Netanyahu Invites Abbas To Talk Peace

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday invited the Palestinians to sit down immediately to talk peace, but the Palestinian leader rebuffed the call, saying that Israel must first halt all West Bank settlement construction.

The issue of Israeli settlements has emerged as a major sticking point in efforts to restart peace talks, which halted shortly before Netanyahu took office in March. The Palestinians have been bolstered by the United States' insistence that Israel freeze the settlement construction on lands claimed by the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, who for years was a vocal critic of Mideast peace efforts, recently reversed himself and for the first time endorsed the goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a final peace agreement. However, he attached a series of conditions rejected by the Palestinians, and they have been cool to his offer.

"There is no reason Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and I should not meet, anywhere in this country, to advance the political process," Netanyahu told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet.

Netanyahu said he already has made a series of gestures, such as the removal of several military checkpoints in the West Bank, meant to improve the Palestinian economy.

"In recent weeks, we have made many efforts to ease their lives, especially regarding freedom of movement for Palestinians," he said. "But I would like to make it clear that all of these efforts are unilateral on Israel's part. All these efforts can only go so far, and the results will multiply many times if only there is cooperation from the other side. ... Let us make peace, diplomatic peace and economic peace. Let us cooperate on these projects," he said.

The Palestinians have been skeptical about Netanyahu's intentions. They say the Israeli gestures are not enough to revive an economy beaten down by years of conflict, and fear that Netanyahu is using his economic program as a way to divert attention from the core diplomatic issues of negotiating a final peace deal.

Abbas has refused to meet Netanyahu and reiterated his stance at a news conference on Sunday that for negotiations on the key issues to resume, there must be "a complete halt to settlement activities."

Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, spent more than a year negotiating with Abbas. The peace talks yielded no major breakthroughs, and during that time, Israel continued to build up its settlements. Nearly 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem _ areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians.

Israel agreed under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan to freeze all building in the West Bank. But it has not honored that 2003 obligation, saying the Palestinians have not fulfilled their commitment to crack down on militant groups.

Comments

[ColoradoCool]

I find it fascinating how this argument has shifted since Obama made his historic middle east speech recently. People are suddenly holding Israel accountable for dragging their feet in doing their part to act in good faith in negotiating a fair and equitable settlement for the Palestinians.

[blutigeroo]

I guess your right, some people have opened their eyes after the speech but me and many people I know, have known for a long time that Israel is the oppressor. Only recently have I been able to express my views without being called anti-semitic and a terrorist. O has sort of opened the door for the MSM to criticize Israel, although this criticism is very limited and soft, it has opened the eyes of many. When O talks, the whole world listens and think; that is what is very important. When Bush talked, people laughed.

[gakabani]

Excellent response!

[BubbaC33]

When people accuse Israel of being the oppressor folks with knowledge of the actual events in the region laugh at them.

[MarcusT]

Easy cowboy...

"...but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state with secure, recognized, defensible borders. And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided."

Barak Obama, June 4, 2008. Addressing the AIPAC conference 12 hours after securing his party's nomination.

[PWM]

None of that prevents a Palestianian state.

[TammyKnowsBest]

Please watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65UW1E_ebQM

God Bless Cynthia and everyone of that boat. Blessed are the peacemakers..

[whoa20]

God bless Benjamin Netanyahu, a true peacemaker.

[CigarGod]

Only zombies are buying that.

[BubbaC33]

You bought it?

[JhNyc]

I'm guessing that was sarcasm.

[MemoryAlpha]

Your Qualification to nominate peacemakers:
Dubious

Prior statement by you:
You make me sick. Why do you radicals get the ME jobs at colleges and indoctrinate kids? Multi-culturalism DOES NOT WORK EVERYWHERE!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saree-makdisi/netanyahus-two-state-goal_b_227785.html?show_comment_id=26781990#comment_26781990

[SonnyBono]

Bibi is not for peace - he is for PIECE as in a piece of Syria, a piece of Lebanon, a piece of Jordan and all the pieces that would have been the Palestinian state.

[BubbaC33]

A quick glance at a map of Israel from 1968 and a look at a map of Israel today indicates your ideas are just wrong. Israel is now smaller than it was in 1968. I know, you folks will say but Israel is larger than it was in 1947, which is true. In 1947 the Jews accepted the UN partition plan, the Arabs rejected the plan. And followed that with an attempt to destroy the newly restored Israel. In the course of defending ourselves we expanded our border, which is legal under international law. More to the point, when the Arabs rejected the partition plan they gave up any right or claim to the now disputed territory.

[PWM]

Odd, I think he is playing stalling tactics.

[who38]

Nah, he is just playing the usual Israeli shell game. Stalling isn't a tactic anymore, it is a way of life.

[arvay]

Yes, in the tradition of the soldiers who brought "peace" to Wounded Knee.

[BubbaC33]

Not even remotely accurate or appropriate. Your analogy is just wrong.

[alexa07]

This AP article is full of the usual characterizations, with guess who having the most positives & who has nearly all the negatives?
1) Who "rebuffed"?
2) Who "invited"?
3) Who "reversed himself"?
4) Who "is cool to his offer"?
5) Who "has refused to meet"?
6) Who is "skeptical"?
7) Which side is described (graciously) by AP as having spent a year negotiating with the other side? Why not say both sides spent a year negotiating with each other?

Associated Press is not a very dependable source for news from the region. Occasionally there will be a decent article, but this is not one of them.

[Anode]

what is a Jewish state?

from book by Israel Shahak "Jewish History, Jewish Religion" 1994.

"Let me begin with the official Israeli definition of the term "Jewish," illustrating the crucial difference between Israel as "a Jewish state" and the majority of other states. By this official definition, Israel "belongs" to persons who are defined by the Israeli authorities as "Jewish," irrespective of where they live, and to them alone. On the other hand, Israel doesn't officially "belong" to its non-Jewish citizens, whose status is considered even officially as inferior. ... I suspect that the Jews of the USA or of Britian would regard it as antisemitic if Christians would propose that the USA or the United Kingdom should become a "Christian state," belonging only to citizens officially defined as "Christians.""

in other words "Jewish state" is a state which officially discriminates its citizens based on race and religion: if you are Jewish (born, or converted) you have all the rights, if you are not a Jewish citizen of Israel, your rights are limited and you are discriminated against in where you can live, work, have no equal rights before the law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Shahak

[CigarGod]

That post earns you a cigar.

[Darwin256]

Yes, excellent.

[arvay]

It's a sad historical irony that Zionism helped to stir up anti-Jewish feelings in Europe by convincing some Jews and many of their non-Jewish neighbors that Jews were an alien "race" that doesn't belong in Europe.

Many European Jews were quietly assimilating into Europe, particularly well in Germany. But the horrible effects of WWI there created a ripe environment for inter-group conflict, and many Germans started to see Jews as both leaders of leftist and communist movements imported from Russia and Poland and a "people" who were granted by the Balfour Declaration of 1917 a "homeland" in the Levant. So when Hitler said Jews could not be German, many otherwise sensible people would conclude he was right.

Zionism is nineteenth-century race-based nationalism, not reconcilable with the progressive ideas so many Jews have historically embraced. Its result is the apartheid state of Israel, supported by many people who would recoil in horror if its policies were enacted in any other nation. It's moral and cognitive dissonance on a grand scale, with tragic consequences for many people.

[BubbaC33]

I understand your line of reasoning on this matter. According to you it is our fault the Germans came up with the Final Solution.

[DC]

More importantly it is an enterprise that has nothing to do with Judaism. And like similar enterprises, it hijacks religion to get it going and the masses onto the train.

Zionism was rejected by most all Jews everywhere until the middle of the last century.

At the end of their lives, even Einstein and Brandeis rejected Zionism, recognizing it for what it was -- an enterprise at the exclusion of others.

[PWM]

I don't see how it could be race based as Jews are not a race but a cultural group distinguished by a common history and religion.

[ObamaSheeple]

I guess the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade will now extend an invitation to Netanyahu to sit down with them for peace talks.

I'm sure it will be just as genuine and productive.

[LeeCalif]

What a tired, endless fraud.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

Mr Netanyahu invited the Palestinian delegation to talk peace, but as a requirement for the meeting, the Palestinians must sit where Mr Netanyahu tells them to sit, in chairs which will be six inches lower than those the Israeli delegation will use, and they must laugh at all his jokes.

[gbrooks]

Well said.

[ProfessorDuh]

Sure he does.

[BubbaC33]

If the Israeli government does not offer peace talks you folks complain. When the Israeli government offers to sit down for peace talks you folks complain. What hypocrites you Arab apologists must be.

[MemoryAlpha]

Note:
Netanyahu is continuing to authorize colonization of the West Bank and has set unrealistic demands for Palestinian "statehood" that would make them second class citizens in their own land.

Contention that Netanyahu is sitting at the negotiation table:
False.

[shothot]

Arab apologists? Apparently God is on your side. Why accept a dinner invitation when all you're get is a glass of water.

[CigarGod]

You didn't even read the article, did you?

Do you know why Bibi said what he did?
Do you know why Hamas laughed?
Do you know why Obama has Bibi in check?

Bibi knows why.
Hamas knows why.

But your comment indicates you don't.

[ColoradoCool]

You're worse than the Michael Jackson fanatics. People all over the world are coming to the realization that Israel has had it all their way for decades with the support and $ of the US to back them up. It's time now for Israel to pony up and stop acting like victims when they are, in fact, the perpetrators.

[PWM]

I suspect the peace talks will be an offer by Israel that the Palestinans can either accept or reject - no negotiations as we know them in the civilized world.

[omobob]

They take your home and land, then act annoyed when you’re not thankful to be allowed to sleep in the wood shed. Bibi wants the Palestinians out.

[betz55]

Israel wants land not peace.

Bibi's vision of peace? Go back to his Newsweek interview April20, 1998. “At the end of the final settlement, the Palestinians would have their own territory and the ability to govern themselves, but none of the powers that could threaten Israel.” Bibi wants the Israeli version of "peace" not the world version.

His vision of a two-state solution -- "each with its flag, anthem and government" -- suggests that he thinks the Palestinians will accept some sort of limited self-government arrangement so long as they get to fly their own flag and sing a national song.

During Oslo peace process in the 1990"s, Israel confiscated 40,000 acres of Palestinian land, constructed 250 miles of connector and bypass roads, doubled the number of settlers, and built 30 new settlements. All the while promising to end settlements.

For 8 years, Israeli PM’s have promised the US a halt in settlements and outposts.

U.S. intelligence shown to Israelis proves that the Israel continued its construction AFTER the 2007 Annapolis Summit where PM Olmert pledged to end settlement expansion.

Someone get this memo to Bibi : All Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank are illegal under international law because they are built on occupied land that does not belong to Israel.

Link US loans and military aid to removal of the settlements and watch how fast the settlements would be removed. No US aid until settlement activity is halted.

[shothot]

Betz55-keep writing..... a most informative response and enjoyable read.

[GZLives]

The Palestinians don't want peace and never have. When Israel ceases all settlement activity and they will due to US pressure, the Palestinians will have another excuse. The real reason is JEWS., NEVER will they accept the Jews have come home and they must leave the land THEY STOLE and have squtted on and have lied about for decades claiming they are the victims. Fact is and will never be different, the Arabs were given a State in 1947 as were the Jews and the Jews accepted while the Arabs chose to try to exterminate the Jews.
Awwww despite outnumbering the Jews 5 to 1 they lost and losers don't get a do over no matter how loud the Left whines...

[TammyKnowsBest]

Listen former Golani Brigader - The only people who have gone against every established peace process is the Israelis, exactly WHO is confiscating land and water resources NOT their own? Exactly WHO is demolishing homes and properties NOT their own? Exactly WHO is building settlements on land that is NOT their own?

it was never ever their intention to relinquish your precious Judea and Samara but to continue their status quo of driving the Palestinians out into the sea or by exterminating them (see Gaza). As you can see, the reality on the ground is that this state continues to usurp whats left of the West Bank or as they recognize it "Eastern Israel."

The list of illegalities this state upholds against its majority indigenous inhabitants is terrifying.

[BubbaC33]

OK, TKN, your ideas about Israel are not quite accurate or honest. Israel gave up Gaza and left an infrastructure for the Gazans, which were promptly destroyed when the Israelis left. And then Hamas, a group of cowards, started firing rockets into Israel. Any problems the people in Gaza have are self-inflicted.

[PKatherine]

your argument is based on presumptions.

[davidwayneosedach]

What does Obama have to say about this? Is he all of a sudden lost for rhetoric????

[CigarGod]

What do you want him to say?
The Israeli's are refusing to stop and the Palestinians are backing Obama and won't undercut him by agreeing with Bibi.

[driven989]

The starting point for ANY negotiations MUST be based on the principles of international law.

It is not a question of what Israel believes it should give back, it is a question of what it is OBLIGATED give back under the framework of international law.

[BubbaC33]

International law has provisions for Israel to annex the West Bank.

[MemoryAlpha]

Suppositon:
What you are saying is false.

Challenge:
Prove what you say by quoting specific articles that permit ethnic cleansing and annexaition of West Bank.

[SonnyBono]

Seriously, if you did attend Georgetown Law - check with them and see if you can get a refund for your tuition.

[TammyKnowsBest]

There's no peace process to start if Netanyaho has dictated what is to be implemented. You don't assault and threaten your partners to peace. That's not how it goes.