Palestinians refuse to miss the opportunity to miss another opportunity
Abbas: “We don’t love death, but we welcome martyrdom if it happens …. We will march to Jerusalem in the millions”
Abba Eban famously said, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”
And such is the history of the Palestinians, from the refusal to accept the 1947 U.N. partition, to decades of absolute rejectionism, to walking away from Camp David, to walking away from Ehud Olmert’s offer of almost everything they supposedly wanted.
Of course, it’s not about where borders are drawn, it’s about Israel being an unacceptable Jewish entity in a sea of Islam. That is why Netanyahu is correct to set the recognition of Israel as a state for the Jewish people — it gets to the root of the problem. Solve that root problem and everything else falls into line.
But solving that root problem is something even the “moderate” Mahmoud Abbas cannot abide.
From The Times of Israel, In fiery speech, Abbas rejects Jerusalem concessions
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent a defiant message to Israel’s leadership and US mediators Saturday, telling cheering supporters that the Palestinians “won’t kneel” and won’t drop demands for a capital in East Jerusalem.
Abbas’ unusually fiery speech highlighted the wide gaps between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the outlines of a peace deal. It also raised new doubts about the chances of US Secretary of State John Kerry to bridge those gaps in coming weeks and come up with a framework for an agreement.
Abbas adopted tough positions in the wide-ranging speech, saying that “there will be no peace” without a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem and that he would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
He also suggested he would not continue negotiations beyond a US-set target date of the end of April, and instead will resume his quest for broader international recognition of a state of Palestine by the United Nations and its various agencies….
On Saturday, Abbas spoke to several hundred Palestinians activists from Jerusalem whom he had invited to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The crowd whistled, chanted and clapped as the normally low-key Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, struck a tough tone.
“I say, listen, listen, the Palestinian people won’t kneel, and we tell the world, listen, listen the Palestinian people won’t kneel,” he said at one point, drawing chants of “Abu Mazen, Abu Mazen.”
Abbas also invoked a willingness for martyrdom of millions to march on Jerusalem, via JPost:
“We don’t love death, but we welcome martyrdom if it happens,” Abbas declared. “We will march to Jerusalem in the millions, as free people and heroes.”
Referring to Israeli demands to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Abbas said, “This is a story that we have heard only in the last two years. We won’t recognize and accept the Jewishness of Israel. We have many excuses and reasons that prevent us from doing so.”
Abbas was speaking during a meeting in his office with dozens of east Jerusalem residents.
Israel’s problem is that the Palestinians know more than the Israelis about history and geography, he said. “We talk about what we know,” he said.
“We won’t accept the Jewishness of Israel. We are asking for the 1967 borders.”
Remember, Abbas is the moderate.
Update: Another Palestinian official says what we all know, any agreement is just a first step, US-Brokered Deal ‘Just the First Stage’ in Israel’s Demise:
Update 1-13-2014: Arab ministers back Abbas in rejecting ‘Jewish’ Israel
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Comments
The smarter of the two (of Abba Eban & Forrest Gump) said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
What are the odds of Israel receiving most of the blame if talks completely break down? I would not like to be a negotiator for Israel with the U.N., Palestine, and increasingly the U.S., lining up for an ultimatum being offered to Israel–make peace or else. Of course the “make peace” is under Palestinian conditions, and the “or else” is recognition of Palestinian statehood under Palestinian conditions. One could use the wisdom of Saul right about now.
One could use the Maccabees right now.
There never has been and is not now anything for Netanyahu to talk to Kerry about. Refusal to recognize Israel means the Arabs are hell bent on genocide.
Obama and Kerry will spin this thus: give them East Jerusalem and they won’t kill you all today.
Netanyahu can refuse to deal with the USA on this because Congress will never agree to go to war with Israel over these killers. Obama can try to arm the Arabs to do the job that Congress won’t let him do, but November’s coming, and even the SCt is looking to rein in Obama.
So, Netanyahu can BS Kerry, easy to do, outright refuse, and Obama can’t do jack because he can’t impose sanctions by himself.
I must have missed the part where the US Congress declared war on Libya before aircraft (launched from US Navy aircraft carriers) attacked Libyan forces (prior to overthrowing it’s secular government and replacing it w/an Islamist Theocracy).
Israel has every right to be terrified now that their former ally and benefactor has turned against them, and is supplying their mortal enemies w/hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid and advanced fighter planes, rocket launchers, and armoured vehicles.
Fortunately for Israel, the Egyptian military (responding to the cries of the Egyptian people) displaced the Sunni dictatorship (that BHO had enabled to overthrow THEIR government), re-outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, confiscated those advanced weapons, and are restoring a more sectarian version of their constitution.
Let’s hope that it won’t be necessary for the Russian Federation to protect Egypt and Israel (as it did for Syria) from the MB sympathisers now in control of the US. (I wonder – will this lead to E & I joining S as RF allies? The Israelis are already negotiating with Газпром (aka “Gazprom”) to develop their newly-discovered Natural gas deposits).
God is great! He confuses the minds of His peoples enemies. Allah’s scum don’t stand a chance.
In fairness to Abbas, if he gave any indication that he might accept a peace with Israel surviving as a Jewish state, his life expectancy would drastically shorten. His own people would assassinate him. He might as well say Mohammed was gay.
There’s the real problem, of course. Palestinians don’t want peace at all. They’ve been brainwashed for generations by radicals and truly believe they can win the war against Israel even though every time they take up arms they are crushed. This is reinforced by every news program and even children’s programs. There is no one under the age of 50 today in Gaza or the West Bank who has not be educated to believe not only that peace with Israel is unnecessary but also unthinkable. No discussion of any moderation of their positions is tolerated.
Weak and misguided American leaders like Obama, Clinton, and Kerry do not help matters at all. But as Reagan noted of the Soviets, “You cannot negotiate with those who say, ‘What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.'”
A reasonable US President would demand the Palestinians grow the heck up and begin to live up to past promises, and get their act together for real negotiations. And cut them off from any US funding, period.
Golda Mier said, “we will have peace when they love their sons more than they hate us”. In other words, we will never have peace.
So, no peace until the Palestinian Total Fertility Rate drops below 2?