IMRA - Abbas has his gloves off – what about Israel?

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA..
Weekly Commentary..
26 January '12..

Before during and most certainly after the latest round of talk Mahmoud Abbas and the other Palestinian officials have continued their steady assault against Israel at every diplomatic and media opportunity.

What about Israel?

Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team ran with the Jerusalem Mufti story (for the speech citing the Islamic tradition (Hadith) that anticipates the killing of Jews by Muslims) but it is not clear if this will go beyond a news cycle.

And it most certainly should.

We get absolutely no credit in the world for adopting the essentially condescending approach of President Shimon Peres that views Palestinian words and deeds as “mistakes” rather than matters worthy of condemnation.

And we confuse the world as to how we really see the situation.



That doesn’t mean that we can’t negotiate. It doesn’t even mean we cannot cooperate.

But engaging in negotiations and cooperating does not mean we have to remain silent.

If anything, we should have enough respect for the Palestinians to hold them to our standards and to tell them and the world when they don’t.

And there certainly is a lot to talk about:

Just a few:

#1. It is the official position of PA head Mahmoud Abbas that Israel has no right to detain any Palestinian terrorist and that every single one of them should be freed regardless of how heinous the crime.

#2. There is absolutely no intention in the Hamas – Fatah reunification talks to provide for the supervised destruction and/or removal of the over ten thousand illegal rockets in the Gaza Strip.

#3. The official Palestinian media and provide a constant supply of readily condemnable remarks and actions.

Again:

Negotiate?

Yes.

Cooperate?

Absolutely.

But keep the gloves off.

Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=55485

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