Hagai Segal
The resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians is more like an exorcism than a wedding. There is so much animosity in the air, immense mutual suspicion and zero hope.
The media outlets in the country of Ramallah continue to air horrific clips of Israel. The summer camps there are pre-army camps. Last week we learned that even Netanya, a Zionist city established out of nothing on virgin dunes, is described to the Palestinian children as a stolen Palestinian community. And as for the Jews, they are not showing any signs of reconciliation either. The most recent “Peace Index” public opinion poll conducted by Tel Aviv University – not exactly a daughter company of the Yesha Council – indicates that an overwhelming majority (62.5%) of Israelis are against a withdrawal to the 1967 borders, and a similar majority (58%) is against the evacuation of settlements located outside the large blocs.
Under such circumstances, John Kerry would have to be exhibit Einstein level genius to forge an agreement within nine months, but apparently he can’t. At best he can force an agreement on Netanyahu and Abbas, but this is also questionable. The US is a superpower in decline. It does not have the power to bring Snowden back from Moscow, so how will it be able to divide Jerusalem against our will?
Obama already tends to understand this. By condemning Housing Minister Uri Ariel’s statements last week regarding the continuation of construction in the West Bank, America was merely paying lip service to the Palestinians. Kerry made relatively restrained remarks and hinted that the renewed construction boom in Jerusalem is part of a secret, agreed upon formula for the resumption of peace negotiations. Even Abbas did not go berserk. Only the Israeli proponents of a construction freeze took it all very seriously: Oh no! They are building in Jerusalem!
Eastern Jerusalem was liberated by Motta Gur 46.5 years ago, but the peace seekers have continuously objected to construction in Ramot, Gilo and Armon Hanatziv. The Zionist bulldozer has always disrupted their plans by blocking the corner of Peace Boulevard and Palestine.
Enough already with this nonsense. Jerusalem that is beyond the Green Line is sovereign Israeli territory just as west Jerusalem (which, by the way, the international community has yet to recognize either) is. The large settlement blocs in the West Bank will not be transferred to Abbas or his successors in any case, and there is no point in freezing construction in the smaller blocs either, because in Gush Katif it was proven that even the destruction of isolated settlements does not increase the chances for peace or reduce the risk of Qassam rocket attacks.
The bottom line is that freezing construction only serves an obsessive mental need of the Left, not the needs of peace. Had Amir Peretz been born 100 years earlier, he would have probably condemned the drying of the swamps.
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