The snippet below was written by Khaled Abu Toameh and Herb Keinon and published in the Jerusalem Post:
Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday that US Secretary of State John Kerry has made significant progress in his efforts to revive the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.Am I the only one that finds this rather disconcerting?
The officials predicted that the peace talks would be resumed most likely after the fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in early August.
The officials refused to say why they were now less pessimistic than before.
However, one PA official said that, "For the first time, President Mahmoud Abbas heard some encouraging and positive things from Mr. Kerry."
Another official in Ramallah claimed that Israel has agreed to release a significant number of Palestinian prisoners as requested by the PA leadership.The PA had demanded the release of some 100 inmates who were imprisoned before the signing of the Oslo Accords about two decades ago.
The official also claimed that the Israeli government has agreed to a "partial and undeclared" freeze of settlement construction in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israeli officials had no comment on the matter.
When American Secretaries of State start spending a little too much time in Jerusalem and Ramallah you just know the bloodshed cannot be far behind.
As far as I am concerned the time for negotiations is over.
The Arabs of Judea and Samaria have no legitimate claims on the region and Israel should impose its own solution without any regard for the wishes of Fatah or the PLO or Hamas.
The great Arab majority in the Middle East has been entirely hostile to the conquered Jewish minority since the 7th century. We do not owe them anything. The opposite is true. Just why it is that the Jews of the Middle East must make concessions to the progeny of their former masters is beyond me.
"Am I the only one that finds this rather disconcerting?"
ReplyDeleteNo.
They have managed to gull a willing Kerry into bullying Israel into giving something for nothing and they are grabbing it and will use the proceeds to celebrate the achievements of their depraved brutality.
O/T, but here's yet another BDS Fail for ya.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit jealous. It's still 22 months until I'll set foot in Tel Aviv, and see the Mediterranean, for the first time... ;)
Hey,
DeleteI didn't know that you were going to Israel, Jay.
Y'know, Laurie and I were only there for a few weeks, but I think that Haifa was my favorite.
If you get there, check out the falafel joints in the Arab quarter. They're kind of a gas because they're interesting hang-outs and the surrounding neighborhood is ancient and close.
Haifa, much like Jerusalem, is an interesting blend of the ancient and the modern. And I have to say that the Bahai Gardens and the Shrine of the Báb are pretty amazing.
May 2015. :)
DeleteTaking my daughter and her mother there. The kid will be graduating high school the month after that, so I'll call it part of her graduation present. Heh.
The plan is to spend ten days. Probably half of them (or at least four) in Tel Aviv, but of course we also must spend two days in Jerusalem. Haifa, Eilat, Be'er Sheva, Ashkelon, Nazareth (for my daughter's religious Christian mother) and Safed are gonna try to be worked in as well.
Tight squeeze, but I think we can make it.
You know me, man... I'm already deep into food research!
"but I think that Haifa was my favorite."
DeleteOf course the most San Francisco-like Israeli city would be your favorite!
;-P
It even looks like SF on the map. Heh. I need to figure out what Israel's Philadephia equivalent would be, apparently!
Thanks! All such recommendations are greatly welcomed, for the record. :)
DeleteIt's that Mediterranean lifestyle, man. Olive oil, fantastic fresh local produce, slow eating. That's the key to longevity!
If you do go to Haifa you might consider taking a dinner at a restaurant in the German quarter called Fatoush. It's beneath the Bahai terraces and is really very good or, at least, I thought so.
DeleteIt's very comfortable, what with all the couches and pillows below street level and we thought the food was terrific. Plus, when we were there, there was a French family at one table, yammering in French, and a group of young local Arabs at another, yammering in Arabic.
Of course, Laurie and I were yammering in English about the atmosphere and the food.
I have to say, when we went there, about a year and a half ago, now, I was not considering the food in Israel before we arrived, but it's the Mediterranean and the food in Israel, like the food throughout that entire region, was delicious.
It seems that people who live on the Mediterranean Sea just know how to cook better than anyone else aside from the French and the Chinese.
Why this is so is anyone's guess!
My reply somehow ended up above your comment.
DeleteI have special powers. :)
(Perhaps somebody should appoint me to State!)
Delete()If nothing else, "Jay at the PA" would be the most entertaining reality show of all time!)
Delete