Arab Leaders Must Call Netanyahu’s Bluff
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has given Arab leaders an opportunity to call his bluff. They could do it by asking him, publicly and speaking with one voice, two questions.
The first question is: Which Israel is to be recognised – Israel inside its borders as they were on the eve of the 1967 war, the Greater Israel of today or something in between? “In other words”, the question would add, “what are the borders of the Israel to be recognised?”
The second question is: What is the territory on which the Palestinians will be allowed to have a state of their own living side by side with Israel? “In other words”, the question would add, “what are the borders of the Palestinian state to be?”
If I was advising Arab leaders, I would suggest they prefaced those two questions with a statement indicating that they would prepared to meet with Netanyahu if he gave them satisfactory answers.
The reason why I believe Arab leaders must call Netanyahu’s bluff can be simply stated. If they don’t, they’ll be setting themselves up to blamed again for the failure to get a real peace process going. When that blame game starts, driven by the Zionist lobby’s stooges in Congress and with the assistance of the mainstream American media, it won’t matter that there has been a comprehensive Arab peace plan on the table since 2002, one that offers peace on terms which any rational government and people in Israel would accept with relief. The problem is that many but not all Israelis are beyond reason.
As the assessments of the significance of Netanyahu’s speech were coming in, I found myself in complete agreement with a comment made by Diana Buttu. Israel’s prime minister of the moment was demanding, she said, a “surrender agreement” from the Palestinians.
I would like to think that President Obama will not surrender to the Zionist lobby but I fear he might be required to do so.