(Jerusalem Post) Lior Akerman - "No agreement with the Palestinians will be reached in our lifetime," newspaper headlines this week quoted Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon as stating publicly. Both Israel and the Palestinians have red lines they are not willing to cross. The Palestinians claim that Jerusalem is their capital and at the same time Israel says that under no circumstances will Jerusalem be divided. The Palestinians demand that the Jordan Valley be demilitarized of Israeli forces, whereas Israel insists that IDF troops remain. The Palestinians demand that refugees be allowed to return to Israel, but Israel refuses. Israel is demanding that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, but the Palestinians refuse. The only concrete action that has taken place during all these months of discussion was Israel's release of Palestinian terrorists. The Palestinians made no concessions whatsoever. The only thing the Palestinians did was to repeatedly make statements condemning Israel. Everyone knows that no agreement will be reached at the present time, but Ya'alon is the only one who said this out loud. The writer is a former brigadier-general who served as a division head in the Israel Security Agency.
2014-03-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive