Palestinians out maneuvered by Israel on peace

AFP:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday on the Palestinians to restart peace talks, after Washington backed his stance on rejecting a settlement freeze ahead of any negotiations.

"I hope very much that the Palestinians will come to their senses and enter the peace process," Netanyahu said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting. "The peace process is an Israeli interest as much as it is a Palestinian one."

The hawkish premier spoke a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed his "unprecedented" position on settlements and backed his call that negotiations should resume despite the Palestinians' insistence that Israel should first freeze all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

"What the prime minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements... is unprecedented," Clinton said, adding "there has never been a precondition. It's always been an issue within negotiations."

It marked a sharp easing of tone by Washington on the delicate issue of settlements.

In May, after US President Barack Obama's first meeting with Netanyahu, Clinton had said Obama "wants to see a stop to settlements. Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions."

Netanyahu hailed his meeting the Clinton, which lasted into the early morning hours on Sunday and, armed with US backing, criticised the Palestinians for "setting preconditions."

"We have shown a willingness to do unprecedented things to relaunch the process," he said on Sunday.

"But we are encountering the opposite from the Palestinians. We are encountering preconditions from the Palestinians that haven't been set in all the 16 years of the peace process.

...

I am not sure whether either side is ready for a peace deal, but Israel has clearly out maneuvered the Palestinians again. It has put the Palestinians in the position of being the obstacle to peace, which is where they belong. They have never been serious about any deal that recognizes Israel's rights and they have nothing of value to offer Israel anyway since they are not going to stop those who attack Israel.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

Is the F-35 obsolete?

Headline USA: Pentagon Fires Back after Musk Calls Its Most Expensive Project ‘Obsolete’ 'Yeah, as I'm sure you can appreciate, Mr. Musk is, currently, a private citizen, I'm not going to make any comments about what a private citizen may have to say about the F-35....'   ... ... Drones appear to be replacing jets for many operations.  The Russia-Ukraine war is an example of that.  Drones are often hard to detect and can be used for intelligence operations as well as for attacking enemy targets.  It would not surprise me to see drones engaging other drones in combat.  They also cost much less than manned fighters.  
Read more

Apple's huge investment in US including Texas facility

Blaze: Apple announced a $500 billion commitment to infrastructure in the United States over four years, its largest commitment to domestic spending to date. Apple said it will expand teams and facilities in Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Washington as part of its new spending. With a new facility in Houston, Texas, Apple will reportedly double its investment in advanced manufacturing along with increasing investments in AI and silicon engineering. The company said in a press release that the Houston facility will produce servers to support Apple Intelligence, the "personal intelligence system that helps users write, express themselves, and get things done." ... The Texas facility will be for advanced technologies.   Texas has become a place that is very supportive of the tech industries.  Austin and Houston have seen much of the tech growth in the state.  Texas universities have been active in the AI field.
Read more