There was a telling detail in the reports of Abbas demanding everything from Israel:
According to Palestinian negotiating documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Palestinian demands include all of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, east Jerusalem and small areas along the West Bank frontier that were considered no-man’s land before the 1967 war.
Abbas also said that it is imperative that the joint statement being composed by the negotiation teams addresses six major issues.
“The international conference must include the six major issues that are Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, water and security,” said Abbas.
There is rich symbolism in Abbas’ demand for “no-man’s land” as well as his insistence on the maximalist Palestinian Arab position on the so-called “right of return” and other issues. It proves, as if anyone still needed any proof, that even the most “moderate” Palestinian Arab is utterly incapable of comprehending the concept of compromise, something that Westerners take for granted. Abbas wants even more land than Jordan grabbed from Palestine in 1948.
This dovetails with a posting I made on my blog this week, where a top Abbas advisor said in Arabic:
“We will continue to work through all possible means to us…one of the forms of struggle is the international conference called for by President Bush…”
The standard Western mindset is that problems can be negotiated away, that people of good-will can work things out. This is clearly not the mindset of the Arabs, who explicitly view negotiations exactly the way they look at terror – a convenient way to get what they want without offering anything in return. In other words, the West views violence as a last option when all else fails; apparently Palestinian Arab leaders see things the other way around.
While Olmert’s government falls all over itself to see how much it can give away, they have a true partner in Abbas who is falling all over himself to see how much he can take.
I wrote another viewpoint on “no-man’s land” at the Elder of Ziyon blog.
People of good will can work things out. There is no good will among the Arabs.
Israel has continually stumbled in poeace negotiations due to the eagerness of Israelis for peace. They seem willing to accept any nonsensical “treaty” if it just seems to bring peace, no matter how illusory. I’m afraid Israelis are going to have to reconcile themselves to not getting peace with their neighbors for the foreseeable future. Maybe in fifty years Arabs and other Muslims will be ready to grow up and face reality, but they are not so inclined now.