Netanyahu tells France's Ayrault he still opposes peace conference

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Sun May 15, 2016 2:12pm EDT

Netanyahu tells France's Ayrault he still opposes peace conference

JERUSALEM | BY JEFFREY HELLER

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told France's foreign minister on Sunday that Israel remained opposed to a French initiative for an international conference to try to revive peace talks.

Palestinians welcomed the proposal but Israel is concerned that the conference that France seeks to hold in the autumn would try to dictate terms for a peace deal.

In public remarks to his cabinet after meeting France's Jean-Marc Ayrault, Netanyahu said: "I told him the only way to advance genuine peace between us and the Palestinians is through direct negotiations between us and them, without preconditions."

Israel made the same argument in the formal response it gave last month. France hopes an international conference would set out a framework for peace negotiations, after U.S. efforts to broker a two-state deal collapsed in April 2014.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-france-idUSKCN0Y60AH

[oberliner]

1. Direct negotiations without preconditions

Is that bad?

[aranthus]

2. But the Palestinians will never get everything they want that way.

Isn't it bad if the Palestinians don't get everything that they want? Seriously, the one time a Middle East Peace Conference ever achieved anything is when the threat of one motivated Sadat to fly to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, Abbas is no Sadat.

[Little Tich]

4. Actually, it is.

Without a moderator that ensures that everyone gets a fair deal, it's quite possible that the stronger party will try to dictate terms.

I want a fair deal, and I think France can make that happen. I think that's why Netanyahu doesn't want to cooperate.

[branford]

5. France was the only western country to vote

for the UNESCO resolution denying a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.

The vote was so offensive and absurd that Hollande is now personally trying to attempt damage control.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.719567

Other than your personal aspirations, why the hell would Israel agree to French mediation? If France wanted to pressure Netanyahu, it might have been prudent not to engage in diplomatic malpractice that could be perceived as wildly antisemitic.

More importantly, the only parties that get to decide what constitutes a "fair deal" are the Israelis and the Palestinians, not you, the UN, France or anyone else, particularly if you want such agreement to be approved by the respective governments and followed by the people. [BTW, Hamas governs half the Palestinian territory, yet their absence in any peace dealings always seems to be conveniently ignored].

Ironically, things have so deteriorated since the Second Intifada, with the left in Israel in near total disarray, and the pullout of Gaza considered a failure, that offers as generous as those extended by Barak and Olmert are absolutely inconceivable today. The Palestinians appear to be waiting for the "perfect" plan (with even the PA leadership implying the eventual end of Israel, to say nothing Hamas), and yet their prospects continually dim while Israelis have actually been quite safe and prosperous.

Your idea of a "fair deal" effectively means the end of Israel as the safe and secure homeland of the Jewish people, and since Israelis are not about to commit cultural and religious, if not actual, suicide, don't expect life for the Palestinians to improve any time soon based on unrealistic strategies.

If you oppose Netanyahu, I suggest you oppose governments such as France engaging in obvious and stupid tactics that strengthen his standing domestically and with most Americans like the UNESCO vote.

[Little Tich]

6. I suppose you're a Clinton supporter, because I'm a Bernie supporter - and I disagree with you.

While we both support the values of the Democratic Party, this is one issue where we seem to disagree.

[King_David]

7. You get to vote ?

[Little Tich]

10. Of course not.

Only American citizens get to vote. However, when it comes to political preferences, I agree more with Bernie Sanders than I do with Hillary Clinton. Israel isn't really an important issue, but I think Bernie Sanders would be the better President.

[King_David]

12. Yea but at this stage what's most important here is beating Trump

The alternative is unbearable.

[Little Tich]

13. If (when?) Clinton gets the nomination, she really has to beat Trump.

The I/P issue is not really important compared to that. The US must never become Trumpland.

[branford]

8. Do disagree that France's UNESCO vote concerning the Temple Mount

was absurd, counterproductive, and played right into the hands of Netanyahu?

As I noted from the Haaretz article (and is evident from the most cursory Google News search), even Hollande now realizes it was a diplomatic disaster, and quite likely eviscerated any outside pressure that may have been possible for French mediation.

If you believe France has something to offer the moribund peace process, you might want to encourage French officials not to deny the Jewish connection to the Levant, no less the Temple Mount, for thousands of years. That's something you would expect from Iran, not an advanced western country with a sizable, and recently frightened, Jewish population.

Further, do you believe Bernie supports the UNESCO resolution or French mediation? I don't believe he's gone near the entire topic, particularly after the big primary loss in NY (and need to suspend his purported Jewish Outreach director) and the upcoming primaries in states like NJ and CA.

[6chars]

9. Excellent point about France's potential as a fair broker (or not)

[Little Tich]

11. I think that Bernie Sanders would be a fair broker in the I/P conflict and he would be able to make

the two-state solution a reality. If Hillary Clinton became the next US President, the one-state solution would be the only possible outcome.

I'm not saying that Hillary Clinton would be a bad President, it's just that the two-state solution can only be made possible with the help of a fair outside broker.

And yes, I think that France would be more of a fair broker than the US.

[branford]

14. You are of course entitled to your opinion about the I/P issue

or anything else, but "fair" is not defined as the "outcome you agree with or want."

Also, what magical powers do you believe Bernie possesses that would suddenly make the two sides agree to a mutually acceptable two-state solution?

For instance, how will Bernie unify the Palestinian Authority and Hamas into a credible and peaceful negotiating partner? Right now there really isn't a "Palestinian side," there are two political and geographic groups, and one of them is an official state sponsor of terrorism according to both the US and EU fully committed to eradicating Jews.

Moreover, how would Bernie overcome a near unanimous Congress supportive of Israel and hostile to Palestinians. Israel is one of the very few political issues that unite Republicans and Democrats and is politically and electorally popular, notwithstanding the disgruntlement of mostly some radical left college students. In the hypothetical world where Bernie was president, he could never afford to go to proverbial war with Congress and the American people over Israel, no less risk permanently alienating American Jews, a very active and important Democratic Party constituency. If you believe otherwise, you did not pay attention to the New York primary, and believe in fairy tales.

You're basically suggesting or advocating that Bernie break historical Democratic Party coalitions, immensely hurt Democratic electoral prospects, and jeopardize his entire social democracy domestic agenda, all in order to try to facilitate a deal in the Middle East that probably would be broken by both sides before the ink was dry if either side felt involuntarily compelled?

As to the prospects of a "one state solution," that's already effectively been the strategy of the Palestinians and their few, but vocal, Western supporters on the very far left for decades. How's that strategy been working out so far?

[Little Tich]

3. I'ts almost as if Netanyahu is afraid of peace...

Who would've thunk that?