Israel Update for September 2009

Commentators also reminded the public that precisely ten years ago, Netanyahu lost his government, and then early elections, when he reluctantly caved in to Bill Clinton's persistent arm twisting to carry out an army withdrawal from Hebron. Netanyahu apparently needed no such reminder of the lowest point in his long political career.

Of course, it is not only the Israeli leader that risks his political skin-if not his actual life-by bowing to the President's adamant (some also term it arrogant) insistence that peace talks must be resumed at this time, whether the opposing sides are ready or not. With the radical Islamic Hamas movement lording it over one-third of his people in the Gaza Strip, and constantly threatening to violently seize control of the rest of his Palestinian Authority zones of control, Abbas is also hardly in any position at present to reach a final peace accord with Israel. After all, the Hamas founding charter makes abundantly clear that peace talks with "the Zionist Entity" will never be considered legitimate by the group, since a Jewish state simply cannot exist on land long governed by Islamic rulers, as clearly stated in the Hadith, Islam's venerated "oral tradition."

Indeed, Abbas was harshly criticized in the regional Arab media for simply shaking hands with Netanyahu before a total settlement freeze was in place. Hamas strongly condemned the fact that he even went to New York to meet with Obama and Netanyahu. This may help explain why the PA leader told the London-based Al Hayat newspaper one day after the summit ended that he cannot resume peace talks at this time, claiming "there is no common ground for discussion" with Israeli leaders.

Given these domestic realities, Israeli political analysts said it is nearly 100% certain that peace negotiations will not resume next month, nor anytime soon after that. And many continue to blame Obama himself for this new impasse, since it was politically impossible for Abbas to demand anything less than the new US leader concerning the settlement issue, even though the PA had participated in peace negotiations under the previous American President and former PM Ehud Olmert without such a building ban being in place. Therefore it was also a pre-condition that Netanyahu-leader of a more right wing coalition government-could not possibly accept, as should have also been evident to American officials. Some asked why the Obama administration did not digest this reality. A few even speculated that some Democratic Party leaders may have actually been looking for an excuse to weaken US ties with Israel, and so deliberately backed Netanyahu into a corner. Whatever the case, several commentators warned that if a new wave of Palestinian violence erupts due to freshly dashed hopes, many Israelis will blame the American leader for it.

Strong Words At The United Nations

During his speech at the United Nation's General Assembly annual opening session, President Obama said several things that were well received by attending Israeli leaders, even if he did again refer to the contested Jewish communities as "illegal." He called for peace talks to be re-launched "without preconditions," which is the position espoused by PM Netanyahu.

Israeli officials were especially heartened to hear the American leader call for the Palestinians to accept Israel's legitimacy "as a Jewish state." This has become one of PM Netanyahu's main themes over the past few months. He frequently points out that the conflict began two decades before Israel captured Jordan's self-annexed West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip and started building homes in those locations. It was the Arab Muslim world's rejection of the idea of a Jewish ruled state that was behind their military attacks in 1947-49 and again in 1967 and 1973, he insists.

However Palestinian leaders replied to Obama's recognition call in their usual manner. Echoing the position officially adopted at the PLO Fatah convention in August, senior PA negotiator Saib Erekat told reporters it was "unacceptable." Hamas issued a ridiculous statement claiming "Palestine has never been Jewish land" (this came just days after several new archeological discoveries were made public, including the uncovering of the oldest known synagogue north of Tiberius, dated to the around 50 BC, containing a carved replica of the ancient Jerusalem Temple menorah).

The Israeli UN delegation was said to be less than thrilled when the American President again implied that they are somehow not really interested in achieving a final peace accord with the Palestinians. Obama stated that "the United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians."

Commentators pointed out that Israeli leaders accepted the UN's own 1947 Partition Plan which would have led to a Palestinian state being created alongside nascent Israel the following year. In the 1990s they signed the Oslo peace accords with Yasser Arafat and then pulled IDF forces out of most Palestinian cities and towns as peace negotiations continued, and uprooted 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and four in northern Samaria in 2005. The Oslo accords were rapidly violated when Palestinian terror attacks resumed in 1994, and the Gaza withdrawal was followed by renewed Hamas rocket bombardments of Israeli civilian centers. In other words, it is hardly Israel's fault that the Palestinian people have not been enjoying "legitimate rights" in their own sovereign state over the past 61 years.

Netanyahu Blasts Iran

The UN General Assembly was the scene for two bizarre, if not outrageous, appearances at its opening session. The first was by Libya's notorious dictator, Col Muammar Gaddafi-newly popular in America after warmly welcoming the convicted Lockerbie terrorist plotter back to Tripoli. He dramatically ripped up a copy of the UN Charter while calling the world body a "terrorism council"-likened by many commentators to the pot calling the kettle black. On the issue of Israel, Gaddafi had yet another brilliant idea to propose (he earlier called for the Jewish state to be moved to Alaska). He said a new country should be created to replace Israel which he cleverly named "Isratine." It would encompass all Arabs and Jews living in the land today, along with several million Palestinians currently residing as refugees in nearby countries. Of course, that means it would be yet another Arab state since Muslim citizens would outnumber Jews.

The second speech, by Iran's infamous President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was far more insidious, prompting a delegation walkout by a number of countries including Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy and France (American and Canadian delegations had earlier left the hall before the Shiite leader was called to the podium). Apparently not humbled by the crisis engulfing his own country after he was returned to power last June via obviously rigged elections, Ahmadinejad launched into his usual anti-Western and anti-Semitic tirades and holocaust denials. He maintained that a "small minority"-his code words for Jews-secretly rules the world, controlling most of its political, cultural and financial systems. He vowed to lead the fight against this alleged cartel, apparently when he acquires nuclear weapons capability and can wipe out around half the Jews on earth who currently reside in Israel.

The Israeli Prime Minister focused his allotted time before the General Assembly to speak on the issue that he considers by far to be the most pressing one his country is facing-Iran's menacing nuclear threat and its calls for Israel's annihilation. Of course he also spoke of the frozen peace process, vowing that he was sincerely ready to return to the negotiation table at any time if the Palestinians will attend without setting preconditions.