Just a day or so ago, our newest Secretary of State was pretty sure he’d bullied Israel into releasing convicted murderers, freezing settlements, and sitting down for peace talks with the Palestinians by giving into most of the preconditions that Mahmoud Abbas has been demanding for years.
Turns out that Mahmoud Abbas said he isn’t going to sit down and talk with the Israelis until they accept ALL of the preconditions, which include a return to the 1949 Armistice lines (a.k.a. “1967 borders”, which weren’t actual borders, ever). Barry Rubin points out that the Obama Administration has betrayed Israel on this, but that it doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, because the Palestinians are not going to talk peace. Let’s not forget that they were offered pretty much everything they wanted–including control of Jerusalem–and said no each time. Because it isn’t peace that they want. It’s all of Israel.
Don’t believe me? Well, believe the words of the PA officials. A PA minister is comparing sitting down with Israel to the treaty that Muhammed made with the Jews of Mecca–the one they made because the Muslims were too weak to defeat the Jews in combat, so they made a “hudna” until they could then massacre the men and take the women and children.
No peace.
There is also the small fact that the PA doesn’t control Gaza, and Hamas has come out quite strongly against any peace agreement.
The sad thing is that more murderers are going to be released to murder more Israelis, no matter what else happens. And the blood will be on John Kerry’s hands. But not the blame. Nobody will blame him or Obama for this.
Well, not true. I will.