Wednesday, May 29, 2019

On Making a Treaty Work with the Palestinian Authority


How can one make a treaty work with the Palestinian Authority? Assuming you mean a treaty fairly minded and negotiated, then in short, you can't. This is why they are not bothering to risk sitting down with the Trump Administration.  They can't handle the concept of an honestly brokered deal and that is the kind of deal President Trump is offering. The PA depended on undue pressure on Israel before each meeting with them. That is no longer there. But if the PA were to change, and they somehow do take up President Trump's offer, then here is a suggestion on how to take on such an opportunity to make it as successful as possible.

The Palestinian Authority, in PLO fashion, historically wanted things stacked against Israel before they would come to the table. Arafat's strategy of peace negotiations in between periods of rearmament has continued to be PA/Hamas strategy. A war with words while they clandestinely continued to gather bullets behind the scenes. Ever champing at the bit to conquer rather than seek actual peace for both sides.

In the past I have demanded justice against, not negotiation with the Palestinian Authority. As my philosophy ranks Palestinian Arabs as a valuable asset to Israel, I called instead for regional leaders among them to be replacement leaders for negotiations. I rejected calls to oust them from the country. Had I been asked before Israel or the Trump Administration were to begin the new talks I would have suggested getting this done before the workshop. Cleaning the table before you serve the meal.

Nevertheless, even within current realities, it's not too late to deal with the obstinacy of the PLO run PA when setting up a negotiation session. Adding non terrorist leadership candidates to the Palestinian Authority negotiation team would allow continuity in the subsequent talks with the PA even if current PA leadership force a breakdown in negotiations, as expected. If successful, these politicians among the Palestinian Arabs can become future leaders. It is for this very reason, that the current leadership will not allow it if they have a choice. No Palestinian Authority leadership elections since forever makes this supposition of mine just common sense. Nevertheless, if peacemaking is the goal, this idea of adding fresh leaders to the PA can be a stipulation made, as a prerequisite for the next step.

It is possible that this is in the back of the mind of the Trump Administration. That the reason for inviting so many Arab business men to the Bahrain Economic Workshop, is perhaps to find non-belligerent people to talk to. At the least there is a potential that there may be developed a pool of more vocal pro peace with Israel advocates throughout the Arab world.

In the past, Arab League unity for peace were effectively not much different than tactics according to Arafat strategies of conquest. If the Trump administration can at least find people who are willing to go on record for actual peace that does not risk Israel, then something positive has a distinct possibility to occur.

As for Israel, even if Netanyahu remains PM, policy of toleration of PA violence must cease. How many generations of violence is expected be required according to the current plan of Netanyahu, and certainly of those to his left, before Israel will have a partner in peace? Wait it out is the best they are offering. But if rather Israel would filter out terrorists from the Palestinian Arabic leadership, then true partners in peace could be found. Real peace could then be obtainable as soon as this year.

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I had the honor of meeting with Dr. Mordechai Kedar in New York last week. He supports a 2 state solution, while I support a 1 state solution. But both of us agreed in our discussion that some kind of a terrorist filter is an essential prerequisite to lasting peace with Palestinian Arabs.

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