Sovereign Imperative
Is it all that complicated to understand, after all? That a nation's security is its primary focus. That it will be understandably unwilling to bargain 'in good faith' with any oppositional entity that fails to agree first and foremost, that it has a right to exist, before engaging in the formalities related to co-operation and a halt to hostilities?Israel, in bargaining with the Palestinian Authority, has, in its desperation to achieve a final peace agreement, offered as much and more as any sovereign country should be expected to sacrifice to achieve that agreement. Each and every time its partner in negotiations has pressed for more and then again greater concessions. When one hurdle has been breached and overcome, another takes its place.
The Palestinians, through their representatives have, over the past three decades, had ample opportunity to strike forward to achieve a peace accord with Israel and in the process begin the long journey toward statehood. It has occurred, time and again, the belief by Israel that they have reached the cusp of an agreement, only to have it snatched away by a reluctant partner.
The world is tired of this tedious foreplay. Israel is sick of it. The Palestinians appear to revel in their cat-and-mouse game of offering to settle grievances, then deciding that whatever is on offer is never sufficient to salve the monumental pain suffered, even in return for the opportunity to finally achieve a state of their own.
Palestinian duplicity in teaching their young to fear and hate their neighbours, in encouraging 'resistance' to the 'occupier' by any violent means required, by grooming their youth to use violence at any opportunity as a means of demonstrating to Israel that its anger will not be pacified, and then presenting to the world a meek demeanor of resigned helplessness against the might of its oppressor guarantees stagnation.
President Barak Obama, along with the European Union views the Arab League proposal for a peace settlement - designed by Saudi Arabia, that would have Israel return to pre-67 borders, give up part of Jerusalem, accept some 6-million Palestinian 'refugee' returnees in exchange for a collective Arab 'peace' settlement - to be just and reasonable. They, after all, give up nothing. And guarantee nothing.
There is still no formal recognition of the State of Israel by the Palestinians, who remain quietly convinced that they will ultimately 'recover' all the lands that Israel now occupies, into a greater Palestine. It doesn't take much of a search to discover the Palestinian maps used publicly as well as in the school curricula that demonstrate a distinct absence of the Jewish State.
In reality, with whom can Israel bargain for peace? Fatah-led Palestinian Authority whose military wings take great pride in sending rockets into Israel? With Hamas whose first order of business is the unalloyed intent to destroy Israel and expunge its presence from that same map?
Labels: Israel, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 08, 2009
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