Let’s play make believe. Let’s hold an imaginary meeting of the Israeli, Palestinian and American negotiating teams based on reports of the recent discussions President Obama had with Netanyahu and Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). While our meeting is fiction, the statements, or words like them, have recently been said.
Me: Welcome everyone. We’re here to evaluate the current status of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Here is my first question: Does this round of talks, which is scheduled to end on April 29, have any chance of success?
Kerry: Yes – as soon as “both sides are willing to make difficult decisions”.
Livni: Yes – as soon as the Palestinians agree to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, give up their quest for “right of return” for every 1948 refugee and all their descendants, agree to a border based on the 1967 “green line” with land swaps that leaves the Jordan valley in Israel, a demilitarized Palestine…and a signed peace treaty that says “end of all conflict and demands”.
Erikat: Yes – as soon as Israel pulls every settler and soldier out of the West Bank, especially the Jordan Valley where my family has lived in Jericho for thousands of years – since before the Jews ever arrived, ends the “siege” on Gaza, agrees to accept all Palestinian refugees that want to return, and drops this new demand of recognizing Israel as the “Jewish” state.
Me: Saeb: Why did you recently remove an entry in your own Facebook page describing the origin of the Erekat clan to be from the Bedouin Huweitat tribe in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula? According to Bedouin historians, your clan migrated from there about 100 years ago to the village of Abu-Dis near Jerusalem – long after the Jews started returning to their historical homeland.
Erikat: No, no! Zionist lies! as I said in Munich last month: "I am the proud son of the Canaanites who were there 5,500 years before Joshua bin Nun burned down the town of Jericho"
Me: But as reported on Monday by Ambassador Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: “According to genealogical research of the Bedouin families in Israel, the Erekat family belongs to the extensive Huweitat clan, which originated in the area of the Liya valley, near Taif, in the vicinity of Mecca”. So in fact you, and many “Palestinian” families, are actually descendants of Bedouins – nomads from the Arabian Peninsula.
Kerry: Can we please get back to the issue of recognition of Israel as a “Jewish State”? I told the House foreign affairs committee last Thursday that: "I think it’s a mistake for some people to be raising it again and again as the critical decider of their attitude toward the possibility of a state, and peace…"
Livni: Excuse me, John…have you changed your mind since we last talked? As Bibi told Obama at their meeting, there is no way that Israel will ever accept a deal that does not include recognition of the Jewish history, heritage and character of Israel, a clear “end of conflict clause”, and dropping any reference to Palestinian “right of return”.
Erikat: And as Israel’s Channel 2 reported, during his talks in Washington with President Obama, Abbas rejected recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, said he would continue to demand a Palestinian right of return to their former homes in Israel and would not commit to a peace agreement being an “end of conflict.”
Livni: So what is there to talk about?
Kerry: Like I said last week: “I’ve never seen so much animosity between the two sides.
Me: I guess this would be a good time to adjourn this meeting. At this point we can all agree that barring a miracle, or a new American framework proposal, Mr. Kerry (!)…when our April 29 deadline arrives, this round of the never-ending so-called peace talks, like all those before it, will be DOA.
Kerry: “It’s tough, it’s tough”.
Me: Yes…it is.
Agree or disagree, that’s my opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment