By Barry Rosenfeld
As “Operation Protective Edge” moves toward full out war, the US and Europe continue to put pressure on Israel to hold back its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, hoping to somehow bring the Palestinians and Israelis back to the peace table.
Israel refuses to negotiate with a terrorist entity and Hamas only fights for the total destruction of the Jewish state and the Israeli people.
In light of this it is worthwhile to consider the position that the so-called “moderate” Palestinians under Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is taking. The following are the demands of that group.
Unless all of the Palestine prisoners are released there will be no peace settlement.
Unless the Palestinians are granted all of Judea and Samaria and all of East Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, there will be no peace settlement.
Unless all of the so-called Palestinian refugees, no matter how high that number may have reached, are allowed to return to Israel, there will be no peace settlement.
And what has Israel asked for in return, only one demand, that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland and renounce violence against it. They refuse.
At the same time Hamas and the other resistance organizations are saying that they will not accept any plan signed by Abbas. Meanwhile the Palestinians have won the hearts and minds of most of the media and peoples of the Western nations. This translates into the ongoing support of the US government and the EU which no matter what the cost, continues to pump billions into the Palestinian economy with little or no accountability. This is one of the reasons that Hamas has agreed to the unity government. In order to get in on the grab bag of goodies constantly flowing from the EU and the US no matter what the situation with respect to Israel.
A portion of this money is used in turn to finance the families of terrorists in Israeli prisons. This means that US taxpayers are helping to fund terrorism. The longer the prison term the higher the salary with those receiving sentences of over 10 years receiving as much as $2000 a month, the highest salaries in the Palestine territories. (Times of Israel)
But will a two-state solution solve the problem? Israeli journalist Yoel Ben-Nun writes of his discussions with Palestinians. When he asks them when the “occupation” began, all without exception say 1948. This means that a Palestinian state for them is just one step closer to getting the entire land. He argues that in the Palestinian culture there is no sense of compromise, it’s all or nothing, so any settlement would only be a step toward getting all of it.
In 2005, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally, and with the resistance of his own government, withdrew all Israeli settlements from Gaza along with all military forces. What followed were almost daily rocket attacks of the surrounding communities requiring repeated military forays back into the Strip including the latest conflict. This should be a good indication of what lies in store for Israel if it were to sign any peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority. In Israel every residency requires the inclusion of a fortified sealed room. I live in Tiberias and these rooms came in very handy during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 when over 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel by Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. They are again serving their purpose today throughout the land. Even if there were to be some form of peace agreement ongoing rocket attacks would probably be the result.
The only real peace will come when the Messiah returns at the end of the age. But until that time we have the true Prince of Peace in our hearts. Help us to share that knowledge with our fellow Jews here in Israel who are so desperately seeking peace, so much so that they are ready and willing to trade their own security to get it.
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