By Barry Rubin

Letters I receive from readers mainly focus on asking me what I think about the U.S.-Israel-PA negotiations about getting back to…negotiations. What is my view of this big deal that’s being discussed for a three-month freeze on Israeli construction.

My response has been that until we have a clear, authoritative, and detailed description of what’s being asked and offered, there’s no sense in analyzing it.

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This is whom Obama and his ilk consider Israel’s “peace partner:”

… Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas declared that the PA would fulfill its commitments, with special focus on stopping incitement [of violence against Israelis]. …

However, the first four months, May-August, brought no changes in the quality of the messages being transmitted from the Palestinian Authority and Fatah to Palestinians. An examination of the Palestinian leaders’ statements, official media, children’s programs and PA and Fatah-controlled events reveals the following: The conditions, principles and expectations set by the US and the Quartet for accepting the Palestinian Authority as a partner in the peace process continue to be violated by the Palestinian Authority.

Contrary to the PA’s moderate statements to the West, its statements to its people in Arabic continue to delegitimize Israel’s existence, deny Israel’s right to exist, define the conflict with Israel in religious terms, promote hatred through demonization and libels, and glorify terror and violence …

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by Alexander Maistrovoy

Clinton is right: “Russians” in Israel don’t really want peace, that kind of peace which Bill Clinton imposed on Serbs in Kosovo.

Clinton’s words that Russian-speaking Israelis are an obstacle to reaching peace can be understood in different ways. Excluding their emotional component, it is necessary to recognize that the immigrants from the former Soviet Union are most opposed to the Israeli/Palestinian peace process (or what is implied by this term). Let’s look at the root of this phenomenon.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would reinstate a West Bank construction freeze if the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. …

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement rejecting Netanyahu’s offer immediately following the speech. …

- JewishJournal.com, October 11, 2010

When I was younger and perhaps more idealistic, I believed there could be peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Since 2000, I’ve come to see that most Palestinians will never accept Israel, yet Israel keeps making concessions anyway.

Israel tried to negotiate with the Arabs in 1918, 1949, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1993, and 2000. Even though Israel is a tiny sliver of land, she gave up territory in 1957, 1974, 1975, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1995, and 1998. Israel pulled out of much of Gaza in 1994 and had tried to pull out of the West Bank (see here for footnotes). The Jewish State voluntarily withdrew from all of Gaza in 2005. What has Israel gotten in return?

Rocket attacks, naval raids (”flotillas”), homicide bombings, and threats of total annihilation.

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By Barry Rubin

After acceding to U.S. requests for nine months by freezing construction on existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank and also not building over the pre-1967 frontier in Jerusalem, Israel got nothing.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed willing to continue it in some form, pressures from within his coalition made that impossible.Therefore, the freeze is coming to an end, though Israel is still ready to discuss limits on new construction. Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to walk out of the once-every-two-weeks direct talks.

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By Fern Sidman

Chants of “Not One Inch” could be heard in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, September 28th, as members of Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI) joined forces with members of the Lubavitch movement representing the World Committee for the Land of Israel in a spirited demonstration of support for the abrogation of the moratorium on settlement building throughout Judea and Samaria that had been in effect for the last 10 months.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

TIME Magazine was completely wrong about Israel — and is a third-rate trashy rag — for publishing a cover story entitled, “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace.” I’ve already explained why, and the JewishJournal.com agrees most eloquently:

… All are singular experiences but part of the national psyche: Israelis defending themselves from wars of aggression for the first three decades of the State’s existence. The tension of regular terror outrages that brought unbearable carnage to Israel’s streets and unspeakable pain to so many Israeli families. An unprovoked barrage of Saddam’s scuds, Nasrallah’s katyushas, Haniah’s Kassams and now the threat of Ahmadinedjad’s nuclear warheads barreling their way towards us.

And yet, for anyone who took the time to check, over the last many years, a majority of Israelis have consistently polled in favor of a two-state solution. …

There is something ugly about insisting that Israelis must behave differently to the rest of humanity.

In delegitimizing Israel, it is Israelis and not just the Israeli government that is under attack. …

So, why do Israelis teach about peace in schools and despite constant setbacks, send government after government to negotiate? Because, as Jeffrey insists, peace is about our existence. Surrounded by enemies, there is no life for us without it and no alternative to achieving it.

Look beyond golden beaches, designer shirts and Tel Aviv apartment prices made famous by magazine copy. There are millions of Israelis who have not given up.

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by Phyllis Chesler

The September 13, 2010 issue of TIME Magazine arrived yesterday. The cover story is titled “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace” and is illustrated by a large Jewish star composed of daisies. Yes, daises — as in “counting daisies, don’t have a care in the world.”

This is precisely the point of Karl Vick’s article. He writes:

Israelis are no longer preoccupied with the matter [of peace with the Palestinians]. They’re otherwise engaged: They’re making money; they’re enjoying the rays of the late summer … they have moved on.

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By Fern Sidman

Dozens of Jewish supporters of Israel gathered across the street from the Israeli Consulate in New York City, on Thursday evening, September 2nd, to call upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “just say no to demands for more concessions from Israel that will continue to endanger the lives of Jews throughout Israel.” Organized by Helen Freedman of Americans For A Safe Israel, the demonstration came at the end of the first round of direct peace talks between Prime Minister Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama at the White House.

Pro-Israel Protest, NYC

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Abbas and Netanyahu met for 90 minutes, with the two leaders pledging to work together to maintain security and reiterating their goal of a two-state solution. The three-way meeting was “long and productive,” Mr Mitchell said, adding the leaders pledged to work in “good faith” and with “seriousness of purpose.” He said Mr. Netanyahu and Mr Abbas then went off on their own for a one-on-one meeting, which may be designed to build trust between the two leaders. There were no note-takers or translators in either of the meetings.

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By Barry Rubin

I’m not a big fan of conferences. There’s nothing more repetitive than sitting in a panel where the presentations have interesting titles but are otherwise disappointing. Or listening to a speaker who may be very good but says absolutely nothing you don’t know already.

But sometimes you have fascinating experiences which are not exactly on the agenda. Here are three from a conference I attended in Prague a few years ago, each of which contains its own lessons. Incidentally, nothing about the below was off the record, though the names and some details have been omitted since this is about points, not personalities.

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by Steven J. Rosen*

Just before dawn on May 31, 2010, a team of Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish ship to enforce a blockade against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza. As they came aboard, the Israelis were assaulted by a violent faction of Islamic militants. A melee followed in which several of the commandos were seriously injured and nine of the Turkish militants were killed. The clash was over before the sun came up.

It was still daylight when, 5,600 miles away, the Israeli delegation to the United Nations was summoned to appear before an emergency session of the Security Council to be chastised for the actions of the commandos. Convened just hours after the violence, the council spent the night of May 31, into the wee hours of the morning, absorbed in “a highly emotional emergency session…[to express] international anger over the Israeli attack,” as the Washington Post described it.

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by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman*

The 2002 Arab peace initiative, commonly referred to as the “Abdullah plan” after its chief author, then-Saudi crown prince Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz, constitutes the most significant and explicit collective Arab declaration in favor of a peaceful, mutually agreed-on resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict ever made. By adopting the plan at the March 2002 League of Arab States’s Beirut summit and reaffirming it in Riyadh in 2007, the collective Arab position towards the conflict has been modified in the direction of a more explicit recognition of Israel. Notwithstanding the ambiguities of the declaration, especially on the issue of Palestinian refugees, a shift is discernable. From complete rejection (the “Three Nos” of the 1967 Khartoum summit) to qualified acceptance (the 1982 Fez summit) to the current expressed willingness to declare an end to the conflict and establish normal relations with Israel, the Arab states have moved to an officially proclaimed acceptance of the reality of a Jewish state in the region. Attaining a proper understanding of the initiative, however, requires an examination of the larger contexts in which it was forged.

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By Barry Rubin

The big story of the moment is the announcement that there will soon be direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Perhaps, but for the moment Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has merely issued of an invitation to come and talk. Generally, such an invitation would only be issued when both sides have accepted and all the details are nailed down. Nowadays, however, such cannot be assumed.

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By Barry Rubin

Forget about The Onion, The National Lampoon, Mad Magazine, and Saturday Night Live (sorry for all those American cultural references). When it comes to satire nobody can beat a New York Times editorial!

Well, this one is funny because the Times is–sort of–trying to praise the Israeli government and criticize the Palestinian Authority (PA) but you can’t help but laugh at the contortions they go through.

Here’s the first one:

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By Fern Sidman

“Welcome to New York City, Mr. Prime Minister” was the rallying cry of the day as over 150 zealously pro-Israel supporters gathered outside the Council on Foreign Relations on Manhattan’s upper east side on Thursday afternoon, July 8th to greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he delivered an address on Israel’s role in the global community. The demonstration of support for Israel was spearheaded by the campus advocacy organization, “Stand With Us” along with the endorsement of other such organizations as American Friends of Likud, American Zionist Movement, AMIT, Dor Chadash, Emunah of America, Zionist Organization of the Conservative Movement, the National Council of Young Israel, the Northern New Jersey Region of Hadassah, the Queens Jewish Community Council, The AISH Center of NY, the West Side Sephardic Synagogue and the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism.

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