From Now On - Less and Less
© David Burton 2012
From Now On - Less and Less© David Burton 2012 |
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In any case, the so-called “Palestinians rejected a state in 1948, again in 2000/01 at Camp David/Taba and in 2008 under Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. These were extensive concessions by Israel, but the Palestinians walked away and in some instances launched war and terrorism.” (Ref. 5) “UN Resolution 181, the Partition Resolution, passed in November 1947, called for the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in the land which at that point was controlled by the British-run Palestine Mandate. All the Arab countries opposed the resolution, voted against it, and promised to go to war to prevent its implementation. Representing the Palestinians, the Arab Higher Committee also opposed the plan and threatened war, while the Jewish Agency, representing the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine Mandate, supported the plan. “The Arabs and the Palestinians were true to their word and did launch a war against the Jews of Palestine, violating both Resolution 181 and the UN Charter. Much to the surprise of the Arab side, the Jews were able to survive the initial onslaughts and eventually win the war. “The fundamental fact remains that had the Arabs and the Palestinians accepted the Partition Resolution and not violated the UN Charter by attacking Israel, there would be a 63-year-old Palestinian state today next to Israel, and there would not have been a single Palestinian refugee.” (Ref. 5) “The Palestinians have consistently refused statehood when it was offered to them through negotiations, most recently just a few years ago when present leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected Ehud Olmert's peace plan. Just as his predecessor, Yasir Arafat, rejected President Clinton's plan in 2000 (which Israeli PM Ehud Barak accepted).” (Ref. 5) “In the summer of 2000 US President Bill Clinton hosted intense peace talks at Camp David between Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli leader Ehud Barak, culminating in a comprehensive peace plan known as the Clinton Parameters, which was similar to the later Olmert Plan, though not quite as extensive. “Despite the vast concessions the plan required of Israel, Prime Minister Barak accepted President Clinton's proposal, while Arafat refused, returned home, and launched a new terror campaign against Israeli civilians (the Second Intifada).” (Ref. 5) As U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, stated immediately after the U.N. vote to make “Palestine” a “non-member state”, “The Palestinians could have had a state as old as I am if they had made the right decision in 1947. - - - They could have had a state if they had worked with my husband and then-Prime Minister Barak at Camp David. They could have had a state if they’d worked with Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Minister Livni, - - - I don’t care how many people try to revise that history, the fact is [Arafat] said no at Camp David.” (Ref. 6) In return for its offers of peace and a separate “Palestinian” nation, what has Israel received?
The evidence is clear to all who are either not blind or to those who possess an ounce of intelligence. The Arabs do not want a peace agreement with Israel. They want to destroy Israel. No matter what they have been offered, they have always wanted more. The more they are offered, the more they want. To them, Israel is like a salami – they keep waiting for another piece of the salami to be cut from it, until, finally there is no more salami. As long as they perceive that they will be conceded more by Israel or given more by the international community, they will never come to a peace agreement with Israel. If nothing else, the Arabs are the quintessential negotiators in the bazar. Those of us in the West are ignorant of such bargaining processes. The first rule of the bargainer in the Mid-East bazar is that he who has the power has the upper hand in the bargaining – there is no such thing as equality. Unless the Arab realizes that his opponent has the power and will use it, he will agree to nothing. Even when he understands that the opponent at the bargaining table has the upper hand, he may come to an agreement – BUT, in his mind, the agreement is temporary and lasts only until he can gain enough power to be superior to his opponent. At that point, it is perfectly acceptable to him to unilaterally renege on the agreement and renew the fight. Such tactics are incomprehensible and abhorrent in the eyes of Western politicians and diplomats. They therefore close their eyes, hold their noses and blame the Israelis for not making enough concessions to jump-start the “peace-process”. They refuse to admit the plain fact that there is no “peace-process!”. In the past, Israel has gone along with the “peace-process” charade, perhaps naively, perhaps in order to acquiesce to the demands of its “friends”, or perhaps in the vain hope and illusion that the leopard would finally change its spots. Such has not been the case. Today, things may have finally changed. Instead of giving the “Palestinians” more and more, Israel may finally be telling the Arabs and the “Palestinians” that the more they demand, the less they will ultimately get. The longer the Arabs and the “Palestinians” wait to come to a real peace agreement with Israel, the less they will ultimately receive. The “Palestinians” may now find themselves to be the salami. The longer they avoid reaching a meaningful peace agreement with Israel, the more will be sliced off their salami. They will never get in the future what they can get now. The Israeli decision to proceed with construction demonstrates that "Israel isn't willing to lie down and accept the false narrative about the West Bank and Jerusalem that was swallowed whole at the United Nations. - - - {This} decision sends a necessary signal to the Palestinians lest they be deceived by their triumph in the General Assembly. "What {Israel} has done is to show {that} Israel won't give up an inch of territory unless the Palestinians return to the negotiating table and even then only if they agree to end conflict for all time. [Emphasis mine] - - - "{The Palestinians} may be under the impression that Israelis can be hammered into more unilateral concessions by means of foreign pressure. "Had the Europeans behaved in a principled manner and rebuffed the UN upgrade as a clear violation of the Oslo accords, as they should have, it could have been argued that {Israel's} decision {to resume construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem} would have been a mistake. But since the Europeans abandoned the peace process that they had heretofore championed, it was necessary for Israel to remind {the Palestinians} that {they} should realize that the vote in New York wouldn't mean a thing on the ground in the Middle East. (Ref. 7) "Typically, European governments have attempted to mollify Arab anger by protesting Israel's decision to build new housing in Jerusalem, it's sovereign capital. The Obama administration has also made its displeasure clear. But too many western policy makers fail to understand that the fundamental confrontation here is not between the west, Israel and Islam, but a series of brutal civil wars within the domain of Islam itself. The proof of that lies in the fact that more Muslims die at the hands of Islamist thugs than any other group. (Ref. 8) Europe and others continues to live in their own fantasy world. As Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Can anyone doubt the insanity of those who have been doing and urging the same thing over and over again since 1948 and expecting different outcomes? Are these nations and diplomats doing anything different than the European nations and their politicians did in 1933 when they threw Czechoslovakia to the Nazi crocodile in an their futile attempt to avoid being eaten by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi henchmen? Once more, the “international community” has demonstrated either it’s total naivety, insanity or its latent anti-Semitism. They have tried the same approach over-and-over for the past 65 years and have achieved negative results each time. They continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results each time. This time is no different. Even the United States demonstrated its complete lack of comprehension of how things work in the Mid-East and in the Arab world. Once more, they urged concessions from Israel instead of telling the “Palestinians” that the longer they delayed, the more they would lose. The U.S. has once again left the impression with the “Palestinians” that if they only wait some more, the U.S. and the international community will pressure Israel into making still more concessions. Why should the “Palestinians” come to a peace agreement when they keep getting told that the Israelis will be forced to concede more to them if they just wait? The message sent to the “Palestinians” by the U.S. was: "We urge Israeli leaders to reconsider these unilateral decisions and exercise restraint, as these actions are counterproductive and make it harder to resume direct negotiations to achieve a two-state solution." (Ref. 1) Balderdash! Where is the world-wide condemnation of the Arabs and Palestinians who have for more than 6 decades refused to negotiate in good faith, who continue to murder innocent civilians, who blatantly declare their intention to destroy a peaceful member of the United Nations? Standing up to the heavily biased U.N. decision to grant observer status to the “Palestinians” “The Israeli Cabinet, in a unanimous vote Sunday, rejected the U.N. General Assembly's decision on Palestinian status, saying it changes nothing and will not be a basis for negotiations. Virtually 100% of the concessions made between the Israelis and the Arabs in modern times have come from Israel. “Yet in spite this glaring imbalance, the Arabs remain unsatisfied and demand more, while the West – currently led by President Obama - continues to support them. “The one-sided list of concessions dates back to the beginning of the modern conflict. For example, the Jews were promised a ‘national homeland’ on 43,000 square miles of land in the 1922 British Mandate for Palestine. After 76% of the land was given away to form Transjordan (today’s Jordan) the UN decided to partition the remaining 24% into two sovereign states, one Arab and one Jewish. This left the Jews with a mere 12% of their originally ‘promised land.’ They agreed to the concession. And what did the Arabs do? They rejected the UN vote and attacked Israel the day after its inception. “Since then, there have been wars, conflicts and Intifadas in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 1987, 2000, 2006 and 2008/09 {and yet again in 2011/2012}. Organizations such as the PLO, PLFP, Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others have been formed, all refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Moreover, each group has a charter that calls for Israel’s elimination. “In spite of huge land concessions offered by Prime Ministers Barak and Olmert (both were willing to concede more than 90% of land demanded by the Arabs,) the offers were deemed unsatisfactory. Netanyahu went even further when he accepted the existence of a “Palestinian” state, arguably the greatest concession ever made by an Israeli PM. In turn, he requested that the Arabs recognize Israel’s right to exist, as a Jewish state. The response from the Arabs was a loud ‘no!’ Abbas’ very words were ‘I do not accept it.’ “Another bold concession made by Israel was its 2005 unilateral withdrawal from a 38-year presence in the Gaza Strip. Did this facilitate peace? On the contrary, the reward for this concession was thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli citizens, eventually prompting the IDF to embark on Operation Cast Lead. The recent escalation of rocket attacks from Gaza indicates that Hamas remains undeterred in its efforts to kill Jews and destroy Israel. “Other notable concessions made by Israel include a 10-month freeze on settlement construction, which was extended. Throughout this period, invitations were made for the Arabs to return to the negotiating table. Yet Abbas insisted that 100% of his demands be met before he returns to the table. This tactic renders the term ‘negotiate’ meaningless. “Additionally, Israel eliminated hundreds of checkpoints, relaxed intense security operations in the territories, and accepted the US role of providing weapons and training to the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. The list of concessions by Israel is long, yet what did it get in return? Not only is there no peace, the Arabs {and the "Palestinians"} aren’t even willing to sit face to face with Israel and negotiate. “As to Arab concessions, there are none. Not only have the Arabs provided no concessions, President Obama and the West are acting as their proxies, criticizing Israel for not making ‘bold concessions for peace.’ Yet do the Arabs bear any responsibility for their absence of concessions for peace? Have they negotiated in good faith? Did they say they will accept Israel’s right to exist? Are they willing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state (with its 20% Arab population)? Have any of their organizations altered charters calling for the destruction of Israel? “At this time, the Arabs are attempting to gain support for a unilateral declaration of statehood in the heartland of Israel that will have ‘no room for a single Jew’ according to Abbas. A small but growing number of countries have indicated they favor such a declaration, with the UN scheduled to discuss the issue in September. {As noted earlier, the UN did subsequently approve observer status for the ‘Palestinians’} “Bluntly put, the Arabs have not made one single concession to facilitate peace. Why should Israel continue offering concessions and why do the ‘Palestinian’ Arabs deserve a state when they have demonstrated arrogant intolerance of Israel’s very existence? The time has come for Israel and the world to stop rewarding bad behavior. It only emboldens the Arabs to continue on the same path, which will end only with Israel’s demise.” (Ref. 9) “The Palestinian goal was never to help the peace process. It was to isolate Israel on the international stage and continue undermining it. And they won big. “The Palestinians don’t negotiate. They attack. “Extremists like Hamas attack Israeli homes with missiles, hoping Israel will retaliate and cause civilian casualties that will result in diplomatic disasters like the Goldstone report. “’Moderates’ in the Palestinian Authority attack Israel with verbal missiles, demonizing and libeling Jews as foreign intruders with no connection to Jerusalem. Their repeated rejection of peace offers (including one offer of a Palestinian state on 97 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of Gaza) and continued promotion of Jew-hatred in their society have exposed their bad faith and made Israelis wary of making further concessions – a wariness that is then used to paint Israelis as intransigent.” (Ref. 10) Maybe, just maybe, we are witnessing the start of a new day in dealing with those Arabs who have no real desire for a just Mid-East peace, who want to destroy the State of Israel, who want only to kill all Jews and other “infidels”, and who have held their own brethren hostage since 1948. Maybe we are witnessing the end of the “land for peace fantasy”. Maybe we are seeing the beginning of a truly realistic approach, one of “applying the stick”, instead of “offering the carrot”. Every time a rocket or mortar falls on Sderot from Gaza, Israel should permanently annex a piece of Gaza and send the Arab occupants of the annexed land into the remaining Hamas controlled portion of Gaza. “For every terrorist attack on Israel, let the United States and other like-minded countries provide Israel with additional aid for defense, or maybe give Israel a modern tank or fighter airplane each time there is a terrorist attack.” (Ref. 11) It’s time, long since due, to change from a doomed and obviously failed approach to a new one. It’s also time for the rest of the world to stop paying lip-service to the Israel-haters and the Arab apologists and to get solidly behind a new program– it’s certainly worth a try. Repeated failure is not an option, it’s insanity. The time has arrived for Israel and the fair minded nations of the world to make the “Palestinians” and their Arab “brethren” understand that: They can no longer expect more and more by waiting – instead they will receive less and less the longer they continue their charade of “wanting peace” while continuing to demonize Jews and attack the State of Israel with the announced intention of ultimately eradicating the Jewish nation. Maybe, just maybe, the Palestinians will finally get the message. Get serious about real peace with Israel now, or suffer the very painful consequences! Time is running out – if it has not already done so. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- References:
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| 17 Decembr 2012 {Article 153; Israel_14} |