Soccer Dad

The news that time forgot ... part ii

Elder of Ziyon:

Over twenty Palestinian Arab organizations in Europe have signed a letter criticizing Mahmoud Abbas' negotiating with Israel, saying that he will sell out on Jerusalem and the "right of return" without representing them.

Joshua Muravchik (via Daled Amos)

All Israeli prime ministers have seized any opportunity for peace. The hawkish Menachem Begin ceded the Sinai for a peace treaty with Egypt and sought one with Lebanon as well. The even more hawkish Ariel Sharon ordered the Gaza withdrawal. The left-of-center hawk, Yitzhak Rabin, signed the 1994 peace treaty with Jordan and the Oslo agreements with the PLO, and Ehud Barak, a former military commander, pulled Israeli forces entirely out of Lebanon. The Israeli public's yearning for peace is so strong that no leader, of whatever feather, can afford to spurn a chance for it.

In contrast, Arab publics have rarely supported peace and few of their rulers have espoused it. The exceptions have mostly been assassinated, notably Jordan's first King Abdullah, Egypt's Anwar Sadat, and Lebanon's Bashir Gemayel.

Palestinian Media Watch:

The PA minister last week again visited homes of terrorists serving life sentences, and honored their families with a "Freedom Award." He took the opportunity to reject Ayalon's criticism:

"[PA Minister Issa Karake said:] 'Our prisoners are freedom fighters... the PA will not allow Israel to treat our prisoners as criminals...' Karake's statement came in response to the words of the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, who regarded Karake's visits to the prisoners' families as incitement to violence and terror against Israel, and demanded an apology from Abbas."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 6, 2010

Shalom, Saeb Erekat here (h/t Barry Rubin):

With Jibril Rajoub, on the other hand, Asulin had to work hard to get the word "partner" out of him. Rajoub would rather first declare that all settlers are insane and that the Jews should be ashamed to have Baruch Marzel among their people. Two minutes earlier, he was joking with his guests saying, "How many people did you bring? This really is occupation" and, "Why so many pictures, is this going on Facebook?". But during the shots he was aggressive and defiant, more threatening than required. Later, I ask Gadi if he's concerned that Rajoub's clip may bring about the opposite reaction to what they are hoping for. "That's Rajoub," he apologizes, "After all he's a former terrorist who spent 17 years in prison. But I know he is committed to this."

See the original.

Credit for the image: Elder of Ziyon.