandate!) The money isn’t paying for potable water, health clinics, or small factories. It’s paying for billboards and videos in Israel, featuring the faces of Palestinian and Israeli officials asking:

We are partners — what about you?

Typical, isn’t it? The implication of the signs and film clips is that the Palestinians are ready for peace, the question is only whether Israel wants it. Should be very effective with Israelis, right?

Guess what? It’s controversial. To the Palestinians. (h/t my brother)

In its latest campaign under the slogan “I am your partner. Are you my partner?” the Geneva Initiative, which promotes a model agreement as the basis for peace between Israel and the Palestians, has featured a number of senior Palestinians – but it turns out that the two most senior officials, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, did not give their permission for the use of their likenesses.

Which begs the question: is there anything Israel can do that won’t be considered inimical to peace? More and more I think the answer to that question is “no.”

2) I just did a search about the peace process at the New York Times website. Quite a few of the headlines proclaimed that “settlements” are the major obstacle to peace. Khaled Abu Toameh disagrees. (h/t Daily Alert Blog)

The major threat to the peace process is not a new housing project in a West Bank settlement, but the threats coming from the evil forces in Gaza, Damascus, Beirut and Tehran. No “moderate” Palestinian leader will dare make any concessions for peace as long as Hamas, Hizbullah, Syria and Iran are continuing to issue daily threats against “traitors.” They are opposed to peace because they believe that Israel has no right to exist and should be wiped off the map. The peace process will never move forward as long as these forces are actively working to destroy Israel and eliminate any Arab or Muslim who talks about compromise. As long as the U.S. and its Western allies continue to turn a blind eye to these real threats, Israel and the PA will never be able to make any progress towards peace.

Syria continues to play host to several radical Palestinian terror groups whose declared goal is to prevent the signing of any peace agreement between Israel and the PA. These groups have armed cells in the West Bank and Gaza that are ready to launch terror attacks against Israeli targets. The Palestinian “rejectionist” groups are under the control of the Syrians, who use them to advance their own interests the same way they have been using Hizbullah and other terror groups in Lebanon for decades. If Washington wants to ensure any kind of progress in the current peace talks and stop these radical groups, it should put pressure on the Syrian dictator in Damascus to rein them in.

Yaacov Lozowick elaborates:

So while there’s no problem with Palestinians building in areas we all know will eventually be part of their state (the corollaries of Midi’in Illit), it should be clear to all sides and the international community that the Palestinians, too, must refrain from actions which harm the negotiations. Things such as firing rockets at Israeli civilians, shooting at their cars, or stoning Israeli civilians. Shhh! There are negotiations going on, and all sides must refrain from harming them.

Why is this reciprocity not crystal clear? Because it isn’t, you know.

3) Sa’eb Ereqat demonstrates the flexibility of the Palestinian position:

PLO negotiations chief Sa’eb ‘Ereqat said that the Palestinians will quit the negotiations with Israel if the latter does not desist from all settlement construction, including in Jerusalem.

He stressed that Israel would be responsible for destroying the peace process if it continued with any construction at all.

4) The Western Wall of the Temple is the holiest place to Jews. And Jews praying there represent “sins and filth” according to a Palestinian Authority TV show:

On the Jewish New year, PA TV broadcast a documentary showing Jews praying at the Western Wall while the narrator called it “sin and filth.”
The same program also described Jewish history as “false.”

Credit for the image: Elder of Ziyon.

See previous editions: the original, part ii and part iii.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.