This week it’s from Khaled Abu Toameh:
But just as life seemed to be returning to normal in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Israelis and Palestinians were for the first time in many years beginning to talk about security and economy cooperation, the US Administration stepped in to demand that the “peace process” be resumed.
More evidence of a simple proposition that should be obvious (but isn’t, at least to US officials):
The Palestinian Arabs won’t compromise with Israel unless they are forced to give up the idea that they can get everything they want for nothing.
When the US creates new conditions and demands new concessions, the Arabs are encouraged to harden their demands. When the US says that it wants to see a Palestinian state within a year, the reaction is “OK, let’s give nothing for a year and see what we get.”
Of course today the Arabs understand that with an election coming up, Obama is working very hard to keep pro-Israel voters (not just, or even mostly, Jews) in line. So that’s another reason for the them to stand pat.
It’s obvious!
What could be more obvious?
And yet, the administration continues to pressure Israel over things like housing plans in existing Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, without insisting on any reciprocal concessions from the Arabs.
Another way of looking at it is that there is no overlap in the objectives of Israel and the Arabs. Israel wants peace and security, while the Arabs want to eliminate the Jewish state. A compromise can’t be reached without changing at least one of these. The US seems to be trying to change Israel’s goal, not the Arabs’!
Technorati Tags: Israel, Palestinian Arabs, Obama Administration
The question is what they will do after their election debacle. If they are smart they will not push forward to the very dubious goal of a Palestinian Arab state. But they have not been smart to this point and are not to be trusted.