# 236 – Peace Talks Re-start

July 29, 2013

Headlines blazing on BBC, CNN and the other channels I glanced at recently.

Good, old Kerry…after 6 visits to the region,he’s finally got the chief negotiators to agree to meet in Washington next week…to discuss the possibility of re-starting the talks.

Well, let’s first get the obvious out of the way: we all wish him/them well.

What are the chances of success? Getting the talks re-started….not bad. Peace? I’ve already answered that question….a hundred times.

Coalition agreed to release around 100 prisoners. No, they are not petty thieves, sex offenders or even corporate cheats. These are potential martyrs who, in the meantime, did not blow themselves up, but used other methods to gain similar results. Some are Israeli Arabs. I can’t think of another country that would do the same thing, and yet, in a month’s time, much of the World will be back to criticising Israel for doing nothing.

You think I disagree about this? I don’t disagree…I am 100% against it. I am This is the classic giving of a finger and losing the hand. We don’t have to, not should we give anything in advance of these ‘talks about talks’.

And in the midst of all this, you have Hammas in Gaza, which is screaming from the rooftop that they will not be part of any talks. Mr. Abbas should finally ‘come out’ and accept that he is speaking on behalf of only a part of the Palestinian people. In fact, how about this: he should clearly state that, if/when peace is signed with Israel, the 2 peoples will declare war on the Gazans unless they come on board.

And remember 2 things:

1. By ‘Palestinian’ we’re referring to some Arabs who, only recently, started calling themselves Palestinians. Those philatelists among you will know that during the Mandate time and before, so not so long ago, those who considered themselves ‘the true Palestinians’ were…the Jews.

2. One of the places where the population mixes completely is the hospital. I spent an hour or two this morning at one of them: Beilinson. There, the 20-25% Arab population is clear to be seen, both among the visitors and among the staff. The pharmacist was an Arab. I was listening today to Ahmad Tibi, the most prominent of Arab Knesset (parliament) members.

1. He’s actually in a difficult position. He constantly uses his platform – and his immunity against prosecution – to criticise just about everything Israel does. He was telling about his visit yesterday to Jordan and his discussions with King Abdullah. Some of it was such rubbish – and most know that the Jordanian regime is shivering in its boots, trying to avoid the same upheavals that have been rocking the region.

An early PS – for whom do you have sympathy in Egypt? The Muslim Brotherhood, or the oppressive military which killed so many yesterday?

And what do you think about the hundreds of dangerous prisoners who escaped a few days ago in Iraq, and perhaps a thousand more yesterday in Lybia? Most of these connected to Al Qaida (I’ll spell it any way I wish).

Netanyahu: I love him, I don’t love him, I love him, I don’t love him, I love him, I don’t love him….Oops, I’ve run out of petals..

Stephen