One peace partner against a stacked deck... insanity!

Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It seems we now have insanity popping up again, this time in the Middle East.

By EARL COX
Earl Cox 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Earl Cox 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Many years ago Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It seems we now have insanity popping up again. This time in the Middle East, and it is being birthed by the US Obama Administration.
The Obama Administration has pressured Israel into another round of talks with the Palestinians to try anew, “in face-to-face talks, to come to an historic agreement to establish an independent Palestinian state and secure peace for Israel.” But hasn’t that been tried many times before without the desired results?  Is everyone so naïve to so easily forget what the previous results have been? Have we all forgotten that the Palestinian leadership has signed five so-called peace agreements with Israel, all specifying numerous actions they would take to secure a peaceful and co-existent relationship with Israel, but then consistently failed to fulfill any of their part of the agreements?
Has the world forgotten how former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2001 offered the Palestinians their own independent state, with virtually the same conditions they would be offered again today by Israel, but Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat soundly rejected the offer and launched the devastating “Intifada” violence instead?
The only difference this time is Yassar Arafat is gone and his replacement is Mahmoud Abbas, who has given no sign that he is in any mood to differ from the long-held Palestinian position of defiance. He immediately stated that he would insist on an extended construction freeze in Jewish communities in the West Bank and Jerusalem as a pre-condition to negotiations. He has done absolutely nothing to convince Israelis that he is a viable peace partner.
Labor Party leader Ehud Barak has been replaced by Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu who, after years of expressing strong opposition to a Palestinian state on Israeli land, has suddenly capitulated to the idea of allowing a Palestinian state after all. But many believe he is only saying this now because he knows full well that the Palestinians will never agree to his stated terms of a demilitarized, democratic state. He has also countered Abbas by declaring that the new talks can only be held without any pre-conditions.
The United States, always considered to be the broker for peace negotiations, has an administration that has not succeeded in (nor even made any significant effort toward) bringing the two opposing sides closer together. With all of President Obama’s appeasement of the Arabs and Muslims since he has been in office, should the Israelis really trust him to be a neutral mediator?
The round of new peace talks between Netanyahu and Abbas is being hosted by Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in the White House. The goal: a deal in a year’s time for a Palestinian state, including its borders and the disputed fate of Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
What else? The discussions are also to be attended by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah. Talk about loading the opposition! Of course, they are both Arab - and primarily Muslim.
Not surprisingly, soon after the Clinton announcement, the terrorist Hamas crowd that controls Gaza (which is supposed to become a part of an eventual Palestinian state) rejected the talks. And seemingly defying the announcement, the Palestinian Authority continued to express its support for violence against Israeli citizens. In a media interview, a Fatah official reiterated the faction’s support for “resistance” and “armed struggle.” “They are our movement’s aims and principles," he stressed. There was no mention of peace or coexistence, of course.
Other media reports indicate that the Arab League leaders have given agreen light for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and thePalestinians. However, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussaannounced that the League is set to launch a massive regional andinternational media campaign against Israel “to further isolate andpunish Israel for its crimes.”
And who but an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Masoud Ganaim, cameout with a statement that Israel should become “an Islamic caliphate.”He said that Israel “should come under an Islamic system of government”and “Israel must become a part of a great Islamic state.” He went on toadd that Arabs and Muslims must be prepared “to fight for theliberation of Jerusalem and Palestine as long as Jerusalem is occupied.”
Doesn’t this effectively eliminate everybody in the Middle East fromcooperating to launch a new Palestinian State peacefully co-existingside by side with the Jewish state of Israel? Doesn’t all this provethat the arrogance and intransigence of the Arabs and Muslims has notchanged since the failures of all the past efforts for peaceagreements? Doesn’t all this convince anyone that if they try the samething again, they will have nothing but the same results?
Doesn’t anyone understand the definition of “insanity?”