(Commentary) John Podhoretz - In an extraordinary interview, President Obama warns Israel and its leader that a failure to "make peace" now with the Palestinians will have terrible consequences. Palestinian rejectionism plays almost no role in the Obaman calculus. The Palestinians, in Obama's view, do not actually need to make changes; astonishingly, he says, they're ready for peace, overlooking every piece of polling data we have about the opinions of the Palestinians. 60% of the Palestinians reject a two-state solution. They are so eager for peace and coexistence with Israel that they remain the only significant Muslim population that still has a favorable view of suicide bombings, according to a Pew survey. Obama said: "Nobody would dispute" that Abbas is committed to "diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue." Yet in 2008, offered a peace deal by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert giving the Palestinians 92-95% of the territory, Abbas basically fled the table and didn't return.
2014-03-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive