Sultan Knish
02 December 09
Once upon a time a mad Caliph demanded of an old servant of his that he teach a donkey to talk for his amusement. If he refused, he would be put to death. If he failed he would be put to death as well. The old servant shrugged and assented, asking for a year's time. When other servants asked him why he had accepted, he answered. "A year is a long time. Either the Caliph will die or the donkey will learn to speak."
Now in Jerusalem, Netanyahu is busy playing Caliph Obama's game. He knows that the donkeys of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are not about to learn to talk like human beings and engage in actual diplomacy, instead of using diplomacy as a subterfuge for terrorism. But at the same time he knows that the American Caliph is not about to cease making irrational demands for talking donkeys. So once again Netanyahu is playing for time.
The 10 month freeze on construction beyond the Green Line that Netanyahu agreed to has already resulted in a revolt within the Likud and the settlement community. Inspectors have been met with protests and acts of civil disobedience. Netanyahu in turn has canceled his trip to Germany and is trying to settle the bubbling political crisis.
While everyone in the government is assuring the public that the freeze is only temporary, there's no sign that this belief is shared on the Caliph's side of the fence. America and the EU view the freeze as a sign of things to come. And while construction has frozen, Obama and the EU are busy creating new facts on the ground. Obama has already broken ground by calling Jewish housing in Jerusalem a Settlement. A leaked classified EU report meanwhile calls for the European Union to strengthen the PA's hold on Israel's capital city and pushes for sanctions against Jewish residents of East Jerusalem.
Posts
I wish that Netanyahu could anticipate that his actions in accepting a freeze will only lead to increased irrational demands and total loss of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.
ReplyDeleteHe is not fulfilling his mandate; he is rather squandering opportunities to strengthen the Israeli position. This can only lead to further problems down the road, such as Obama's demand that no building occur in Gilo, a neighborhood already annexed to Jerusalem.
In theory, that's what he has advisors for, but one cannot assume they have arrived at a different conclusion. Because the process is not transparent it's hard to move beyond guesswork as to what is the driving force behind their decisions.
ReplyDelete