It is to be expected that whenever something alters the dynamic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the world wonders aloud how this change will affect the peace process. And so it is with Israel’s Iron Dome, the missile defense system that kept so many Israelis safe during the recent rocket blizzard from the terrorist enclave of Gaza. But I wrote at the time that it was wishful thinking to assume that Iron Dome would fundamentally change the course of the conflict.
“It isn’t perfect, it’s expensive, and living under constant threat of rocket fire would still be hellish—it cannot be easy to get used to bombs exploding over your head all day long. The best solution, without a doubt, would be for the Palestinians to eschew terrorism and give up their mission to destroy Israel,” I wrote. Over the weekend, the Washington Post tackled this question at greater length, but still misses the point. The paper asks whether the relative safety brought about by systems like Iron Dome will make Israel more likely to agree to territorial compromise or more likely instead to ignore the conflict and the cause of peace and negotiations altogether. The answer, of course, is neither.
Both of these choices rely on mistaken assumptions either about Israel or Iron Dome. For the reasons I mentioned above, Iron Dome will not make Israelis more confident in territorial withdrawals. But for the same reason, it will not allow Israelis to forget about the conflict: even if the missiles are intercepted, the sirens and explosions would surely keep Israelis’ attention.
But on a more fundamental level, the point is that real peace, brought about through a process that includes Palestinians giving up their drive to exterminate the Jewish state and its inhabitants, is still the only thing that could end the conflict.
The more important point, and one the media keeps missing, is this: nothing is keeping Israel away from the negotiating table. For all the criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s presumed reluctance to make peace, Netanyahu has been for years now offering to resume negotiations without preconditions. It is Mahmoud Abbas who piles on precondition after precondition in an attempt to avoid negotiations. Netanyahu has even hinted at possibly accepting some of those preconditions, which he shouldn’t have to do and which the West shouldn’t encourage him to do, lest they send exactly the wrong message to the Palestinians. But each time he does, Abbas simply adds another precondition anyway.
No, Iron Dome won’t allow Israelis to live in a serene virtual reality. And no, Iron Dome won’t make Israelis less likely to negotiate for peace. The Washington Post can save the hand wringing and the gut checking for Netanyahu’s supposed interlocutor, who seems to have come up with many reasons not to participate in the peace process. Israeli reluctance to come to the table, however, isn’t one of them.
There's really no good reason not to advocate for car bombings and missile attacks directed at the assets and staff of WaPo. If they defend themselves it's merely proof that their attackers were right. So the only logical defense would be for them to do nothing at all.
The W Po like the vast majority of the West and Muslim Mass media live in super-deep state of denial. They are "almost" genetically antisemitic and only a unlikely mutation can save them from themselves. Lots of people would lose their job if there was a resolution of the conflict !!!
Speaking of wrong, it’s not “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. The Israelis are Palestinian as being from Palestine, and as Israel is the government of Palestine after Palestine gained independence. The term “Arab-Israeli conflict” is more true, even though many Arabs are Israeli and are not in conflict with Israel.
I've just been over on the dailybeast, responding to some of the anti-Semitic comments on a Peter Beinart article. I am starting to wonder if maybe anti-Semitism is too ingrained in some human beings and will just never go away. the level of vitriol from these commenters was just stunning! n nas recently as his last UN speech, Bibi said that he would start peace talks again, anytime, anywhere. Abbas has refused. and Haniyeh in Gaza the other day reminded everyone that Hamas' #1 goal was to destroy Israel! yet these are the people that Israel is supposed to negotiate with. n nif you ask average Americans (who just reelected Obama), they will all tell you that Israel doesn't want peace, and go on to complain about "settlements." the fact that one side wants to destroy the other side doesn't seem to bother them. n n
d'oh! Meshaal, not Haniyeh.
The percentage of anti-Jewish — not anti-Israel, not even 'functionally anti-Semitic' (to use Natan Sharansky's term) – comments seems to be increasing constantly, starting about 2 years ago or thereabouts. I'm talking about comments that dwell on misquotations of the Talmud to show that Jews are amoral and bent on world domination, mentions of Bernie Madoff or other Jewish criminals on threads having to do with Israel or with church-state issues or with discrimination against Jewish kids in public school, comments accusing Jews and the Jewish religions with sexual perversion and child abuse, organ theft, and all the rest that used to be relegated to the sewer dwelling fringe. n nNot just on Huffington Post, or Daily Beast, but also in the online versions of mainstream newspapers. And it seems to stay up, even when flagged. n nAre there more of these creeps out there, or are they just feeling more free to speak their minds? Or is it that they just have more time on their hands than they used to? n nI wonder if its time to get a CCW permit.
I get it. Israeli insecurity is what is holding up the peace process. If only the Israelis would get on with it and invent a perfect technology to prevent Arab attacks, there would be no obstacle left to peace in the Middle East. n nDamned Jews! n n
we were a lot more popular when we lined up quietly and walked into those cattle cars in Europe.
Yes and no. In the 1950s and 1960s they criticized us for walking to our deaths like sheep. (Not that they knew anything about it, or why a man might not abandon his wife and children, or how the German propaganda often kept Jews from knowing what was in store for them until it was too late.) After 1967, they criticize us for NOT walking to our deaths like sheep. The Umos haolam like to feel superior to Jews. This is not a new phenomenon.
Since when does murder have a statute of limitations. The time limit is up? It is expected that Europe be forgiven for The Holocost.r nThat is absurd. It is the same people, they still hate The Jews and they would still like to see Jews become extinct. Yet we have this insane notion that somehow, because Germans engineer fine automobiles that they are enlightened, progressive, worthy of respect and envy. Are you nuts. But there is something we can do, we can choose not to buy anything made in Europe. r n More importantly, while europe wants to remind us about our obligation, in their minds to put into practice, a process designed to murder us, down to the last person, let Europe be reminded what they did to us. Let them never forget. r nr nDear EU, Ein Cock of Zay.
There is no point in having "peace" negotiations. All that can possibly be accomplished is for Israel to concede some concrete points, while the arabs (maybe) promise to concede some insubstantial points, such as stopping incitement, which they never stop. In effect, the arabs yield nothing while Israel is expected to surrender assets which cannot be withdrawn. Negotiations? They're just an anti-Israel move.