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The Peace Process: Is There Anything Really to Talk About?

(JNS) Jonathan S. Tobin - It's not terribly surprising that the attempts by both the U.S. and Israel to pass laws forcing the Palestinian Authority to stop paying subsidies to terrorists and pensions to their families hasn't persuaded Abbas' Fatah and Hamas to reverse their thinking. They see those who get the money as carrying out the national will of the Palestinian people. They believe these "heroes and martyrs" have every right to "resist" the presence of Jews on any part of the land on which the two peoples live. If you think Israel shouldn't exist and that Zionism is a racist crime, then all Palestinian acts of "resistance" - up to and including the most bestial acts of terrorism and mass murder - are both understandable and justified. If "occupation" means all of Israel, which is how most Palestinians consider any land over which Jews have sovereignty, then there's nothing really to talk about. As long as Palestinians see terror and the war on Zionism as an inextricable part of their national identity, then most Israelis understand that Palestinians believe that Tel Aviv is just as much of an "illegal settlement" as the most remote hilltop outpost.
2018-07-13 00:00:00
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