FREEZE THE PEACE By Larry Gordon It is clear that every reasonable person involved in the deteriorating conditions in the Middle East prefers that peace prevail over the current situation on the ground in many of the countries in the region. But by now astute observers must have become awakened and aware that this idea hatched by Arab leaders of a peace that is a step or an instrument of eventual war is not the way to go or an option to sign onto. Still some fairly and usually competent leaders in Israel are of the opinion that the 50 day assault from Gaza on the Israel heartland is more than anything else a new opportunity to reach a negotiated settlement with the parties. We have been studying these Israel events for a long time through wars and peace processes but somehow just are unable to connect these dots. The war that raged out of control in Gaza this summer was more than anything else a demonstration that the land for peace formula belongs to yesterday with no place in the present or the future. And we need to come to grips with the reality that anyone still subscribing to the formula is most likely more concerned about diminishing and shrinking Israel in size than building peace or anything else up. As Caroline Glick pointed out in the Jerusalem Post last week, if Hamas genuinely forgoes war with Israel and signs on to an agreement that formally acknowledges Israel’s existence than they cease being Hamas. Perhaps if they are actually interested in doing that they will need a name change or a new charter but they will not be the Hamas that was pulverized this summer by the Israel Air Force. To illustrate the point further lets take a look at Egyptian President El-Sisi’s proposal to build a Palestinian State three times the size of Gaza in the Sinai desert. That offer reportedly was rejected flat out by Mohammad Abbas because the contention for a state to Palestinian “refugees” is nothing but a ruse and a subterfuge for haters of Jews and Israel to somehow dismantle the Jewish state. In the aftermath of this summer’s events a series of odd alliances have evolved. They may not like it or admit it but now the Saudi’s, the Emirates and the Jordanians have interests aligned with Israel. They and others are interested in fighting and defeating the ISIS terror group that would like nothing more than to topple those moderate Arab dictatorships. And now that Barrack Obama is about to be pulled kicking and screaming back to the battlefield, it is even he who insists that dismantling terror effectively on this international scope can take time, perhaps even years. So why if the approach to handling terror has to be and should be deliberate and methodical, when it involves Israel is there such a rush back to the negotiating table with an immediate guaranteed outcome? Short of Israel declaring the so called two state scenarios dead, they should announce that the focus going forward will be on living in peace and restoring the dignity to life for all. Not only is Fatah questionably dependable, their relationship with Hamas and how it changes from one day to the next has to be considered as well. With just two years left in the Obama term there seems to be a sense of urgency for the President to get this if nothing else done right. That’s no reason to rush.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 10:05:24 +0000
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