That’s because, according to Hague, the situation requires the United States to take the lead because of its unique ability to influence the Israelis. “If we don’t make progress in the coming year,” Hague said, “people will be increasingly convinced that a two-state solution is impossible.”
Imagine that.
Of course, Hassassain claimed that Israel was the reason for the failure of peace to be reached,–rather than blaming the boldfaced intransigence of the Palestinian Authority towards peace negotiations, the outright violation of the Oslo accords by applying unilaterally for statehood at the UN, or—my personal favorite—the continued terrorist activities of Hamas and Fatah.
Finally, recalling the 2002 and 2007 Arab Peace Initiative, and said that had Israel accepted that open hand of peace, “the flag of Israel would have been hoisted in Mecca, in Iran, in Tehran! If they had accepted. But Israel does not want peace. Israel nurtures on conflict, and the Zionist Ideology is to have the entire West Bank, the entire Palestine.”
Just to remind you, Arab Peace Initiative, initiated by the Saudis, offered normalizing relations between the entire Arab world and Israel, in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, and a return of any Palestinian refugees “wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors.”
In other words, if only Israel agreed to stop being Israel, it could enjoy the love and acceptance known only by, say, the survivors of Auschwitz…
Let’s all wait and see what President Obama has to say about all this.