Statements made in public by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and forgotten by the entire media world reveal that Israel promised to free 104 terrorists in four batches on return for the resumption of peace talks “in accordance with the circumstances of their progress.”
Those are the Prime Minister’s words in an “open letter to the citizens of Israel” he wrote last year. Foreign media also reported at the time that “an Israeli official said no prisoners would be released before direct talks begin, and the process would then be dependent on the Palestinians proving they are ‘really serious and not playing games.’”
The problems with these direct quotes are that they do not fit the agenda of the Obama administration, the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations and the media establishment, which has forgotten or never learned that Journalism 101 teaches that one should check the facts.
Instead, every news outlet, including those in Israel, is accepting as fact Mahmoud Abbas’ telling the Arab League in Kuwait Tuesday, “The Israeli government is trying to dodge an agreement it had with the US administration to release pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners.”
He added, “The Israeli government took every chance to foil the American efforts. This proves what we say about the lack of seriousness and preparedness of the Israeli government to withdraw and create peace.”
It is not an interpretation and it is not editorializing to state that this is a lie.
Netanyahu said more than once that the release of the 104 terrorists was spread over a period weight months ending at the end of this week in order to test Abbas’ intentions.
The same media reporting Abbas’ statements know as well as you and I that the talks have been a dismal failure, so much so that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is flying to Jordan on Wednesday to meet with Abbas and will be on the phone to jawbone Netanyahu to save his own behind and come up with some kind of formula to add another chapter to one of the most shaggiest dog stories ever created.
The facts, without any editorializing, show that it is Abbas and not Netanyahu who has not fulfilled his obligations, unless one accepts the Arab world attitude that the entire point of “negotiations” was to convince Israel not to negotiate and simply say “yes” to every Arab demand.
Those principal demands, without any interpretation, are:
- Turning over to the Palestinian Authority all of Judea and Samaria and all parts of Jerusalem that abandoned by Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967;
- Expelling more approximately 700,000 Jews – 10 percent of the Israeli population – form those areas;
- Removing all soldiers from Judea and Samaria, including the Jordan Valley;
- Establishing eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian Authority state; and
- Accepting the immigration of millions of Arabs whose claim to Israel as homeland depends on the United Nations’ unique definition of Arabs as the only refugees in the world whose refugee status passes from generation to generation.
Abbas has left no room for compromise or negotiation on any of the points. He and his “negotiators” have complained since the resumption of talks in July that “no progress” has been made. Not par for the course for Abbas, truer words were never spoken.
On the other hand, he has refused to accept Netanyahu’s one demand that he recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He has “no” to allowing Jews to live in a Palestinian Authority state, a direct violation of U.N. laws. He has said “no” to giving up on the phony refugee issue. he has said “no” to allowing IDF troops in the Jordan Valley.