Weekly Commentary: Abbas has his gloves off – what about Israel?

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 26 January 2012

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.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il