You change your mind
Like a girl changes clothes
Yea, you PMS like a bitch
I would know
And you always think
Always speak cryptically
I should know
That you’re no good for me
‘Cause your hot then you’re cold
You’re yes then you’re no
If you didn’t know any better you’d think that these words by Katty perry were aimed at the countless Israeli leaders who have come and gone in the past few years. Why you hear me ask is it addressed to them? Because it seems to be a bang on trend for an Israeli leader to be elected on there *tough-hard-won’t-budge-an-inch-to-the-Palestinians-right stance* and then find them claiming to want to do good-by getting caught up in so-called ‘peace’ negotiations. It’s like they want to have their cake and eat it. And so far, they have succeeded in doing just that. Examples I hear you ask? How about Ariel Sharon who once famously quipped and urged Israelis to settle more land fast by “Grab(bing) the hilltops, and stake(ing) your claim” . Simply put he was encouraging the growth of Illegal Israeli settlements. And if you want a more contemporary one, just look at the current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He heads one the staunchest right-wing parties in the Israeli government and its no secret that he is a staunch supporter of illegal settlements being built and believes their should be no ‘concession on settlements’ .
Now with all that being true its funny how each these leaders have found them self at a time engaging in ‘peace’ negotiations. Now before I broach the absurdity of this subject, let me just quickly recap some small brief facts. Under international law and in the view of the UN and the majority of member countries the pre-scribed border for Israel and Palestine is the internationally recognized 1947 borders. Anything built over these lines by Israel are considered illegal settlements as they are built on land that is meant and prescribed for the Palestinian people. Now lets look at a picture of the prescribed 1947 borders and how the map should look today;
Ok, so Israel seems to have lucked out majorly in this little agreement because as far as i can see they have been given the most land. lucky them, guess that means they won’t have to complain about the lack of land …….*glances at current map of Israel*
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh *awkward silence*.
My bad, looks like they weren’t happy with their fairly substantial share. Talk about taking the piss and pushing boundaries. Looks like Israel practically hasn’t looked at a map SINCE 1947 and has kept building thinking sooner or later they will come across a thick border line of some sort. Someone should have told them the line on the map was only an imaginary border, not a physically present one.
Now Regardless of why, how, or when they acquired it the land they have acquired over the borders is ILLEGAL. Its land that belongs to the Palestinians and is land that under any future or current peace deal will be returned to the Palestinians in one form or the other.
So basically, any Israeli leader that enters negotiations KNOWS that this land grabbing will be an issue and if there is to be a successful deal reached this matter will have to be resolved and the land repatriated to the Palestinians. This whole issue of Palestine and Israel has been going on for many many years and each successive Israeli government has engaged in brief talks that if followed through would return that very same land that they had previously laid claim to.
So now back to the present and the issue surrounding the current crisis in the peace talks. The crisis revolves around the settlement freeze that Israeli enforced for over 10 months and which recently ended. Lets not comment on how amazing the timing of the ending of the settlement freeze is as it just comes a mere 2 weeks after talks first started. Now that it has ended Benjamin won’t reinstate it or even extended it to help facilitate the talks. WHAT THE HELL, they were imposed for a good 10 months or so and as far as I can see Israel is still standing so there is no good reason why it can’t be extended for a few more months for the sake of ‘peace in the middle east’. The US has literally been working to sweeten the deal for Israeli *and trust me the deal was sweet* to extend the freeze but to no avail. Without the freeze being implemented the negotiations will simply will fall apart. This is because the Palestinian delegation headed by Mahmoud Abbas is already in a weak state and has had to make enough concessions to just get the talks started. It is one of the few conditions they have asked to be implemented for the talks to go on.
This request makes complete sense as if you are coming to negotiate how to give back the land you took you’d think that maybe you’d want to stop taking land. Would make the process MUCH easier. So why in god’s name is Benjamin Netanyahu not extending this settlement freeze for the sake of maybe resolving a crises and conflict which has engulfed the middle east for countless of years?
Answer is, he probably doesn’t care to be the one to resolve this crisis. Because resolving it would mean combating the hard right members of his party and government who got him into power. Whilst also combating the zealot religious right who see the whole of the Palestinian land being rightfully theirs as its their god given right and religious mission to acquire and lay stake to this land. To dismantle their settlements would result in an internal conflict as they have no interest in letting go of this land and going away quietly. To do so would be an affront to their so-called religious beliefs.
Regardless of how hard it is it is something that MUST be done if the conflict is to be resolved. So for this to happen their needs to be a tough no nonsense leader who cares to actually seriously resolve this crises head on. Till then peace negotiations will simply come and go acting as mere symbolism of Israeli leaders pretending to care about the plight of the Palestinians.
Till Next Time
