There are None so Blind as those Who Refuse to See

There are None so Blind as those Who Refuse to See

© David Burton 2016

Land for Peace


     Once more, the ant-Semites and anti-Israel bigots of the world have either shown their blind hatred of Jews and the Jewish State or their total naiveté and ignorance of realpolitik. “The UK on Wednesday {16 March 2916} joined the US, UN and France in condemning Israel's appropriation of 234 hectares of West Bank land.
     " ‘Such steps clearly damage the diminishing prospects for a two-state solution. The UK and our international partners have consistently called for an end to settlement expansion, which is illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace,’ the UK government said in a statement. (Ref. 1)

     In actuality what the UK and their international partners are consistently doing is encouraging the so-called “Palestinians” to refuse to come to any meaningful agreement with Israel that would once-and-for-all end the terrorism that is being perpetrated against both Jews and Arabs. The “Palestinians” are interpreting the actions of the UK and their international partners as a sign that as long as they refuse to come to an agreement with Israel, the international community will pressure Israel to concede more and more to the “Palestinians” without any need for the “Palestinians” to agree to any concessions on their part. Why should the “Palestinians” come to any agreement that requires concessions when refusing to agree could conceivably get them everything they want?

     In another act of utter insanity, France had earlier presented a new peace plan to Israel and the “Palestinians”, supposedly to get the two sides to sit down and bargain in good faith, with the goal of coming to a compromise agreement that would result in the end of the “Palestinian”-Israeli conflict and the establishment of a “Palestinian” state. France stated that should the two parties not reach an agreement, it would recognize a “Palestinian” state.[2]

     You’ve got to be kidding! So France is suggesting that the “Palestinians sit down and negotiate an agreement with Israel that would result in the establishment of a “Palestinian” state. As part of good-faith negotiations, the “Palestinians” would likely have to make some concessions to and compromises with Israel. But, if they don’t reach an agreement with Israel, then France will recognize the existence of a “Palestinian” state. In other words, if the “Palestinians” can come to a mutual agreement with Israel they could have a “Palestinian” state, but would have to likely make some concessions. On the other hand, if they don’t come to a negotiated agreement with Israel, they can have a “Palestinian” state without any concessions. Just what and how much wine have the French been drinking?

     Golda Meir Golda Meir once said that, “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” (Ref. 3) We can update this to 2016 and say that “Peace will come when the “Palestinians” realize that they will gain more by coming to an agreement now, rather than later.”

     In 2012, the United nations voted to upgrade the Palestinian Authority (PA) to nonvoting observer state status. By its action, “The United Nations General Assembly’s vote to make ‘Palestine’ a ‘non-member state’ of the UN has done no less than legitimize the two Palestinian regimes that promote terrorism and Israel’s destruction. How can the world claim to be fighting terrorism when it has just declared that two terrorist regimes should enjoy sovereignty? [Emphasis mine] - - - {The “Palestinian”} Fatah party {which controls the West Bank} still calls in its constitution for the destruction of Israel (Article 13) and the use of terrorism as an essential element in the struggle to achieve that goal (Article 19). - - - Hamas, which controls Gaza, . . . calls in its charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). - - - The Palestinian goal has never been statehood; it has been preventing or destroying Jewish statehood. [Emphasis mine] The proof is that whenever they’ve been offered statehood alongside a Jewish state – in 1937 (Peel Commission), in 1947 (UN partition plan), 2000 (Barak/Clinton plan) or 2008 (Olmert plan) – they’ve turned it down.” (Ref. 4) Add to this, the most recent failures of American Secretary of State John Kerry, and Vice President Joseph Biden to get the West Bank “Palestinians” to the negotiating table!

     In can be argued that the General Assembly’s action plainly violates the UN Charter – even the Security Council cannot create a state, it can only admit an existing one to membership. In addition, the UN resolution contains the “Palestinian’s” demand to be given all the land won by Israel in 1967. The resolution thus negates the very notion that any final resolution must be subject to negotiations between Israel and the “Palestinians”. Note that the UN’s resolution calls for the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem. Contrast this wording with the language in the post-Six-Day War UN Security Council Resolution 242 which called for the “withdrawal of Israeli Armed\ Forces from territories occupied since the conflict.”
     “Significantly the word ‘the’ does not appear in the 1967 document. [Emphasis mine] And this was not happenstance. Whether to include or omit that word was the substance of fierce negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The underlying issue was that the word ‘the’ would require a withdrawal from all land seized in the war while its omission would require withdrawal from only some land. The omission of the ‘the’ in the final wording reflected the consensus that a negotiated settlement would require only partial withdrawal.” (Ref. 5)

     The international community has blithely ignored the fact that “for the Palestinians to unilaterally declare statehood, or even to take the issue to the United Nations, would be a grave violation of the PLO's signed agreements with Israel, which explicitly barred such unilateral actions and appeals to outside parties. All of these agreements were also witnessed by outside parties including the United States, Russia, Norway, the EU, etc. If any of these countries now go along with material violations of agreements that they witnessed, that would raise serious questions about the worth of such agreements and the worth of such witnessing.” (Ref. 6)

     The “Palestinian” tactics should be incomprehensible and abhorrent to Western politicians and diplomats. Instead, they 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.

     The international community continues to demonstrate that it is total naive, insane or just plain anti-Semitic. They have tried the same approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over-and-over for the past 65 years and have failed to achieve any progress during that span of time. They continue doing the same thing over and over and expect different results each time, which they never do.

     The United States continues to demonstrate its complete lack of comprehension of how things work in the Mid-East and in the Arab world. We continue to urge ever more painful concessions from Israel instead of telling the “Palestinians” that the longer they stall, the more they will lose. The U.S. has continually fostered 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 being 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. following the UN’s granting them nonvoting observer state status 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. 7) Pure Bullshit! Where is the world-wide condemnation of the “Palestinians” who have for more than 6 decades refused to negotiate in good faith, who continue to murder innocent civilians, and who blatantly declare their intention to destroy a peaceful member of the United Nations? Virtually 100% of the concessions made between the Israelis and the “Palestinians” in modern times have come from Israel. Yet, in spite of this glaring imbalance, the “Palestinians” remain unsatisfied and demand still more and more , while the West 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. [Emphasis mine]
     “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, . . .
      - - -
     “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?
      - - -
     “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. 8)

     And the European nations have not been the only ones deserving blame for contributing to the intransigence of the “Palestinians” and their supposed Arab supporters– our own American government has been another key contributor to the ongoing death, destruction and terrorism that is now spreading to western Europe and other parts of the world.

     “The hostility to the Israeli government by its principal ally {the United States} has provided enormous impetus to its adversaries. The double standards employed by the {Obama} administration and classification of Israel as morally equivalent to the terrorists and the failure to directly reprimand Palestinian leaders engaged in incitement to murder Jews and sanctification of the killers as national ‘martyrs’ -- reflect morally outrageous behavior. At a time when almost half a million Syrians were butchered and 4 million displaced from their homes, the focus of U.S. ire was against Israeli construction of homes even in the Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. This blatant hostility by the Obama administration provided global encouragement to anti-Israeli forces and gave the green light to the Europeans to pressure Israel to make further unilateral concessions and recognize the indefensible 1949 armistice lines as the basis for permanent borders. [Emphasis mine] . . .” (Ref. 9)

     It’s time for all fair minded nations of the world to make the “Palestinians” and their Arab “brethren” understand that they cannot achieve their goal of eliminating the State of Israel by continuing to fiddle as they and the rest of the the world burn – instead they will only lose more 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. It’s time that the “Palestinians” to finally get the message - Get serious about real peace with Israel now, or suffer the very painful consequences later! Time is rapidly running out!

     Not only must the “Palestinians” get the message, but so must the international community. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. It’s time to remove the blinders!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References

  1. France and UK express concern over Israel's decision to seize West Bank land, Staff with agencies, i24news,
    16 March 2016.
  2. France has a new Peace Plan, Staff with agencies, hebrewtoday.com; Bereshit, Vol. 157, Page 1, 1 March 2016.
  3. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us, Golda Meir,
    Midstream; a monthly Jewish review, Volume 25 , Page 58, 1979.
  4. UN Vote Enables Palestinians’ Most Radical Goals, Morton A. Klein and Daniel Mandel, The Jewish Press,
    Page 10, 7 December 2012.
  5. Jabberwocky, Editorial, The Jewish Press, Page 7, 7 December 2012.
  6. Palestinians Rejected Statehood 3 Times, But Claim Frustration with Israel, Baruch Cohen, http://attorneysdefendingisrael.blogspot.com/2011/09/palestinians-rejected-statehood-3-times.html ,
    22 September 2011.
  7. Israel defies international criticism of settlement plans, CNN Wire Staff, CNN, 4 December 2012.
  8. Rewarding bad behavior, Dan Calic, ynetnews.com, 17 April 2011.
  9. The fallout of the Obama doctrine: Global chaos and its implications for Israel and the Jewish people, Isi Leibler, The Jeruslaem Post, 23 March 2016.

 



  25 March 2016 {Article 247; Israel_25}    
Go back to the top of the page