US secretary of state to visit region in hopes of finding formula to restart negotiations; Canadian FM Baird also set to visit.Don't they have a name for when you try the same thing over and over and over again in the expectation of getting different results?
US Secretary of State John Kerry will return to Israel Saturday night as part of his efforts to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Kerry, who held four hours of talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on March 23, following the visit of US President Barack Obama to Israel, will also be meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan during his visit...
Kerry is believed to be trying to find a formula that will bring the Israelis and Palestinians back to peace talks. The formula is based on gestures that will build trust between the sides. Among the ideas being floated are Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners and a commitment from the Palestinians to refrain from making further unilateral moves in international forums.
And why is it that Israel is always being pressured to make concrete concessions, like turning murderers loose into the general population, in return for ethereal Arab promises?
I am suddenly put to mind of the old Twilight Zone episode in which a man departing a station on a train ends up rolling in to the exact same station and town over and over again.
There will not be peace any time soon for the simple reason that this is not the Arab goal. The Arab goal is to stomp out Jewish autonomy on historically Jewish land because that land, after they conquered it, became part of the Umma and according to Muslim religious doctrine any land that at any time was part of the Umma must forever thereafter remain part of the Umma.
If it were me I'd run out the clock until Abbas dies. Can't be more than a year or three. He's a 76 year old chain smoker who's been hospitalized 4 times in the past year. There's no point in wasting time with Abbas who will never agree to anything and even if he did, his replacement will tear it up. Don't refuse to deal with him just string him along by constantly agreeing to whatever he says then backing away or changing the demands. And make sure the physical demands of the process are quite high, e.g. suggest extensive travel to some 'neutral' country like Uruguay, India or Taiwan.
ReplyDeleteJohn Kerry walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?"
ReplyDeleteLOL Andy!
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