Possibility for success of peace talks questioned in light of PMW report - Washington Times
Kerry can take credit for the next war
by Ruthie Blum
On Friday, just as he was about to return to the United States from Jordan, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he had finally gotten the Palestinian Authority and Israel to agree to resume “stalled peace talks.” [...]
Senior P.A. official Nabil Shaath told the Maan News Agency on Sunday that a resumption of negotiations “depends on two steps we asked the American side to agree on. If they agree, we will go to the next step, which is preliminary negotiations in Washington to discuss the rules and the terms of direct negotiations.”
Though he did not specify the nature of these “steps,” one can assume that peace is nowhere in the vicinity of the ladder, let alone at the top.
This is a safe assumption based on vast experience. The Palestinians never have relinquished their ultimate goal, which is not statehood, but the demise of Israel. Hamas readily admits and acts on this. The P.A. also acts on it but only spells it out in Arabic. It is a key part of their overall strategy.
Indeed, as Kerry was declaring his success at getting the sides to come to the table on Friday, P.A. Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash was giving a whopper of a sermon — broadcast on P.A. television and reported by Palestinian Media Watch — in which he explained the wisdom of reaching fraudulent peace pacts with Israel.
“…The Palestinian leadership’s sense of responsibility towards its nation made it take political steps about 20 years ago [signing the Oslo Accords],” he orated. “Despite …much opposition by some, it brought us to where we are today: We have a [Palestinian] Authority and the world recognizes the [Palestinian] state.
“All this never would have happened through Hamas’ impulsive adventure, but only through the wisdom of the leadership, conscious action, consideration, and walking the right path, which leads to achievement, exactly like the Prophet [Muhammad] did in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah.”
“The Hudaybiyyah peace treaty,” explains the PMW report, “was a 10-year truce that Muhammad, Islam’s Prophet, made with the Quraish Tribe of Mecca….two years into the truce, Muhammad attacked and conquered Mecca.”
The sermon ends with Al-Habbash asserting: “This is the example; this is the model.”
The late Abba Eban, who called the ’67 lines the “borders of Auschwitz,” once said that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Many complacent Israelis employ this quote in relation to peace negotiations with the Palestinians. “Nothing to worry about,” they say. “The Palestinians always screw up and storm off, no matter what Israel concedes.”
The trouble is that the form such tantrums take is the slaughter of Israeli civilians, alongside the Israeli leadership’s steadfast adherence to its territorial and other concessions.
This is not a recipe for peace. It is a guarantee of war. Kerry can feel free to take full credit for what he is precipitating.