Israel Hayom..
05 March '14..
He doesn't understand. How did Obama embrace Netanyahu? Why, we were promised a cold shower and contempt in the interview with Jeffrey Goldberg. I am talking about Shimon Shiffer, the tireless analyst of Yedioth Ahronoth, the paper that once had a country. The only explanation he had for the hug was that Obama was "troubled by the situation in Ukraine" and so "left Netanyahu alone." What a shame. Shiffer is not alone. Zehava Gal-On, head of the Meretz party, released a statement complaining about the applause Netanyahu received at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference. It's not enough they didn't crucify the prime minister, they even applauded him. They've gone mad.
This was not enough for Shiffer. In his column, he strengthened the Palestinian (and left-wing) narrative: Whatever happens, Israel is to blame for the absence of peace. It doesn’t matter that for 100 years we have been ready for a compromise or that over the last 20 years we have agreed to measures that any rational examination would see as a recipe for political and security suicide. And still, Shiffer's favorite moderate, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, fled in horror from agreements, even the most reckless of them, presented by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Just this week Gal-On heard those same songs of defiance in Ramallah. So what?
Because why isn’t there peace? Why has Abbas refused for 20 years to concede anything for the sake of his people? Here is Shiffer: "At the same time, the Central Bureau of Statistics released data that showed an increase in construction in the territory of the future Palestinian state." And therefore "so long as this is the situation, it is comprehensible why Abu Mazen [Abbas] and his people refuse to join the dancing." And his conclusion: "As long as there is there is no leader in Israel who can threaten the stability of Netanyahu's seat," there is doubt the two-state solution will ever happen. And this is the disgraceful reason of the paper's existence, a paper dedicated to one purpose: to wage war against the global threat named Benjamin Netanyahu.
But that already happened, Shiffer. Your beloved Olmert, who is currently spending time in the courts offered Abbas everything, and nothing changed. The only thing the left wing can do -- if it ascends to power -- is a unilateral withdrawal. Like in Gaza. God forbid.
It is worth noting the storyline Shiffer uses to rationalize the Palestinian defiance and which is hashed out in the media: The jump in construction in Judea and Samaria by 123 percent in 2013, compared to the rate in other areas in country. Had the certified analyst peaked at the charts provided by the CBS, he would have discovered the bluff.
A quick glance at the data shows that in 2012 there was very little construction in Judea and Samaria and hardly any construction tenders (moratorium perhaps?). In 2013, a few tenders were issued mostly in settlement blocs and not "in the territory of the future Palestinian state." Compared to about 1,000 housing units built in 2012, we've reached some 2,500 this year. A low number that almost exactly reflects the natural Jewish population growth rate in Judea and Samaria (about 4.5% compared to less than 2% in the rest of the country). The title should have been "Not enough construction in Judea and Samaria." That did not fit with the "Israel-is-always-to-blame-no-matter-what" group, and so they used percentages. Well, if a person who smokes a daily cigarette smokes just one more a day -- he will increase his intake by 100%! Because the percentage doesn't count but the number of housing units relative to the overall population.
The Left's claim -- even against construction at the growth rate of the population (and mainly within the settlement "blocs") -- means that every Judea and Samaria resident who wants to get married and build a house, cannot remain in his community because construction is prohibited. So why don't we call the Left's policy by its real name, "expulsion"? Had they built 10 times the natural growth rate (if only!), the public debate would be comprehensible, but to manufacture a scandal out of hardly any construction is to provide a false alibi for the Palestinian defiance.
Regarding Netanyahu's remarks on Israel's justness, Shiffer commented: "For the sake of fairness, he should have mentioned that also the Palestinian side paid a heavy price in the form of hundreds of thousands of refugees and life under the occupation of a foreign country."
"For the sake of fairness"? Did we not get nearly 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries? "Occupation"? What did the Palestinians do pre-1967? "Foreign country"? Only at Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz is Israel considered a foreign country in its own homeland -- the cradle of Jewish people. But if only "for the sake of fairness," at least read the data.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7583
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