Many in the West are 'relentless optimists' about peace in the Middle East between Israel and the 'Palestinian Authority' (PA) (Elliott Abrams, "Why peace is not at hand", nationalreview, August 31, 2016). We know they're optimists because they won't stop talking about 'peace'. We know they're relentless because they won't stop trying to shove 'peace' down Israel's throat while asking virtually nothing of the 'Palestinians' (Elliott Abrams, "Israel's 'Partner' for peace", councilonforeignrelations, December 6, 2015).
To prove their optimism, 'Peace Activists' trot out poll after poll to show how both Israelis and 'Palestinians' really, truly want peace. There's only one problem with these polls. They never look beneath the surface (Abrams, nationalreview, ibid).
For example, while many polls show that most 'Palestinians' want peace, those polls appear to get that result because they stay away from too many details (Abrams, ibid). It's when a poll asks about what that peace should look like that you get a different response: the peace most 'Palestinians' want is, essentially, a peace where there are no Jews anywhere near them (Ann Bayefsky, "All Jews out of Palestine is not a peace plan", foxnews, September 14, 2016).
The PA doesn't work for peace with Israel. It indoctrinates its children to hate Israel and to embrace violence against Jews (Itamar Marcus, "PA kids' drawings: Israel drinks blood of Palestinians" palestinianmedialwatch, October 16, 2016). That's not a recipe for peace.
Here's a recent image of a PA child's drawing. This drawing appeared on October 11, 2016 on the Fatah official Facebook page (as reported by Marcus, ibid):
This image shows Israel (wearing the Star of David), eating a Palestinian body wrapped in the Palestinian flag. You can see blood on the plate coming from the body. Next to the plate is a glass of blood.
The PA doesn't stop at indoctrination. It practices the hate it preaches.
For example, the PA recently took offense that Jews in Israel have invited 'Palestinians' into their succot, those temporary dwellings Jews put up for the seven-day holiday just ended. For many Jews, inviting 'Palestinians' to a Jewish succah is a gesture of Jewish goodwill and friendship. But for the PA, such goodwill is criminal.
The PA doesn't want to have anything to do with Jews. It saw that visit as a 'heinous crime' ("Palestinians Arrested for visiting Jewish Sukkah", israeltoday, October 25, 2016). Four Palestinians were arrested for that crime--and questioned for four days before being released. As a PA spokesperson put it, "any Palestinian cooperation with 'settlers' is viewed as violating the law" (ibid).
If you want peace, cooperation with your neighbor is essential. That's not only common sense; it was an explicit goal for the Oslo Accords (Lena Endresen, "Contact and cooperation: the Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People program", Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science, 2001).
The PA rejects that cooperation. It rejects all attempts at 'normalization' with Jews.
But the truth is, real peace between two peoples depends upon friendship, cooperation and a commitment to co-exist as proper neighbors. That's why the Jewish Mayor of the community where this 'crime' was committed said, "It is absurd that having coffee with Jews is considered a crime by the Palestinian Authority. Initiatives that seek to foster cooperation and peace between people should be encouraged, not silenced” (israeltoday, ibid).
The PA rejects such friendship. It prefers hate. It looks instead to the rejection of all forms of friendship with Jews. The influential Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel (PACBI) captures the PA attitude towards cooperation and friendship with Israel when it calls for an end to all projects "designed to bring together Palestinians/Arabs and Israeli Jews", and to reject all attempts to reconcile ("Anti-Normalization: a threat to cooperative work for peace and justice", thirdnarrative, retrieved October 26, 2016).
The PA world-view does not focus on co-existence or cooperation with Israel. It focuses on the destruction of the state of Israel.
That focus is uncompromising. It's relentless. It's filled with hate and murderous intent.
It has nothing to do with peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment