Palestine – Kerry Cannot Succeed Whilst Jew-hatred Abounds…writes David Singer
American Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Israel on 2 January for his tenth visit since March 2013 – reportedly bringing with him his own framework for peace designed to end the Arab-Jewish conflict that has eluded many attempts by others during the last 93 years – including the League of Nations and the United Nations.
Kerry’s visit was immediately preceded by Israel releasing 26 long term Palestinian Arab prisoners convicted of murder and other serious criminal offences – the third in a projected release of 104 such similar prisoners.
Israel had agreed to their release following pressure by Kerry on Israel to induce PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations with Israel four years after they had been abruptly terminated by Abbas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled no punches in telling Kerry:
“A few days ago in Ramallah, President Abbas embraced terrorists as heroes. To glorify the murders of innocent women and men as heroes is an outrage. How can President Abbas says – how can he say that he stands against terrorism when he embraces the perpetrators of terrorism and glorifies them as heroes? He can’t stand against terrorists and stand with the terrorists. And I’m wondering what a young Palestinian would think when he sees the leader of the Palestinian people embrace people who axed innocent men and women – axed their heads or blew them up or riddled them with bullets – what’s a young Palestinian supposed to think about the future? What’s he supposed to think about what he should do vis-a-vis Israelis and vis-a-vis the state of Israel? So it’s not surprising that in recent weeks Israel has been subjected to a growing wave of terrorist attacks. President Abbas didn’t see fit to condemn these attacks, even after we learned that at least in one case – I stress, at least in one case – those who served and are serving in the Palestinian security forces took part in them.”
Among the 26 released were:
- Yakoub Muhammad Ouda Ramadan, Afana Mustafa Ahmad Muhammad, and Da’agna Nufal Mahmad Mahmoud – convicted of stabbing Sara Sharon, 37, to death in Holon on January 20, 1993.
- Abu Mohsin Khaled Ibrahim Jamal – convicted of the ambush and murder of Shlomo Yahya, a 76-year-old gardener, in a public park in Moshav Kadima and stabbing him to death.
- Barham Fawzi Mustafa Nasser – convicted for the murder of Morris (Moshe) Edri 65 – a former employer of Nasser who Nasser ambushed and stabbed in the back. After his apprehension, Nasser said he had carried out the murder to prove he was worthy of joining Hamas.
- Yusuf Ahmed Nu’aman Al-Shalvi, Mahmad Anis Aiman Jaradat, and Ahmad Yusuf Bilal Abu-Hassin, – convicted of murdering multiple Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.
- Muammar Ata Mahmoud Mahmoud and Salah Khalil Ahmad Ibrahim – convicted of murdering Menahem Stern, a history professor at Hebrew University. Stern, 64, a winner of the prestigious Israel Prize, was stabbed to death while walking to work at the university’s Givat Ram campus on June 22, 1989.
- Abu Hadir Muhammad Yassin Yassin – convicted for the murder of Yigal Shahaf – shooting him in the head as he and his wife were walking through Jerusalem’s old city toward the Western Wall.
Netanyahu also told Kerry to his face:
“In the six months since the start of peace negotiations, the Palestinian Authority continues its unabated incitement against the state of Israel. This Palestinian Government incitement is rampant. You see it in the state-controlled media – the government-controlled media – in the schools, in textbooks, in kindergartens. You see it at every part of Palestinian society. So instead of preparing Palestinians for peace, Palestinian leaders are teaching them to hate Israel. This is not the way to achieve peace. President Abbas must lead his people away from terror and incitement, towards reconciliation and peace.”
Kerry failed to address the virulent Jew hatred motivating Palestinian Arabs to murder Jews and Palestinian Arabs suspected of collaborating with Jews, ignored the adulation afforded these convicted murderers by Abbas and remained silent on the rampant incitement conducted on a daily basis against Israel.
Instead – Kerry – apparently languishing in a time warp – sought to provide some comforting reassurance for Netanyahu with his following remarks:
“On a personal level, last month I travelled to Vietnam on my first visit there as Secretary of State. And the transformation in our relationship – I was a young soldier who fought there – the transformation in our relationship is proof that as painful as the past can be, through hard work of diplomacy history’s adversaries can actually become partners for a new day and history’s challenges can become opportunities for a new age.”
How can there possibly be any transformation in the relationship between Jews and Arabs when
- the PLO refuses to recognize Israel as the Jewish National Home,
- Abbas has made it abundantly clear that no Jews will ever be accepted as citizens in a Palestinian State,
- Arab murderers of Jewish civilians are received as heroes in Ramallah and given blood money to reward their heinous acts and
- Convicted murderers are once again free to plan and even participate in future terrorist acts against Jews
Kerry’s framework for peace is destined to go nowhere until this long running Arab enmity of Jews is completely eradicated.
One wonders how long Kerry will take to understand this simple message.
David Singer is a Sydney Lawyer and Foundation Member of the International Analysts Network
Any arrangement that will confirm, establish, endorse, (whatever) a state alongside Israel from the rabble of what some call “Palestine” will have to conatin the BASIC functional elements of an entity that looks at least like
Albania. The notion that Israel can be replicated next door by what we call today PA is absolutely irrational.
Keryy, Obama, these two individuals, to whom you can add another dozen, CANNOT decide THE course of political reason based on theor own whims and/or personal concepts, desires, ambitions.
Israel is not defying political rationale, Israel is not simply stubbornly denying the “right” of a cotterie of political hoodlums who call themselves President of “Palestine”, PM of the same or whatever “Cabinet Ministers” they reckon they are.
The “procrastiation” of the political process of a Palestinian State reality has only to do with the precise and rational ticking of the State Legitimacy boxes determined by OBJECTIVE principles of State Function Viability, let’s call it as now the SFV Conditions.
Kerry and Obama and their irrational ilk have agendas so distinct from political reason, so selfcentred, selfish that impeding logic can only demand they are utterly ignored.
And as reason DOES prevail in the land of the MASPIK IM HASHTIUIOT ( Enough with these Idiocies !!), Abbas and his cohorts, Kerry, Obama ant their own “strategists” shall never see the day of a Palestinian State.
Once the current unacceptable parties to any agreement shall be replaced by NORMAL people, then we shall talk tachles. In the meantime, tachles is JUST …. mere talking.
I sincerely wish Kerry, Obama AND that miraculous diplomat of Aussie origin who reckons he is presiding over reality, an enjoyable retirement, whenever due.
Gil,
It is there for everyone who cares to see that you are absolutely right.
David,
My opinion is that both Obama and Kerry couldn’t care less about the Arab enmity of Jews.
My gut instinct tells me that both of them aim to destroy Israel one way or another and Israel had better be very careful. Kerry’s periodic mumblings that if Israel does not offer more concessions, then there will be more acts of terror, is to me a clearly veiled message to the “Palestinians” on what to do should these so called “peace talks” break down.
What say you?
Gil
I do not take the black and white view drawn by you that Obama and Kerry couldn’t care less about the Arab enmity of Jews or that they aim to destroy Israel one way or another.
People believe what they want to believe – until they are persuaded to change their views.
Hitler clearly wrote in Mein Kampf what his intentions were. World leaders chose to ignore those intentions, meet with him and negotiate with him – and look what happened.
Equally the PLO and Hamas have made their intentions to build a Palestinian Arab State on the ashes of Israel very clear and not open to be abandoned or compromised under any circumstances.
They are open and frank in their well documented and recorded objectives.
Obama and Kerry still think this is rhetoric and that these views will be miraculously changed once a peace treaty is signed with Israel.
No peace treaty will be acceptable unless it places the PLO and Hamas in a better position to carry out their well publicized threats to eliminate the Jewish State.
Twenty years of negotiations including two offers made by Israel and rejected by the PLO is pretty firm evidence to support this conclusion.
Netanyahu is hopefully savvy enough to not commit political suicide by signing a peace treaty which compromised Israel’s security and did not demand recognition of Israel as the Jewish National Home.
Obama and Kerry still have to fully understand that negotiations based on creating an Arab State between Israel and Jordan for the first time ever in recorded history may have been an attractive proposition on first blush.
It is an idea however that has turned into a rotten lemon well past its use by date as first anticipated in the Oslo Accords, revised to a later date in the Bush Roadmap and now miraculously expected to eventuate within the next three months if you believe Kerry.
It is dead and has long been buried. The last rites are yet to be performed.
Obama and Kerry are still in a state of denial.
One has to be patient as they keep knocking their heads against an impenetrable brick wall with ever increasing damage to their reputations and credibility.
Many American Presidents and Secretaries of State have proceeded down the same path and seen their reputations and credibility end up in tatters.
Obama and Kerry will meet the same fate – unless they have the courage to change course and seek a new direction by seeking to involve Arab partners like Egypt and Jordan who already enjoy long standing peace treaties with Israel.
Repeating the mistakes of your predecessors seems dumb – unless you are possessed of the belief you can pull it off where the others have failed and show how superior your negotiating skills are to those who went before you.
So far Obama and Kerry have failed to do so and are increasingly becoming set to soon join the Arab-Jewish scrapheap.
That is where we are at the present time in my belief.
As long as Palestinian children are taught to hate Jews and Israel, as long as 4 year old boys are holding Kalashnikov rifles to murder Israelis, as long as Abbas ignores and even supports this behaviour, Mr kerry can visit the area 100 times and peace will not be achieved
John Kerry does not care about the Jews, about Israel’s survival or even the possibility of increased terror in the near future…he simply does not care about anything except his own political position and maybe a good photo op and a place in history. He’ll get his place in history as a giant buffoon…but as far as Israel is concerned…nothing the Americans do should be taken too seriously and they should get minimal attention or energy…we have more important things to think about!
David, Kerry already knows this and doesn’t care. He will blame Israel anyway for any failur.e even if its the Palestinians who are the intransegent ones.
David,
You wonder how long it will take for Kerry “to understand this simple message”.
Personally, I have no doubt in my mind that both Kerry and Obama are not interested in any of this. By their statements, I can only come to the conclusion that they are actively wishing and seeking israel’s destruction by any means possibe.
Generations of so called “Palestinians” have now been so well indoctrinated in hate towards Jews that there is no hope of ever turning back the clock.
It is time for Israel to take the gloves off once and for all and walk away from these so called “peace talks”, make unilateral decisions on everything including the Temple Mount and borders. The sons of Ishmael have had their brief turn in the media spotlight and now it should be well and truly over for them.
Israel cannot afford to continue down the destructive path it is currently on.
The time for it to awaken from its coma and get up off its knees is now.