I'm For Preconditions

As you probably know, Israel's official approach to peace negotiations withe the Palestinian Authority is clear:

Netanyahu says he will never accept preconditions for talks

Prime minister says Palestinian calls for a building freeze before negotiations constitute an ‘impassable obstacle’

and

”I want to achieve peace,” Netanyahu declared.  ”We’re ready to start negotiations now, without preconditions,” he continued, “and I hope the Palestinian leadership will be too.”

That was last month.  And back in September 2011:

Benjamin Netanyahu: 'Negotiations without preconditions'

And in April 2012:

Netanyahu to ask Abbas to return to negotiations without preconditions

And so, at the end of July 2013:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu turned to the citizens of Israel in an open letter on Saturday explaining his decision to release Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of the renewal of peace talks in Washington next week..."This is an incredibly difficult decision. It hurts the bereaved families, it hurts all of the Israeli people and it hurts me very much. It clashes with the most important principle, the principle of justice," Netanyahu stated..."sometimes prime ministers are forced to make decisions that go against public opinion - when the issue is important for the country."

which brought this reaction: 

Dep. Min. Danon: Release of Terrorists is 'Lunacy'

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) sent a letter to Likud ministers asking them to vote against the planned release of 104 terrorist prisoners as a “gesture” in advance of “peace talks” with the Palestinian Authority.

"I call on you to vote against the release of prisoners, but in favor of the negotiations, without preconditions,” he wrote.

Those prisoners?

Israel is set to release 104 terrorists for the questionable privilege of getting the Palestinian Authority to simply show up to the negotiating table. The identities of the terrorists have finally been released. All of them have served so far between 19 to 30 years for murdering Israelis, and even their fellow Arabs. Some of those slated to be released have been serving time for killing children, Israel Prize winners, and even Holocaust survivors.

But I want to be fair and open.


I am actually for preconditions for peace talks:


- first, Abbas has to get reelected

- second, Hamas has to make peace with Fatah

- third, all incitement stops

- fourth, peace programming enters the educational curriculum


Isn't that rational and logical?


_______________

P.S.


Daniel Pipes:
 

Lunacy, but also immorality. The exchange betrays the families of victims and it betrays Israel's allies. It is a repugnant action.  To those who would excuse Netanyahu on the grounds that he feels pressure from the U.S. government, I reply: this a lame excuse, for Israelis can and have often stood up to misguided American leaders; further, it appears to be inaccurate, for Netanyahu has recently suggested that, under the spell of the Ben-Gurion complex, has himself become convinced of the need for a Palestinian state in the West Bank.

_________________

P.S.

From David Gertsman:

What did the PA's minister of religion say?

On the eve of the renewed peace talks with Israel, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said in his Friday sermon that when PA leaders signed agreements with Israel, they knew how to walk "the right path, which leads to achievement, exactly like the Prophet [Muhammad] did in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah." Al-Habbash's sermon was delivered in the presence of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV.

The Hudaybiyyah peace treaty was a 10-year truce that Muhammad, Islam's Prophet, made with the Quraish Tribe of Mecca. However, two years into the truce, Muhammad attacked and conquered Mecca. The PA Minister of Religious Affairs stressed in his Friday sermon that Muhammad’s agreeing to the Hudaybiyyah treaty was not "disobedience" to Allah, but was "politics" and "crisis management." The minister emphasized that in spite of the peace treaty, two years later Muhammad "conquered Mecca." He ended his comparison by expressing the view that the Hudaybiyyah agreement is not just past history, but that "this is the example and this is the model."

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, there have been senior PA officials who have presented the peace process with Israel as a deceptive tactic that both facilitated the PA's five-year terror campaign against Israel (the Intifada), and which will weaken Israel through territorial compromise that will eventually lead to Israel's destruction.

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