According to this article,
1.Netanyahu is in control of negotiations or at least he has no fetters.
2. He hasn’t conceded anything,
3. he has kept Indyk and other Americans out of the negotiating room,
4. he is demanding that security be discussed first,
5. he has kept Livni on a short leash, and
6. he made a “final offer” to withdraw from 60 percent of the West Bank in favor of a Palestinian state.Could it be?
DEBKA Exclusive Report, Sept 23/13
No word of condemnation has come from any Palestinian leader for the murders of two Israeli soldiers two days apart by West Bank Palestinians: Saturday, Sept. 21, Sgt. Tomer Hazan, 20, from Bat Yam, was found murdered in a water hole near the West Bank town of Qalqilya. Sunday, another 20-year old, 1st Sgt. Gal Koby from Tirat Hacarmel, was killed by a single Palestinian sniper’s bullet while on guard at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The silence from Ramallah is well-orchestrated, a signal that Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, is in favor of picking off Israeli soldiers every few days, so as to boost his hand in the US-sponsored negotiations with Israel.
Those talks have not advanced an inch, since the parties remain entrenched in their widely separate positions.
Three months into the talks initiated by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho for Israel and the Palestinian Saeb Erekat have not even agreed on an agenda.
On Sept. 8, Livni proposed a working agenda of 17 items. The Palestinians countered with an agenda of six items, all them relating to the most contentious “core issues” of the dispute.
Livni’s list was dictated to her by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. She does not see eye to eye with the prime minister on Palestinian policy or negotiating tactics, but is bound to follow his guidelines or quit.
After presenting their conflicting agendas, the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators fell to an argument about priorities – security first, said the Israelis; borders, said the Palestinians.
The Israeli side explained that agreement on credible security arrangements would determine the location of borders; whereas the Palestinians insisted on reversing the order. They cited Secretary Kerry as having promised them explicitly that the pre-1967 boundaries would be adopted as the borders of the future Palestinian state.
Kerry has avoided putting any US position paper on the table in the absence of an American participant in the talks.
This absence was the result of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s objections to former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk’s presence in the role of special US envoy. He maintained that the negotiations should be conducted directly and bilaterally between Israel and the Palestinians without US intervention.
Netanyahu in any case never got on with Indyk during his years as ambassador a decade ago.
The row over the rival lists erupted shortly after the prime minister told Livni and Molcho to put on the table what he called “Israel’s last offer” which was to withdraw from 60 percent of the West Bank in favor of a Palestinian state.
This plan would have saved him having to evacuate a single Jewish settler from Judea and Samaria. No one outside Netanyahu’s inner circle expected anything less than a brusque Palestinian refusal to even discuss the offer. His action was widely seen as an inexplicable blunder. [Why so?]
Since it became clear that the negotiations with Israel were going nowhere, tensions have been rising in the Palestinian arena. Until now, Kerry has been able to keep a heavy iron lid on tensions – mainly by forbidding both parties to utter a word on the state of the talks, on pain of US reprisals.
This hush enabled the US Secretary to maintain the appearance of progress in the Middle East talks, and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to look after their own political affairs.
Netanyahu, by maneuvers for avoiding the surrender of a single settlement, has preserved his government coalition intact. Abbas, acting through his henchmen, has let Palestinian terrorists partially off the leash – although for the time being only for attacking Israeli soldiers.
Like Arafat before him, Abbas does not issue written guidelines. He has used winks and nods from the right quarters to generate a permissive climate for terrorist action. Provided they limit their targets to uniformed Israelis, it is given to understand that they will not be bothered by Palestinian security and intelligence agencies.
Those agencies certainly know the identity of the Palestinian sniper who shot dead the Israel soldier in Hebron Sunday. If ordered by the Palestinian leader, they could quickly lay hands on him and pass him on to the Israeli authorities. The Palestinian Authority’s failure to do so has forced a crack in Kerry’s lid on the bubbling Palestinian stew. It remains to be seen whether or not Abbas continues to let the deadly attacks on Israeli soldiers continue, or even expand them. If he does, Netanyahu will have to turn away from domestic politics and give serious attention to countering the resurgence of Palestinian terror.
@ bernard ross:
I read your comments with great interest because your presentations aspire to, and many times achieve true connection to our condition here and its resulting links with the activities of parties overseas.
Netanyahu’s cadre’s plans and activities are an extension of Sharon’s and Peres-Rabin lines. Olmert and Livni as well as the Lapid dynasty are instrumental, coupled with the nefarious self elected supreme courtiers, to the creation of terrible Jewish suppression units and systems ranging from the nefarious “Jewish Sektion” of the G SS to uniformed YASSAM and BP as well as military special units financed from state budgets to solely assault and destroy Jewish homes, families, villages, Synagogues and even cemeteries.
The psychopaths in those units are in many cases imported non Jews but also include hardened beasts of our own. The NKVD had also a “Jewish Section” or “Yevsektziah”.
The local one was formed using the same types and methodologies.
Netanyahu routinely lies, distorts, misleads, connives, betrays and uses those entities to harm Jews at large.
As to who can replace that gruesome disgrace…
Anyone out of a bus going to work in any part of Israel.
But not only. We have thousands of great potential leaders that are smeared, trodden and worse by agents of the unJewish setting.
Netanyahu and his aggregate including Peres must be exited from office if Israel, Jewish will survive.
Laura Said:
Tell that to BB and his band of pygmies who when told to jump ask how high.
Unfortunately BB has no real opposition.
@ Bill Narvey:
You have been accusing me more or less in the same manner for all these years and out of those who more or less agreed with you then who are still commenting you alone are the one who has not come ovr to my side in their opinion of BB…
That means what? Either we are all wrong or you are? I may not have convinced anyone but the facts seem to have. What does that say about you?
You seem to have learned nothing, and forgot nothing!!!
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
Your qualifications, experience and conclusions are credible and convincing. I don’t see how any honest poster here can disregard them, especially non Israelis discussing Israeli politics. I make comments on Israeli politics based on my experience, which is very small. I would be a fool to think I did not have much to learn. In fact my experience at Israpundit has taught me much about what I do not know and some of my views have completely changed as a result thanks to posters such as yourself who have the direct experience and knowledge of specific pertinent facts.
@ Bill Narvey:Now, that’s funny Narvey.
Narvey sits in Canada and copiously rains long bombastic missives. He quite certainly never served in the military, I doubt he speaks colloquial Hebrew or is able to understand advanced Hebrew publications, but yet, passes water over facts. Talk about “chutzpah”…
We, in turn, live in Eretz Israel for many years, serve in the military, fought in War. An Invited Consultant to the Ministry of Defense. Participate as a Professor in Israeli Higher Education Graduation Boards. Published in Hebrew by the UTA and several International Conferences. Politically, I resigned from the Likud about three years ago. I am a former, veteran Likud Central Committee Member.
I met many times with all of the Likud echelon starting with Sharon, Livni, Olmert, Netanyahu, etc.
All of them pure and unadulterated untrustworthy, lying, cowardly trash.
DO me favor Narvey, KMA.
Shmuel your anti-Netanyahu imagination is not tethered to reality just as your feet are planted firmly in a dark cloud above the ground.
@ Bear Klein:
i agree full heartedly with Bear Klein. I will even take it a step further. Annex all the territories from sea to sea.
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
I agree. Israel’s worst enemies are not the Arabs but their government. This whole idea of achieving peace with Arabs through negotiation is suicidal and insane. Peace is only achieved through victory. Israel achieved peace,although temporary, by winning its’ war with the Arabs. Israel could easily win its’ next war by using the nuclear weapons she has accumulated. What are the weapons there for if not to be used when necessary. So the world has treaties banning the use of chemical weapons. Are there treaties banning the use of Nukes?
Netanyahu’s only objective is a Nobel and will let nothing stand on his way to get it. Allowing Jews to be murdered, releasing Islamic bestial murderers, assaulting individuals and families, etc. All fine for the specimen.
Any normal country would, if its soldiers or civilians are being murdered, react at least in kind. There are no reasons nor lack of means to operate snipers to exact relevant counter violence.
In my view, one I hold for a long time, Netanyahu already agreed to all of the Islamic demands, including re settlement, abandoning Jerusalem, etc. He may do some dancing back and forth but that is the end in sight.
Netanyahu never intended to stop Iran, in fact a nuclear Iran is a good tool for Netanyahu. He will use that to blackmail Jews out of homes and villages to “keep Iran from attacking”.
There has never been a more dangerous unJew pretending to be PM.
There are 2 conditions which the americans imposed on both sides:
1- a commitment not to leave the negotiating table for 9 months(april 2014)
2- a commitment not to discuss the details of the negotiations in public.
These conditions indicate to me that the main purpose of the talks are to keep the Israeli pal issue out of the public eye and the news for that period of time. I believe that either the conclusions are already agreed upon or no conclusion is expected. The big question is what is expected to occur during the 9 months and after its expiration. Lots is going on in the ME but not on this issue, apparently with everyone’s assent. I believe that the next unfolding of events in syria will indicate where everything is going. Up to this point it appears to me that there has been a GCC/US war against Iran and its proxies(syria,hezbullah,Iraq). Will US/Russia make an agreement re Syria beyond the chemicals? Will the GCC continue the war against the proxies and continue on to Iran {it is increasing in Iraq); or will they come to an agreement with Iran? It’s a pivotal moment.
Kerry has no business making promises to the fakestinians. Israel is not his to give away.
Whenever Israel sits down for talks with the Palestinians there is always an up tick in terrorism.
So Israel appeases the west with these talks and gets dead or wounded in return.
The response to the soldiers murders should be no release of any more terrorist prisoners. Build in E1. Pals will pull out of talks and then Israel should annex Area C in Judah and Samaria.
The peace talks are effectively dead. No one expected them to go anywhere.
And the Arabs are using terror to soften Israel’s position and get the Jewish State to make concessions as part of the blood payment for “peace on the ground.”
For Israel, the talks orchestrated by Kerry offers only pain and no real benefit.