Israel
President Shimon Peres reminds one of an abused wife. Her husband repeatedly
beats her. But she always goes back to him because, she says, he really means
well.
Shimon Peres
is the abused wife. Mahmoud Abbas is the wife-beater. Peres, the abused, always
returns to the abuser.
Peres cannot
stop declaring how Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is a true
peace partner. He said it last year. Now he says it again.
On Sunday,
February 16, 2014, Abbas held a special afternoon ‘conference’ for 300 Israeli university
students. The students came to hear Abbas—and to ask questions.
This event
was organized by an Israel-Palestinian NGO called, OneVoice. OneVoice is a
Leftist NGO based in New York City, with offices in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. It
supports a ‘two-state’ solution. Its Home Page tells you that it supports the
‘two-state’ solution proposed by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. This specific
proposal requires a peace based on terms more harsh (towards Israel) than the
current Obama ‘1967-lines-with-swaps’ plan.
The
advertised purpose of the event was to give Israeli students—the future of
Israel—an opportunity to speak directly to Abbas about peace.
The event
was carefully organized. It was carefully run. It was carefully orchestrated.
It was a
public relations bonanza for Abbas. In the diplomatic game of musical chairs,
where each side in the Arab-Israel war competes for the best ‘position’, this
Abbas event was pure genius.
It attracted
a crowd. It created a buzz. It gave Abbas a stage upon which to strut.
He was
marvellous. For a moment for these students, he was as good as a rock star.
Israel’s
Peres loved it. He loved it sufficiently to declare that Abbas is clearly
serious about peace. The Abbas show had made Peres ‘happy’.
Peres is
wrong. Abbas has not yet proven he is a true ‘peace partner’. He is still
Israel’s enemy.
For one
thing, Abbas used the Arab ‘water libel’ at this event. Peace partners don’t
libel their partners.
The ‘water
libel’ is the accusation that Israel uses water allocation to discriminate
against Arabs. In a desert world, that kind of discrimination is brutal.
This libel
is the diplomat’s more genteel version of the vicious ‘blood-libel’ used by
anti-Semites to incite against Jews. This water-libel has the same effect: it incites
others to act against Israel.
It is also
false. When Israel signed the Oslo Accords, it committed to allocate a specific
amount of water to Arabs. Israel exceeds that commitment. That’s not
discrimination.
Israel meets
World Health Organization (WHO) water-allocation standards for Arab per capita daily
consumption. That’s not discrimination.
According to
research by the government of Israel, Israel’s water allocation to Arabs meets
all standards for proper water allocation. Israel’s allocation is also consistent
with per capita water allocation to Arabs all across the Middle East. That
consistency means that Israel does not use water to discriminate against Arabs.
The
accusation is a libel against Israel. It is a lie.
Abbas
repeated it. Peres ignored it.
What Peres could
have said was, ‘Mr Abbas spoke today to 300 Israeli university students. He
said many things about peace. Some of what he said disappoints us. But some of
what he said could be encouraging. We look forward to hearing that he will drop
his disappointing words and bring his encouraging comments to the negotiating
table. We also look forward to hearing him repeat his encouraging words in
Arabic on PA TV.’
Peres didn’t
do that. Instead, he claimed that Abbas is serious about peace.
Peres must
be careful. His oath of office requires him to maintain loyalty to the State of
Israel.
When
Israel’s Declaration of Independence was written, it spoke of the
“establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Yisroel to be known as the State of
Israel”. That Declaration is Israel’s birth certificate.
That birth
certificate says Israel is Jewish. Loyalty to the State of Israel means
unswerving support for this Jewish State.
Mahmoud
Abbas wants a new state that removes Jewish Israel from the world map. Abbas is
a declared enemy to the Jewish State. He hangs a picture in his office
showing the Jewish state gone, replaced by his Arab ‘Palestine’.
Such a man
entertaining such a goal is not serious about peace. He is a serious enemy.
An Israel
President takes an oath of loyalty to the Jewish State. Does Shimon Peres maintain
that loyalty when he ennobles our enemy?
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