Diplomatic Assault More Dangerous than Hamas

By Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the USA

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas proved that he is not a partner for peace.  And a Palestinian leader who accuses the State of Israel, which arose from the ashes of the Holocaust, of committing genocide in Gaza, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, has no intention of becoming a partner for peace either.

In his previous General Assembly speeches, Abbas denied the Jewish people's historical connection to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. But this time he conveyed an unprecedented message: He does not want negotiations - not even American-brokered talks - and is not interested in durable pace based on security arrangements and mutual recognition...

Abbas' plan basically sets an impossible ultimatum for Israel : He has asked the UN Security Council to impose a nine-month period of negotiations, during which the core issues will be discussed based on the 1967 borders, without security arrangements and with a solution to the refugee problem.  If Israel refuses to accept these conditions - and there is not a single Israeli government, even a left-wing one, which will be prepared to accept them - Abbas will turn to the International Criminal Court in order to impose sanctions on Israel as an occupying force of a UN member state...

We must not forget that we are not operating in a void. The United States and President Barack Obama are currently dealing with significant threats in our region, led by ISIS . When Obama said in his UN address that the establishment of a Palestinian state was part of the war on ISIS, he was basically demonstrating how the regional challenges are only increasing the pressure on Israel...

We must not wait for the point in which we have lost control over our future. Our approach is to initiate for our future.

Theater of the Absurd??

A letter I received recently is trying to gather support for a “Haaretz” (Israeli newspaper) Peace conference to be held shortly.

The letter states:

“In an effort to promote a broad and effective, "peace coalition" that can bring an end to the “Theater of the Absurd” produced by the Government of Israel, we a group of friends from different professional backgrounds have contacted and continue to contact leading people in the Peace Camp .

WE are realists. We know that try as we may, our small initiative has minimal impact. Accordingly, we focus our attentions on people who can use their reputation , political clout and organisations to make a change . Someone has to listen to them and we need to back them in their efforts.

We ask for an immediate freeze in settlement building and the advancement of a two state solution

One has to ask:-

If the writers are realists, how come they don't realise that the basic Palestinian aim is not peace? Yes, they want a peace, but a peace without Israel and a Palestine without Jews.

Who says so? They, the Palestinians do. Continually and emphatically.

Why aren't the letter writers, who claim to be realists, listening to the Palestinians, both Hamas and Fatah?

Have the letter writers taken note of the Hamas Charter and the PNC covenant? Have they actually read them clause by clause?

Surely Israel has to pay some attention to what the Palestinians (and their allies) broadcast in their media, what they teach their children, and the campaigns to demonise Israel that are being carried out throughout their society and the entire world.

It would be wise man who could suggest there was something Israel could do that would satisfy the Palestinians and the wider Muslim and Arab world and bring about a real and lasting peace. But it is hard to think what that might be.

Any peace initiatives will be wasted as long as the Palestinians stick to their long term plan of eventually getting the land from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. They are preparing the ground very nicely by demonising Israel with BDS campaigns and the like until the words Nazi, apartheid, etc. are synonymous with the Jewish state and Zionism is a dirty a word as the word “Jew” used to be.

Palestinians and their supporters are preparing public opinion worldwide to accept that Israel must go. And they aren't making a bad job of it. At the moment we haven't reached that point, but there is a real danger that we will.

Meanwhile we must actively promote our own case and our own cause, and not keep telling the world that it's Israel’s fault that there isn't peace here.

Looking at what is going on around us, with ISIS making gains, already with a presence in Gaza and a possible threat to Jordan, what odds would anyone give Abbas if he came to an agreement with Israel.

The Middle East in practically on fire, dangerous and turbulent and Israel must keep all its security options open. The main danger in the area doesn't come from building blocks of flats.