It’s difficult to say yet what exactly will be on President Obama’s mind when he heads to Israel next month, but an all-out push for another futile try to make peace with the Palestinians may not be on the agenda. It’s likely the president will continue his advocacy for a two-state solution, but after more than four years of failure even this administration appears to have gotten the message that any more effort expended on the peace process will be sunk, as it has every other time, by Palestinian intransigence. But the Palestinian Authority, which has ignored every attempt by the Obama White House to tip the diplomatic playing field in their favor, may be planning its own little surprise for the president.
As journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reports, PA head Mahmoud Abbas is hoping to create an atmosphere in the country in advance of Obama’s arrival that will force him to push Israel for more concessions:
There are many signs that the Palestinian Authority is seeking to escalate tensions in the West Bank ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the region next month.
Although the Palestinian Authority probably does not want an all-out confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis at this stage, some Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah believe that a “mini-intifada” would serve the Palestinians’ interests, especially on the eve of Obama’s visit.
The officials hope that scenes of daily clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the West Bank will prompt Obama to exert pressure on the Israeli government to make far-reaching concessions to the Palestinian Authority.
This is why the Palestinian Authority leadership has been encouraging its constituents lately to wage a “popular intifada” against Israel, each time finding another excuse to initiate confrontations between Palestinians and Israel.
Like the decision of his predecessor Yasir Arafat to launch the second intifada in 2000 after rejecting Ehud Barak’s offer of a Palestinian state, the whole point of the agitation is to manufacture a sense of crisis that requires U.S. intervention. If the resulting chaos further wounds an already depressed West Bank economy or results in violence that takes the lives of even more Palestinians than Israelis, the PA leadership will still think another intifada a clever idea.
In one sense they are right. Any escalation of violence, no matter how much it is the product of a political decision rather than a popular protest, will generate a lot of negative press for Israel. Even the most restrained measures of Israeli self-defense (such as the security fence that prevents suicide bombings) will be denounced by Europe and by many American liberals as disproportionate or cruel. As has been the case since 1948, the plight of the Palestinians Arabs will ignored as they are used as political pawns in the effort to destroy Israel.
But the Palestinians’ problem is that although they are certainly capable of churning up enough violence and suffering in order to get more attention for their cause, their obvious disinclination in making peace on any terms makes it difficult to sustain the interest of even the most sympathetic of foreign leaders, such as Barack Obama. Their refusal to return to the negotiating table with the Israelis even after Obama had pressured Prime Minister Netanyahu to freeze West Bank settlement building and their decision to abandon the U.S.-led process in favor of a dead-end bid for United Nations recognition may have finally made it obvious even to this administration than any political capital expended on them would be wasted.
Nor, even under U.S. duress, is there much chance that Israel will consent to a West Bank withdrawal that is likely to duplicate the situation in Gaza, where Hamas terrorists used land vacated by the Israelis to create a terrorist state.
All this means that while the Palestinians have the capacity to make themselves troublesome, they do not have the ability to take advantage of the good will felt for them by many in this administration or the zeal of new Secretary of State John Kerry to succeed where all of his predecessors have failed.
Another intifada will be a trial for the Israelis and an annoyance for President Obama, who is far more interested in keeping Netanyahu in check when it comes to forestalling the Iranian nuclear threat than he is in appeasing the Palestinians. But it will be a tragedy for the people of the West Bank. Until they are ready to throw off a leadership that is incapable of ending the conflict or recognizing a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn, they will continue to suffer.
Well, they deserve to suffer. All of them except the 3 who are innocent. Or is it as many as 4?
Avraham Avinu wouldn't have raised any doubts were he to have learned that Hashem was planning to purify the evil in every Arab village in Judea and Samaria. And if there had been a Rabbis for Human Rights back then the ground would have collapsed from under them.
"throw off the leadership"in the West Bank–get rid of Fatah–in favor of what? Hamas? n ndoesn't seem to me like the so-called Palestinians have much choice. anyway, as always, their hatred for Israel and fanatical desire for dead Jews overshadows everything else. we make a big mistake in assuming that "everybody" wants peace and a better life for their children–the Pals don't. they teach their kids to want martyrdom.
The PLO is trying to start a violent intifada before Obama arrives so that he has a convenient excuse not to arrive. It would't shock me if Abbas and Obama have already spoken about this.
Notwithstanding that a Palestinian autopsy could not determine a cause of death outside of natural causes, Fatah is trying to stir up pogroms under the rubric of "nonviolent intifadah" with fabricated claims that a detainee died of torture. n nww.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4348894,00.html n npar for the course with this incompetent band of Mexican Naziis. Who don't need no stinking working judiciary, functioning government, accounting or much of anything else. They have their little anti-Jewish media and enough pressed suits to circle the globe asking for handouts. n nBut Bibi doesn't want to take responsibility for PA enclaves with a renewed Civil Administration. So an adult reset back to square one with the dissolution of the PA, ban on Fatah, and reoccupation is not on the cards. Weekend at Oslo's VIII. n nHopefully the IDF has a plentiful supply of non-violent percussion grenades, non-violent rubber bullets, non-violent Tavors etc.
Why "non-violent" grenades and rubber bullets to respond to genocidal enemies trying to kill and injure our soldiers? Has the IDF became a band of nuns? If Israel wants to end this business quickly it must use deadly force. The Fakistinians must know that they are not alone in using any means necessary.
continue to the end of the sentence and google Tavor. then google irony/sarcasm. n n
Yeah, the local paper was full of that story this morning. And the poor shahid was guilty of nothing more than throwing rocks (which he admitted) and possibly fire bombs (which he denied) in an attempt to murder Jews.
A few days ago, you responded to a comment of mine about Schumer's report that Hagel was near tears when he learned that he had hurt feelings when he spoke of the "Jewish Lobby." I tried to respond to you in turn, but Commentary's web platform only allows a few nested responses to a prior comment and then no more, so I was unable to . Just thought to let you know. (It would be nice if Commentary made some changes to improve functionality here, but not likely to happen.)
What was the response you tried to post?
Nothing of real consequence, just was going to assure you that I was being facetious when I asked if it was plausible that Schumer would lie to us about Hagel being near tears. n nSometime earlier, I tried to let you know, in care you were unaware of it, that when you and I responded to one of Old_Grumpy's obnoxious comments, all of our posts were taken down, though I am quite certain there was nothing objectionable to mine. n nAnyway, I would just tell you that I appreciate your presence on these boards, since you are one of the more reasonable of those that show up, consistent with your nom de plume.
According to today's Reuters report, by the way, he was throwing rocks at cars, which means he was trying to murder Jewish civilians, not soldiers. Of course, if they lived where they weren't wanted, they were 'settlers' and their deaths would not have counted. n n(Maybe that's why Jews never moved into Kenilworth IL even after the restrictive covenants became unlawful.)
These are the same guys who claim that Israel killed Arafat yemach shmo.
absolutely. the IDF doesn't have to buy into the Palestinian bs–they can have GOM spitting on the sidelines and take the consequences of their actions. Talk about dumbing down deviancy. The new Palestinian Gandhian non-violence: bricks, metal pellet slingshots, Molotov cocktails–if non-fire methods of riot crowd control with gas/nets/percussion grenade fail, you start with the rubber bullets at legs, then torsos, then live fire etc. That anti-Semites such as GOM disapprove is an indication you are doing the right thing. Back in the day you went from warning, to live fire in the air, and then directed to the legs when a Palestinian approached the IDF with violent intent. You didn't fire if there was no violent intent but you didn't sit around dodging paving stones and ball bearings either.
Just listen to this bloodthirsty howling.
I have from the Pals every day. nBut you continue to be willfully deaf to it nToo bad
Let them fight it out, but without our weapons and money.
go fucque yourself–blood thirsty Arabs howl and heave bricks through Jews windows and you spit out the same senile crap. the money you anti-semitic piece of shite is a rounding error in Obama's budget of goodies. what a flaming arsehole. that said, without the U.S. $ and Israel tax contribution the PA literally ceases to exist. gone. nothing there. meanwhile the F35 continues to eat up every spare nickel in Ft. Knox not nailed down.
Cut the all off, including the F35 boondoggle. If Israel wants Quislings, they can support them themselves. n
more babble from the idjut. n nAh but brown nosing scum bags with their noses up the bungholes of the Iranian mullahs are "American Firsters"–try American Shitters. n nMeanwhile your honkey Tehran-sock puppet BFF Hagel will reap the benefit of Israeli military technology such as drones, advanced avionics, cyberwarefare, and the Arrow ABM, that actually work. n nYour natural north points to a Munich bunker, if it crosses into American terra firma that's strictly by accident. n nThe real game here isn't neutral cutting off of money to Middle Eastern combatants–it's pouring billions of Americal dollars into Israel's Arab enemies. It isn't about the money.Or neutrality. It's about who you can pay to kill Jews. n nYou don't have an American First foreign policy. You have an anti-Semite first last and always foreign policy. n nIsrael's friends: demonize. n nIsrael's enemies: fund. n nIsrael's Jewish American friends. ah, they're Rosenbergs. n nIsrael's non-Jewish supporters. Dupes. n nThe circle of "real Americans" shrinks and shrinks. n nNow that the LIberty Lobby has gone tits up life must get lonely. n n.
Yes they can definitely support themselves! nAnd they would be a lot better off without you and the current administration. nOne day they will just say: "So long and thanks for all the fish" nThat day can't come soon enough. But I'm sure you find something with which to excoriate the Jews. It's second nature to you.
You are referring to the Fakistinians, right, Grumps?
You're just mr. impariality, then, aren't you?
"But it will be a tragedy for the people of the West Bank. Until they are ready to throw off a leadership that is incapable of ending the conflict or recognizing a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn, they will continue to suffer." n nThousands of Israelis have been killed or wounded in the vain pursuit of the chimera of peace. So when you have American "friends of Israel" like Tobin still clinging to the fantasy of a "Palestinian state" on the West Bank, it's hard to say which side they are on.
To Jews, the expression "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" refers to the hope of peace. nTo the Pals and their supporting genocidal clans it means hope for Jewish and Israeli extermination.
Obama cannot and will not obtain concessions from IL otherwise many more will follow. nAll 3 parties know that much. Unless the Pr. has in mind the slow destruction of IL.
don't these " clowns " know that the same old show is wearing thin even with the clueless and the idiot's ! ( that be the left and the libs ! )